# Feeding bees



## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

We got the hives up and the bees in them about 3 weeks ago. And no one was stung, though I'm sure that won't hold out long!  

The man who owns the bee shop said to feed them a 1:1 mix of sugar and water - but I'm not sure how long to feed them. The pasture is full of yellow flowers, there are wild blackberry briars loaded with blooms, I have strawberries flowering, red clover up (not as much as I'd like but I had to cut some back to get the garden in) and gobs of wild white clover every-stinking-where. Do you think they have enough to eat? 

I don't mind feeding them as long as I need to, I just didn't want to do it wrong.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

If they need to build comb you might start by fixing a quart worth of feed and see if they will use it. Normally we feed the bees in the spring till they will no longer take it. Sounds like there is plenty of natural feed for them at this time. 

 Al


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Though my bees are drawing a lot of comb and raising lots of brood they won't take sugar water. I was a bit surprised since they are using everything they take in immediately at the moment and aren't really trying to store any.


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

Oh my gosh they slurp it up. I can't keep the feeder full! 
I need a crash course. I don't know what "drawing a comb" means.  What book of bee keeping is best for a VERY new newbie?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Drawing comb means they are building the comb on foundation so the queen can lay eggs in the cells to raise brood then store honey also.

Probably the best starter book I have seen is *bee keeping for dummies.*

I really like ABC XYZ of bee keeping, look for it used on book finder dot com, Alibris or Abes books. It covers just about every thing that can come up if the copy right date is after 1985.

 Al


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

Thanks for the book suggestions. 

So since the bees are going to town on the sugar water, do I keep feeding them? I guess I need to peek inside the hive to see if I see comb? I know when I transfered them from the NUC there was comb started on frames that came with them.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Yes keep feeding them. They will stop taking the syrup when they no longer need it for comb building. Only so many bees are out collecting. Most have chores in the hive like drawing comb, cell cleaning and burying detail. With the syurp close at hand they make use of it 24/7 as long as it is there.
The hive never totally sleeps.

 Al


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

There was comb that came with them from the nuc. Did you put other frames into the full size hive body when you transferred them? Hopefully you did and you put the correct number in. A full sized hive takes 10 frames. To encourage them to draw out(make more comb) in the frames and to make them nice and straight you should do what is called checkerboarding. Place an empty frame between 2 already made frames of comb(frame of comb, empty, frame of comb, empty, and so on). They will draw the comb much quicker than they will if the empty frames are off to one side of the hive. This will provide your queen with more room to lay and will help reduce swarming.


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## snettrecker (Jan 27, 2006)

I usually feed mine until the honey flow starts. They quit taking it when the flow starts usually. If you haven't found it already beesource.com is a great source of information about beekeeping also. I learned a ton of stuff from there my first year.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

This is my first year working with bees and I have three hives. All have two deep supers, the second containing mostly honey. I recently added a shallow honey super to each, one hive being ready for it a week later than the other two. 
I have been feeding 1:1 syrup in top feeders to all the hives as I learned to do in a bee class and also what I read in the Dummies book. I have since read here and elsewhere to NOT feed when the shallow honey supers are added. 
So I'm confused.
I'm *not* going to harvest any honey this year and will add second shallows to all the hives if they fill the first ones.
Do I continue to feed as long as they take it?
Do I quit and restart feeding in the fall?
Is the reason to quit feeding because the resultant honey would be made from sugar water more than nectar?
I just want to do the right thing, and did I say I am new at this?
Thanks for any help.


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