> To fullfill those 4 cycles - if I understand correct - for your country, 
> you
> will need to start building your winter population in november. \

The following is mainly information for commercial beekeepers. We do things 
very different than hobby most of the time.

Once our main honey flow is over (usually July 15th) the bees start bringing 
honey down from the supers (usually the bottom super gets an empty oval 
right over the brood nest). The queens slow down egg laying. Old forager 
bees die off and the population starts dropping. Then (hopefully) about five 
weeks later fall flowers start blooming and the production of winter bees 
starts.

During this time period we are pulling all hives down to a single honey 
super. Unlike many I see feeding as simply an expense & labor cost. The 
reason why I leave a super on for awhile. At some point through checking my 
picked out to monitor hives I observe the bees have not started to raise the 
winter bees I make the decision for the bees and do one of several things to 
start the winter bee raising process.

Leave alone beekeeping has never worked for me. I have found that I can make 
better decisions about the bees future welfare than the bees.

Once I think I have got enough winter bees I again make the decision for the 
bees to stop raising winter bees:

All beekeeping is local so I can only speak for my area of Missouri.  When 
we get a mild winter early the bees (especially Italians) will continue to 
brood if fed or on a fall flow. Once I thank the bees have enough bees I 
feed heavy syrup to get the bees to start filling the brood nest which shuts 
down her queen rearing. Other strains I do different.
Allen Dick ( his methods are on his on line beekeeping diary) always would 
open feed right before winter. Shuts down the queen and puts feed right in 
the center of the brood nest. I am too tight to open feed at this time so I 
check the weight of each hive and only feed those I fell are too light to 
winter. I mark on the hive the amount of feed needed and feed until I reach 
my estimate. I know its easy to simply feed all hives in the yard when you 
are pumping feed like I do out of a tote but a waste of money and makes 
boxes very hard to handle in spring. I realize many commercial beekeepers 
open feed and see nothing wrong with the method but I personally only open 
feed in very rare situations. I ration feed carefully to my bees and prefer 
the bees  find there own stores rather than me buying their stores!

I have got a friend which has said many times that he could buy a new pickup 
with the money he would save from passing on a one gallon feeding to all 
his hives (50,000 hives at the time). Feed is a big expense and the place 
you can help your operation bottom line if you feed only when the need is 
real.

Over feeding in spring will cause swarming and failing to provide a enough 
stores for the bees to winter in our area causes hives to crash over winter. 
When and the amount to feed only comes from close observation of your bees. 
What works for me might not work for Tim Tucker 150 miles south of me or for 
Mike Vanarsdall 250 miles north.

I might add that each year is different so observing what the bees are doing 
is best.

bob


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