Miss

Hello all, I hope you dont mind answering a new beekeepers questions. I have top barre hives and one is so overcrowded, that I simply added a tunnel to a new hive as I am into hard fall time. It is so cold that I dont think it would be wise to try to split the hive. If I put sugar feed in there, do you think that the hive will find the food in the winter? I dont have anyone who could help me and so in desperation, I beg for help. Thanks so much, Gypsy.

Gypsy said:

Hello all, I hope you dont mind answering a new beekeepers questions. I have top barre hives and one is so overcrowded, that I simply added a tunnel to a new hive as I am into hard fall time. It is so cold that I dont think it would be wise to try to split the hive. If I put sugar feed in there, do you think that the hive will find the food in the winter? I dont have anyone who could help me and so in desperation, I beg for help. Thanks so much, Gypsy.

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you dont give an indication to where in the U.S.A. , however once the internal hive temperature goes below 10C they are unlikely to move much...

You don't give any indication of temperatures but if it is less than the temp. above you can feed fondant straight on top of the bars providing you have the space above to do it. The problem with top bar hives that are horizontal is the bees don't move sideways much when it is cold. You don't say what type of hive it is other than top bar. Warre hives are top bar but vertical boxes as opposed to horizontal so the bees move up which is their instinctive behavour as heat rises. Horizontal boxes can lose a lot of heat if you are in a place that gets really cold.

Thanks so much for your kind reply, if I calculate accurately, 5.5 Cel. my hive is full and appears to be half full of honey, last year for some unknown reason, both hives disappeared over night, I am trying to prevent that. I have a top bar hive which is appx 4 feet long, 1.3 meters. I only stocked one hive this year and they appear to be thriving but I read that I should not open it too often as the bees have sealed it closed with propylis. It is difficult to open as it really does appear sealed.

If it is already 5 degrees C there, it is colder than here. However my comparable TBH over winters successfully on less than half full of stores. I do put insulation over top bars, under the roof, and close off the floor. I will not open mine again until about March.
If the bees are now clustering, and they were as healthy as possible, before going into winter mode (viz varroa and nosema) , apart from keeping them cosy there is nothing more you can do. More local advice would be more helpful to you. In my view the tunnel idea is a non starter.
Last year they would not have absconded through starvation.

Margaret Elisabeth said:

You don't give any indication of temperatures but if it is less than the temp. above you can feed fondant straight on top of the bars providing you have the space above to do it. The problem with top bar hives that are horizontal is the bees don't move sideways much when it is cold. You don't say what type of hive it is other than top bar. Warre hives are top bar but vertical boxes as opposed to horizontal so the bees move up which is their instinctive behavour as heat rises. Horizontal boxes can lose a lot of heat if you are in a place that gets really cold.

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It is over half full, maybe 3/4.

which is their instinctive behavour as heat rises.-

Instinctive behaviour, yes, but not because it is warmer at the top. Think where the stores are positioned in relation to the brood nest. Totally back to front on the above premise.