Hello all,
I was wondering if I could ask a couple of things; apologies if they’re rather
basic.
Robbing - How does one actually determine if robbing is going on? This morning
I saw frenzied activity outside my hive, which seemed strange to me as it’s not
especially warm and forage is not too abundant. It didn’t really seem to me as
if there was fighting or some bees were trying to prevent others from getting
in. I noticed that some bees were more yellow than my predominantly black bees
and so perhaps a different breed, but I’ve noticed this before when they were
calm, and was mindful of someone’s post earlier which observed that bees join
other hives more frequently than is often realised. I was thinking that robbery
issues might explain the rage with which the bees greeted my attempt to open
the hive a couple of weeks ago. The hive entrance is already down to about 2-3
inches, plus a few of those bee-space notches that entrance blocks sometimes
have.
Feeding - What is the natural beekeeper’s approach to feeding, and how can I
judge whether to feed or not (and how much)? All of the info that I’ve managed
to find seems frustratingly vague on how much honey a colony needs to get
through winter - I expect because there is a lot of variability. Mine are in
their first year and only seem to have about half a standard super (I’m not
sure how much they have in the brood box). Is that enough or should I
supplement it?
Many thanks!
Will
