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When fall arrives there is a great challenge for the bees because there is no available nectar. If this nectar dearth is combined with unusually warm weather, what we see is bees that are still very active looking for any food sources they can dip their little proboscises into.

In these warm weather conditions bees will start looking into other neighboring hives to find substance and robbing occurs. Here is where things get tricky. If other beekeepers in your area have harvested the honey in the fall, it is very likely that those bees will be looking for something more nutritious then the sugar water that the beekeepers normally "trade" for their bee's honey.

Sugar water feeding is not what the bees need for the winter. Sugar is alkaline and the bees gut is designed for an acid PH. A bee's gut is designed with the amazing ability to "slough off" its lining if there is any type of dangerous foreign intrusion and the wrong PH disrupts this delicate balance. It is an important part of the bees immune system.

So we leave it to nature and don't want to introduce sugar water into the hive. I know there is a lot of pressure to feed the bees sugar, but now you know better. The second part of the typical "feeding concoction" is or course water. The bees need to evaporate a lot of that water and the moisture develops in the hive just when the temperatures are falling. Cold damp bees going into winter are not going to be happy bees.

So although we hear the mantra "feed, feed, feed during the fall, so the bees have plenty of stores for winter." In actuality the bees also need empty comb cells to crawl into during the winter months to create a cluster and to keep warm. The empty cells becomes warm insulated sleeping bags in the winter. Feeding will cause the bees to store up the feed in their little winter beds, so they will have no place to rest their sleepy heads.

So instead of thinking "feed, feed, feed" think Insulate for the winter. The bees use the honey stores to keep warm by consuming their honey and converting the correct PH "sugars" into energy, the energy fuels their wing muscles which shiver and generate warmth. I know, shiver sounds cold, but that's what the behavior is called. A well insulated hive enables the bees to use less fuel i.e. honey to keep warm, so the honey that they have collected and stored lasts through the winter.

So all said, we decided to give your bees a 10 percent discount on insulation panels for the winter !



Feeding Your Bees in the Fall

More articles that may be helpful for the fall.

Where Did All My Bees Go?

Winterizing and Insulating Your Hive

 

Feeding open honey in the fall will signal hives from miles around that there is a nectar source available. If you do feed your hive  really watch it for signs of robbing. Even if you are not feeding a very warm fall creates opportunistic robbers.

The above image is an extreme case of robbing. The comb cells are shredded as the robber bees are not neat about ripping open the cells to get to the honey. Robbers want to quickly get into the foreign hive, get the goods and get out.

Also you can see a small cluster of bees working together on a section of capped honey. Get familiar with what robbing behavior looks like, inside and outside the hive.

see our Bees Robbing a Hive Video
Also read our full article on Bees Robbing a Hive

 

Can I still Harvest Honey:
Labor Day, in climates like Colorado, is normally the last day you want to go into your hive to harvest honey. The nectar flow is very minimal and the bees are sealing their hive with propolis in preparation for winter.
If you do harvest a comb make sure to leave the the hive full of honey for the bees to over winter on. And remember the bees are much more protective of their honey stores in the fall so going into the hive may be more challenging this time of year.

When do I move the falseback?
October is a good time to move the falseback up and place it behind the last comb in the hive. This lessens the area the bees need to keep warm for the winter.

When do I insulate me hive?
The end of October, Halloween time, is a good time to insulate your hive for winter. With warmer temps in November you can certainly wait until then to insulate your hive. The insulation is great for the middle of winter in the consecutive days of extremely cold weather.