My bees are dumping their sugar
You recently fed sugar to your bees, either to supplement their winter stores or to cover an emergency shortage of honey. You figure the extra calories will see them through the cold months. But as you...
View ArticleUp next: bird blood in bee feed
If you haven’t heard, the Purina company is marketing a new protein supplement for honey bees, called Hearty Bee. The ingredients include something called “spray dried poultry blood,” which may sound...
View ArticleHave beekeepers gone bananas?
Every few years we raise a new crop of beekeepers who want to feed bananas to their bees as a winter supplement. The forums are filled with anecdotal stories of bees thriving on ripe bananas while...
View ArticleDon’t let your bees go hungry
Here is a quick reminder about the amount of food a winter colony can burn through. Contrary to logic, your colony will eat more during a warm, balmy winter than it will during a colder one. On warm...
View ArticleHow to feed stacked nucs in winter
Vince Poulin, a beekeeper in Vancouver, British Columbia, sent me an idea he had for feeding nucs that were stacked one atop another during the winter. This is a problem I’ve wondered about but never...
View ArticleIs zinc toxic to honey bees?
Just the thought of honey bees and zinc toxicity makes you all squirmy and anxious, right? Such a nail-biter of a topic is hard to resist, but here’s the spoiler: I don’t have an answer. Still, it’s a...
View ArticlePeek inside a feeder frame
Back in October, Vince Poulin of British Columbia sent us pictures of a feeder frame he designed for feeding nucs that were stacked one atop the other for winter. I thought it was a creative idea that...
View ArticleDry pollen substitute vs pollen patties: which is best?
Is it true that honey bees will store dry pollen substitute but not pollen patties? Is it possible to overfeed pollen in the fall? To answer the first question, picture a bee’s anatomy. The entire...
View ArticleShould you feed pollen supplement in spring?
Commercial beekeepers who intend to pollinate California almond orchards must have large and robust colonies ready for the February bloom. To help their colonies prepare for the big event, they...
View ArticleThe perils of sugar syrup: it’s not that complicated
After fielding beekeeper questions for eleven years, I have a decent idea of what confuses beginners. When it comes to puzzlement, nothing beats the perils of sugar syrup. Questions such as “How do I...
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