Why feed your bees in the fall?
Fall feeding honey bees may be necessary, depending on the climate where you live. For a lot of us there is a summer nectar dearth followed by a brief fall nectar flow followed by winter. This makes for limited resources for the bees going into winter, especially if you harvested most or all of their honey stores.
While some will swear to never feed the bees, natural bee keeping and all. For me, letting a good hive starve to death because of local weather or fauna problems is just plain dumb.
When to start fall feeding honey bees
Part of the answer is knowing your local climate. Typically around late August most of the continental US will want to start feeding. In warmer areas you can start with a thinner syrup (1:1) and switch to thicker syrup (2:1 or more) as the days grow shorter and cooler.
What to feed
Honey
While honey should be the first choice of feed, this will take a little work and some self control. Part of the problem for at least those of us using langstroth hives, is the different frame sizes from the honey supers to the brood nest. Which is why a lot of beekeepers are standardizing on medium boxes. This way you can set aside honey frames during the spring flow to give back to the hive in the fall.
Sugar Syrup
Otherwise, most bee keepers feed some sort of sugar syrup. Typically I would use a 1:1 (sugar to water) ratio in spring feeding of weak or new hives, in the fall as the days get cooler it is best to use 2:1 syrup. The bees can store is easier and with less work to evaporate the extra water.
Why not dry sugar?
The bees given a choice will typically haul the dry sugar out of the hive like trash. They prefer the syrup until it gets to cold to keep it from freezing, then they will be more likely to eat the dry sugar given no other options. When it turns cold I use sugar bricks, see below.
Why not pollen substitute?
Hives use pollen in the raising of young bees. As the fall progresses there will be fewer and fewer young bees in the hive. Feeding pollen substitutes as this time could cause an increase in egg laying and production of a lot of bees that might freeze to death because there aren’t enough nurse bees to cover them during brooding. Or if they make it to adulthood, cause the whole hive to deplete it’s resources before spring, killing the hive.
How to feed
Hive top feeder
One of the best ways to feed sugar syrup in the fall is to use a hive top feeder. This feeder goes on top of the hive bodies and is easily refilled as needed by just removing the hive top. It barely disrupts the bees and the progress they are making towards winter.
Most feeders of this type will have a way to keep the bees from drowning in the syrup. Either some sort of floating raft or a wire ladder to allow them to access the syrup. I mention this in case yours does not, this is a concern you need to address.
Here is the one I use on my 10 frame hives: hive top feeder
Frame feeder
Another way to feed is an in hive frame feeder. Remove a frame (or two) and replace with the feeder, then fill with syrup. Again this will have a ladder of some sort to allow the bees to access the syrup without drowning. This kind of feeder is a bit more intrusive to the hive since you have to fully open the hive and expose the bees and brood to the colder temperatures.
This is the one I purchased for use originally. I don’t use it as much as the hive top because it takes the place of two frames, which is two frames less stored honey. inside hive frame feeder
Open feeding
Open feeding is a food supply made available external to the hive and available to any and all comers. While this may work better in a larger bee yard, it can be problematic for a small bee keeper. Placing too close to the hives can cause robbing, too far away and your bees wont find it.
In addition, being external to the hive this setup is left unprotected and available to anything, bees, wasp, raccoons, neighbors dog, etc.
When open feeding, I use a chicken waterer with rocks added to trough to keep the bees from drowning and only fill with enough syrup to last the bees one day to avoid overnight critters. open feeder for bees
When to stop fall feeding honey bees
Put simply, when they stop taking the syrup or if the hive has reached the desired weight or the weather turns cold.
If they stop taking the syrup, this might be an indication they have enough stores which you should verify by weight. It also might mean you are using two thin (1:1) syrup and they would prefer something thicker. It might also mean they are having trouble with the feeder type you have chosen. If the hive hasn’t reached a reasonable weight, then try switching syrup consistency or feeder type and see if they resume taking feed. I have also heard suggestions of adding a little apple cider vinegar to the syrup as it will change the PH level and make it more palatable to the bees. Having not tried this myself, proceed at your own risk.
Weight is a better indicator because it insures the bees have enough stores. In warmer climates a colony could survive on as little as 40 lbs of honey. In colder northern climates, a colony needs 85 plus lbs of honey to survive the longer winters.
Final thoughts on fall feeding. I am a pessimist when it comes to the bees. We typically get a brief warm up in December, just before real winter starts in January. I use this period to add sugar bricks to the top of the hives to make sure the bees don’t starve in late winter. Sugar brick recipe
For other things needing to be done in the fall, check out my post on seasonal beekeeping tasks!