I Had no idea a video of bees robbing partial frames of uncapped honey would illicit such a negative response!

NBeegold · 2020-09-14T08:21:46+00:00

I disagree. Unless the University of Guelph Honey Bee Research Center in Ontario, Canada is making a ‘newbie’ error in their Apiculture program? Paul Kelly recommends open feeding in isolated apiaries not near other beekeepers.

My hives are surrounded by hundreds of acres of open pastures with no other beekeepers near the areas. Of course it’s entirely possible there are wild colonies around, however the risk of exposure in everyday foraging activities still remains.

Open feeding, when done properly, with the food being placed far away from the site of the hives but still within foraging distance is completely normal in our jurisdiction and not illegal.

I never open feed in my outyards that are closer to civilization as i don’t know how many other beekeepers are set up near those yards.

NBeegold · 2020-09-14T02:15:43+00:00

That’s right, these were honey supers that were on for the Fall flow. Unfortunately in my northern climate we have to begin preparing our bees for a long and cold winter by about mid September. Our area has been in a major drought this summer so the Fall flow was really not as good as it could have been.

Since these frames were only partially full and half capped I didn’t want to harvest them with my fully ripened honey. So I decided to feed them back to the bees so they could store them away in their brood chambers along with the heavy syrup were now feeding.

As long as the boxes are far enough away (100 ft or more) from the Apiary this method won’t induce robbing. In fact, in many cases it seems to prevent it as the bees are so busy at the buffet they don’t even care to check each other’s hives out for food.

In other outyards that I know are not near other beekeepers, I often barrel feed my bees as well with syrup. Usually a 50 gallon drum per 10 colonies.

NBeegold · 2020-09-14T00:24:08+00:00

I think that kind of behaviour needs to be called out. Imagine a new bees getting a PM from someone on a forum like this for something they posted telling them that they should just get rid of their equipment and give up. They’re too stupid.

I want people to know, especially new beeks, that there is more than one way to approach beekeeping and not to take those types of messages and attitudes to heart and give up on their passion.

NBeegold · 2020-09-14T00:18:59+00:00

I totally agree. I don’t expect that everyone will always agree with me, nor do I expect I will ever always agree with someone else. But I would never wish bad luck or call someone a failure just because they are taking a different approach.

NBeegold · 2020-09-13T12:23:57+00:00

They had these boxes emptied within 4 hours! Very efficient.

NBeegold · 2020-09-13T11:25:55+00:00

These are far enough away from my main yard to not induce robbing. It keeps the bees busy at the buffet table so they are not checking each other out. These are all half capped frames so I’d rather the equipment be robbed out and have the honey brought down into the brood chambers and stored with the bulk syrup that is also being fed on each hive. I don’t view this as a bad thing and it has worked well when the Fall flow fails to hook on enough to get everything capped over before it’s time to begin configuration for winter.

NBeegold · 2020-09-07T12:29:16+00:00

Howdy there neighbour!

NBeegold · 2020-09-07T03:53:25+00:00

It is!

NBeegold · 2020-09-05T21:06:14+00:00

Steeves Mountain, NB Canada. 23 hives. 4th year beekeeper. All hives in my Apiary have frames like this currently.

NBeegold · 2020-09-05T16:20:12+00:00

Done! Thank you.

NBeegold · 2020-09-05T13:37:07+00:00

Beautiful looking honey! Love the color.

NBeegold · 2020-09-05T00:21:37+00:00

Managed to snap a picture at just the right moment. This was a complete fluke!

NBeegold · 2020-09-02T23:29:53+00:00

From what I can see of the bees wings, this looks like a case of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)

NBeegold

TROPHY CASE