BBC recommend open feeding...

[pargyle]

I've probably been feeding them a Kilo of fondant a week since the start of April. I realised there was little forage and limited chance to get any available due to the weather so they were building up very fast and just l caught me out. 3 other colonies were almost dead when I opened them but I managed to revive the bulk of the bees with a spray of syrup on the comb but most of the slabs of brood was dead. A subsequent inspection shows that I saved 2 of the queens.
I agree that if the hives were in my garden I would likely have noticed earlier but looking after 90+hives over 17 Apiaries make more than weekly visits difficult.
In my 10 years of keeping bees I have never seen colonies so strong so early in my apiaries.

It happens ... I know beekeepers with hives in the garden that have missed the signs ..bees are unpredictable but we always blame ourselves when they starve - there is nothing sadder than a hive with dead bees and the last few with their bums stuck out of the cells desperate for the last microgram of food.

I must admit that my colonies are bigger coming out of winter than I've ever seen them - do you think the mild winter has slowed the winter die off and the relatively mild temperatures (down here in the South particularly) has resulted in the queens starting to lay, in earnest, much earlier than usual ?

 

[Newbeeneil]

I must admit that my colonies are bigger coming out of winter than I've ever seen them - do you think the mild winter has slowed the winter die off and the relatively mild temperatures (down here in the South particularly) has resulted in the queens starting to lay, in earnest, much earlier than usual ?

Yes, I’m convinced that was the case.

 

[Antipodes]

I agree that if the hives were in my garden I would likely have noticed earlier but looking after 90+hives over 17 Apiaries make more than weekly visits difficult.

Yes. Huge difference in managing home apiary bees and those a distance away and on multiple sites.

 

[B_north]

With Ukrainian hives hefting is impossible and with other styles if anyone has back, hip, or knee issues it is not advised. Many factors can affect the consumption of winter stores and catch beekeepers off guard. IMO, if many beekeepers in an area, such as is stated in the article, are saying their colonies are starting to starve it is likely that weather issues have some part to play rather than just beekeeper error.

I live in a very cold zone and even I open my hives periodically in the winter. I do have emergency feed on but I also have had bees that, after a very cold spell, find themselves having consumed the honey in the comb and arrived at the top of the frames. The cold returns within a couple of hours and they do not have the ability to re-locate on the remaining full frames. There they are, stuck up on the sugar bricks, at which time I need to open the hives periodically to monitor the speed of consumption of those bricks. With some hives this can mean I monitor from Jan. till spring.

IMO the long held belief that you must not open the hive in winter to check is too rigid, sure, don't start moving frames and digging around unless you feel you can fix whatever problem you might come across, but also don't follow the non opening rule so faithfully that you become scared to check once in a while during the winter.

 

[SWEET]

Results of all the early work (second super on this lot) - not for everyone but these weigh 30kg+ once finished.

 

[jarmo henttu]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-68935866.amp

Possibly Might be easier if us beekeepers just monitored and fed our bees accordingly I'm possibly being a bit harsh but losing colonies to starvation is beekeeper error imo and would also question if the bees can't get out to forage how are they to get out to these shallow bowls of sugar syrup that everyone should be putting out?

Makes no sense those shallow bowls.

Take care that the hive has two full frame of food all the time. It means 5 kg sugar. Give it with feeding box. It takes two day when bees suck the juice.