I am in East Brunswick, NJ, one hour or so from Skillman so I have had
similar temps.

I treated both of my hives with MAQ's in late autumn (mistake acknowledged)
and lost all brood and all food stores were gone. We thought the queens
died during treatment but a friend suggested to keep feeding (sugar syrup)
anyway, you never know. All during this time the frames were filled with
plenty of bees. A couple of weeks later I found some brood. I continued to
feed through November with a styrofoam hivetop feeder
<http://www.humbleabodesmaine.com/feeding-bees-c-90/beemax-hivetop-feeder-p-303.html>.
When the temps dropped to freezing I made fondant and gently swirled in
some fresh pollen
<http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Fresh-Pollen/productinfo/618/> while
the candy was cooling. I just figured they need some protein to go along
with the carbs to keep healthy. I placed the pollen-spiked fondant on top
of the medium super in a 2" shim. I tied 2" rigid insulation on all 4 sides
of the hive and inserted a piece inside the inner cover. I had 2 deeps
topped with an empty medium super.

I found an wonderful mentor. He likes 3 deeps so that is what I have now. I
believe this will help with overwintering.

Theresa
East Brunswick, NJ




On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 10:29 AM, Scott Koppa <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  >But in your colder climate, perhaps the colony consumes the honey
> immediately above the brood too quickly....can anyone confirm...?
>
>
> I lost two hives in exactly this manner in March. We had a very mild
> February and early March, followed by a cold snap and snowfall that had
> temperatures locked below freezing for the better part of a week. Although
> I added dry sugar to all my hives prior to the storm (because it had been
> so mild and all the hives were tearing through their stores), I had tried
> something different that I had read on Michael Bush's site and left one
> empty honey super on several hives over winter (they went back on after the
> fall harvest for the bees to clean and stayed there). Unfortunately, the
> nest did not extend above the top deep on these hives ( I run 2 deeps), and
> the bees were isolated both from their peripheral stores and the dry sugar
> above the empty medium super on top. I'll never do that again.
>
>
> Both hives were Carniolan, FWIW.
>
>
> S
>
>
> Skillman, NJ
>
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