Driving the BEES down and feeding!
Bee Escape, Fume Board, or Bee Brush?
I try to have the hives sized to the bee population density. That way they don't have too much, or too little, space. Right now about half of my hives have too much space and I'll be using bee escape boards to get the bees out of the upper boxes.
Bee escape boards work well when the nighttime temps are in the 40's to low 50's (or cooler). The bees will leave the upper boxes to join their sisters around the broodnest to keep it warm. It then takes them about 2 days to figure out how to get back up, so the bee escape and box on top need to be removed within a 24 - 48 hour period. (Face the triangle down (underside) and close any entrances above it. Lessons learned!)
There are other ways to remove bees from the boxes than using a bee escape board. Some beekeepers use fume boards to drive the bees down, and some simply brush the bees off the frames and into the hive. If there's only a few bees in the box, I'll brush them off, but if there's a lot of bees, I prefer a bee escape board and a cool night. A lot less commotion and bees aren't harmed.
Feeding Syrup and Pollen
After I'm done getting the hives configured as I see fit, and removing the last of the honey for human consumption, I'll start feeding any lightweights 2:1 syrup. An average sized colony in two deeps and a medium requires at least 90 lbs. of honey and/or syrup to make it through a Wisconsin winter. I use the "heft test" to determine the weight of the hive. I lift, or try to lift, one side of the hive to judge the weight. If I can lift it easily, I need to feed it heavily. If I can't lift it, good enough. If the weight is somewhere in between, I feed until they stop taking the syrup or I can't lift the hive. For those that are sticklers for knowing the exact weight, hive scales are available for around $285.00.
The bees will use honey for energy to maintain the cluster temperature throughout the winter. Not much pollen or beebread will be required until the queens resume laying in late January, but pollen (or pollen substitute) is required now in order for the winter bees to develop large fat bodies. This will be their source of proteins throughout the winter and into early spring, and to be stored as beebread for winter and early spring brood feeding. I put out repurposed Gatorade bottles with pollen substitute powder, and press pollen substitute powder into empty brood frames as discussed in a previous post.
Robbing will Deplete Resources
With the decrease in available floral resources, robbing has increased. Several members have mentioned putting wet sheets over their hives when they noticed robbing in process, but my hives are out of sight so I wouldn't see that. I have found it's necessary to do the heft test periodically, until it's consistently cold enough that the bees remain in cluster, to check weight in case they got robbed. I've had hives that were sufficiently heavy for winter, and two weeks later were as light as a feather.
One year I discovered that the yellow club hive had been robbed out (I couldn't budge the green hive) after it was too cold to feed syrup, and they survived the entire winter on sugar. So check the hives periodically and feed sugar if necessary. There's several methods for feeding sugar, and all of them require space above the top bars of the top box. My winter covers provide that space, but a 1 1/2" - 2" rim shim works well. We'll be discussing winter feeding down the road, but for now it's good to prepare by building or buying rim shims and stocking up on granulated white (table) sugar.
-Gerard
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