Hello All Recently I was reading about feeding bees, and hoping that I gave them enough to see them through the winter. Having read what I did, now I am not too sure. I was working on the basis of ensuring that the bees have about 35lbs (16kgs) of stores in a British National hive here in Ireland. I read that bees work their way upwards when consuming stores. A situation can then arise, which as the book put it, we can have a 'Captain Scott' situation, whereby that brave man and his companions whilst in the Antarctic, died within striking distance of adequate stores, because they did not have the energy to reach them. The bees, with their propensity to travel upwards for stores, may thus die, because the stores to save them are only a few centimetres away but horizontally positioned. In other words, there are enough stores, but in the wrong place. Would it not then be advisable, to always overwinter on two brood chambers, even if this meant allowing them access to only half of each brood chamber by using a follower board?. What do the list members think? Sincerely Tom Barrett 49 South Park Foxrock Dublin 18 Ireland Hobbyist beekeeper e mail [log in to unmask] Tel + 353 1 289 5269 Fax + 353 1 289 9940 Latitude 53 Degrees 16' North Longitude 6 Degrees 9' West of Greenwich