Recommendations for Over-wintering Honey Bee Colonies on Cape Cod
John Portnoy, Wellfleet, 11 Oct 2021 With the arrival of Varroa mites and mite-vectored viruses, overwintering honey bees successfully, and having strong colonies ready for the earliest spring nectar flows, have become much more difficult. Unfortunately, advice in popular beekeeping books and websites can be conflicting, outdated and with little control on its quality. Much of it is repeated dogma, i.e., not well founded on scientific studies, and not necessarily applicable t
Last minute feeding tips as your hive prepares for winter.
FALL/WINTER FEEDING With the extended warm weather this fall, some of our hives will need supplemental feeding. Sugar syrup (2:1) can be fed until our ambient temperature falls below 50 deg F. Feeding liquid below that will create too much moisture in the hive and the bees will be taking few cleansing flights to expel the extra moisture. Plus, the syrup needs to be ripened (thickened by the bees). It is best to switch to sugar bricks, sugar plates or fondant. See the October
