feed or not to feed

[gwizzie]

Ok guys & girls,

I have put my strongest hive to its new home where there is loads of heather for them, my question is this as all my stuff is new and foundation is not drawn out on the supper frames so do I feed them a bit to help out or not, as I don't want my feed in the honey (if I get any).
The frame are also unwired ready to cut if they ever get filled up!

[Feckless Drone]

Well, I would not feed at this stage as long as I was sure they had sufficient stores around the brood and just let them get on with it. If the brood box frames are light on stores at this point and the weather is bad before the heather is in full flower then there could be issues. I think Margaret Thomas talks about this in last months SBA magazine where she mentions making sure the colony contains 1 or 2 good frames of stores (if I remember that bit right) placed on the periphery of the colony.

Can you tell us what state the heather is at on your site?

[gwizzie]

Can you tell us what state the heather is at on your site?

Hi thanks for your reply, the Bell heather is in full bloom I would say and it been like that for about one week maybe two. The Ling heather is not started yet, but checked a few bits yesterday and just starting to think about it...