Starving Bees

[Plot17B]

Hi all, Just had a slight scare with the bee colony in that within the space of 14 days, all the honey capped/stored in the hive has all been depleted and the colony was starting to starve. Not out of the woods yet, but think got them to take syrup/fondant in time.

Ridiculously early to have starvation symptoms but several apiaries in the county are having the same problems.
Anyone else noticing similar probs???
Cheers
P17B

[Hilary B]

Got any heather in your area?

[Plot17B]

Nope, nowhere near as far as I know. Warwickshire's off the heather track sadly.

I had taken fumidil-loaded syrup with me to start off overwintering process, but the not insiginificant amount of honey had all been drank dry. The girls cannot of been able to get out due to the p*$%ing rain recently so ate what they could.
:-(

[shirlthegirl43]

Poor little bees, hope they are okay.

On the subject of hungry bees, is there anything that those of us who don't have beehives can do to make sure the wild bees get enough food? I have been worried about them this year as my heathers all died when I had to move them. Is there a way to feed them other than with flowers?

[scarey55]

Poor little bees, hope they are okay.

On the subject of hungry bees, is there anything that those of us who don't have beehives can do to make sure the wild bees get enough food? I have been worried about them this year as my heathers all died when I had to move them. Is there a way to feed them other than with flowers?

Beat me too it Shirley, I was just going to ask the same question. The bees here are hanging around the raspberry bushes but there aren't many flowers on them and I was wondering if it I should leave some fruit on the bush to over-ripen, would that help or so they actually need pollen? Can you tell, I don't know much about bees?

[SueA]

If you put out some sponge/foam dampened with a sugar & water or honey & water solution then hungry bees & butterflies will land & eat from it. I've sometimes revived tired bees that have been sitting still on the path etc. for ages by putting a drop of honey in water in front of them.

[scarey55]

Thank you Sue, I'll go and try that straight away.

[shirlthegirl43]

If you put out some sponge/foam dampened with a sugar & water or honey & water solution then hungry bees & butterflies will land & eat from it. I've sometimes revived tired bees that have been sitting still on the path etc. for ages by putting a drop of honey in water in front of them.

Any particular dilution of sugar and any special type of sponge please?

[Plot17B]

Well, ideal is a 2:1 sugar:water solution. It's quite rich but it's a good sugar hit and not to "wet" (The more concentrated it is, the less water reduction they need to do in the hive to prevent it from fermenting and thus be unusable to the colony). You will attract wasps and others though, if that's a problem.

As for what people can do....wild flower planting I reckon. And a full range including plants which flower late into August/September. Ivy for instance. The bees need the nectar (which they convert in their stomachs to honey) for energy and pollen for vitamins and protein. So they need both to see them through and prevent them dying or falling prey to diseases due to weakness. So plant pollen/nectar rich wildflowers and if a plant is looking bee-fantastic, don't trim/chop until it has really gone over.

Any more ideas anyone?

[lynda66]

I've been growing wildflowers this year, with some sowed april, some june and some july ...... and i've had loads of bumble bees, but i haven't seen any honey bees at all, the bumble bees love the borage and also the nasturtiums in the front garden, haven't seen any butterflies, except cabbage whites all year.

I never thought of bees starving like that though it's sad.

[FB.]

We have some runner beans (I think?) in flower at the moment and they seem a very popular attraction for the honey bees (we don't keep bees ourselves, but we appreciate their activity, so we like to try to support them with useful plants).
There don't seem to be many bumblebees on the beans though. The bumblebees are elsewhere; busy on the lavender and herbs - along with some of the honey bees.
We noticed that the honey bees are just slashing open the base of the bean flowers and sticking their tongue through the hole, rather than trying to climb in the proper way. We're hoping that the bee-damaged flowers will still produce beans.

FB

[Flummery]

We noticed that the honey bees are just slashing open the base of the bean flowers and sticking their tongue through the hole, rather than trying to climb in the proper way. We're hoping that the bee-damaged flowers will still produce beans.

FB

This happened to a lot of my Bunyard's Exhibition broad beans last year - they all set beans brilliantly. I was worried too at first!

[Headfry]

Plot17b gonna check mine tonight! just in case.....
They were ok about a week ago but in the light of this worrying news I must check!!!!!
My poor little girls.

[SueA]

Any particular dilution of sugar and any special type of sponge please?

I've never taken much notice of the dilution so I'd go with what Plot17b says, I've usually just put a blob of honey in a few drops of water to make a solution & the sponge type doesn't really matter although a yellow colour would probably attract them as it looks like pollen in a flower & a natural one would be preferable to synthetic but it shouldn't matter. If you have a hanging bird feeder or bird bath, the type that is like a shallow dish on chains, you could cut a piece of foam or sponge to fit that, moisten it with a sweet solution & hang it in a tree.

[Plot17B]

Any news Headfry??? Or weather too darned miserable to inspect colonies?? Keep us up to date with health of your hives.

I've just had a splash of sun so dashed to hive, topped up syrup + Fumidil and saw fresh egg laying by Queenie. Workers made visible improvement on housekeeping activities so at the moment looks like I caught them in time.

To date, 9lb sugar-in-syrup and 6kg of sugar fondant provided to the hive in 6 days. And two types of antibiotic fed to prevent varroa and nosema.
Not easy this bee-keeping mularchy! :-)
P17B