This morning I received an email from a reader of my blog. It is a good question about whether you should keep a jar of feed for your colony after installing a nuc.
Hi, I just got a nuc of bees brought in and setup into a brand new hive that my neighbours have built for me. At this point it consists of two boxes with ten frames per box and a third on the top. The bees were introduced about one week ago. My neighbour set them up, he put a mason jar of sugar water upside-down with holes in the lid in the top box. There has been slight activity during the first part of the week as the daytime highs have only been about 12 degrees (Celsius) or so. Yesterday the temp was about 18 degrees and sunny. The hive was very active at that temp. Today was colder and this evening before dark I had a quick peek in the top box by gently removing the lid. I noticed that all the sugar water was gone. My question (finally) is should this quart size mason jar always have sugar water in it??? What should I do? FYI they are Buckfast Bees.
I answered this email directly, but I also thought I’d post my answer here and spark a discussion. If I understand correctly, this reader has two boxes with frames in them, and a third box on top of those that contains a mason jar for feeding. The nuc only arrived one week ago.
To answer the main question first: No, you don’t need to keep that mason jar filled with sugar syrup. You can remove it and take off the 3rd box that it’s sitting in. The feed is sometimes used to boost production in the hive. It’s typically used in smaller/weaker colonies. Your bees will eat the sugar syrup, but it is not what they’re designed to eat regularly. You don’t want them to choose that over nectar from flowers.
In the winter, or early spring, you may need to feed them again, but for now, as we head into summer, you’re fine without it. In fact, I didn’t use any feeder at all when I installed my nuc, around the same time.
Also, just a bit more information to help: Your bees will likely stay in their hive during colder weather, especially if it’s a bit rainy. It’s perfectly normal to not see a lot of activity around your hive on these cold & rainy days. As you mentioned, it’s when it’s sunny and 18 degrees that the bees get to work.
Try to avoid checking your hive when it’s chilly outside. If it’s around 10 degrees Celcius or colder, then you risk chilling your brood if you have your hive open for too long. It’s best to do your inspections mid-day, when a lot of your bees will be out foraging.
Another point I thought I should mention is that if you had a 4-frame nuc and you just installed it one week ago, then you might not need to have a second box with frames on it yet. You add boxes as you go, when the first box is roughly 75%-90% full. That’s the time when you plop another box with frames on top. If you give them too much space early on, it might be difficult to stay warm during really cold nights. At this point, however, they may have already started using that box, so it’s up to you whether you want to remove it or not. It may just be easier to leave it now.
In the future, it’s good to know that if you’re buying your nuc from a reputable breeder, there are guidelines to follow which are in place for your benefit. Your nuc should have been shipped with some food stores when it arrived. Adding sugar syrup is an extra safety measure to provide a bit more feed to your bees after their stressful journey to their new home. For information on what the Ontario Beekeeping Association recommends for nucs, please visit my blog post here: Buying nucs of bees in Ontario. Take into consideration that these are just guidelines, and your nuc may have been a bit different.
I hope this answers your question. I wish you all the best for a happy and healthy bee season. Good luck!
I’d be inclined to carefully inspect the second brood box to make sure no frames contain eggs and remove it completely. If there are frames being worked from the second brood box I’d move them into the first box (replace untouched frames). You want to avoid dead space where the majority of the cluster in the lower box are keeping things at a steady temperature. If you ever camped in a big tent you’d know what I mean, the condensation that builds up in the upper portion of your tent (dead space) cools down quickly thus chilling the occupants. Anything in the second brood box would be counter-productive as the cluster cannot keep the whole hive warm which may result in a loss of any eggs or larvae from the second brood box. I would doubt there is any activity in the upper brood box so early (one week) after the installation of the nuc.
In my experience with my newly-installed nucs after a week, I saw that the bees had begun drawing out the foundation and the queen had laid eggs in each of these unfinished cells. Its my understanding that the queen builds out from the core of the nest. I can’t see her venturing into the second brood box.
If there is nothing but bees hanging around on the frames in the upper box, you can shake them on top of the frames of the first box. I’d remove that second brood box altogether and add it as they fill out the first brood box.
In terms of feeding, I don’t think the bees will choose the syrup over what’s available to them outside the hive. I’d check the status of the flow in his/her area. I know that during a flow, the bees will avoid the syrup.
Yeah, I don’t think I would have all those boxes on there either. I usually start with one box for newly hived bees. If the foraging is good, I’d not feed. If not, then I would feed.
I would also try to keep my disturbing them to a minimum. I’ve heard of bees leaving after being hived if they were checked too much.
I’m only going into my third summer of beekeeping, but here’s my take on it…
I agree about removing the second brood box. All that empty space can also demoralize the bees. They want to fill it but they can’t. Less empty space allows them to concentrate their efforts, and they get more done.
As for feeding a nuc, or feeding bees in general, I think it all depends on your local climate. All beekeeping is local beekeeping. Most cold climate beekeepers have to feed their nucs and hives at certain times of the year. Where I live (in the middle of the North Atlantic), we have to feed our nucs as soon as we set them up because are summers are usually so short and cold and wet, the bees simply can’t build up their numbers before winter kicks in.
I’ve tried several methods for feeding nucs and have settled on frame feeders / division board feeders. They can hold a large amount of syrup, the bees can suck up the syrup much faster than they would from a jar feeder, and it’s easy to refill them (with the use of a funnel) without disturbing the bees, and because the feeders are inside the hive, they don’t attract wasps or encourage robbing from other honey bee colonies. I love my frame feeders.
Last year we had a horrible spring and summer and had to feed our nucs, syrup and pollen patties, right into the fall. I would prefer never to feed our bees, but sometimes it’s a necessity in my local climate.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. They’re all great suggestions. I will send another response to the original email and let the reader know of your suggestions.
Phillip, I hope that this year is better than last for you and your bees. Have you had good weather thus far?
Our weather has been too good this year. All my established hives want to swarm. We didn’t get a honey harvest until September last year. The way things are going this year, we could have a few supers full of honey by next weekend. Not bad.