Hi, I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to Episode 81 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. This week I’m looking at feeders for getting those all important stores into our colonies in time for the coming Autumn and Winter.Catch up with more of my beekeeping journey by checking out the continually growing content list on my Patreon page www.patreon.com/norfolkhoney

Welcome back everyone to another podcast and a special hello to everyone studying at Penn State University over in the USA, particularly, hello to my daughter Beth who’s studying at Penn State and who I’ve not seen since last Christmas although with Skype and FaceTime it sometimes feels like she never went away. Hi Beth, stay tuned cos I know you’re desperate to hear how I’m going to be feeding my bees this Autumn!

Before I get into the detail of the feeders here’s this weeks beekeeping update, a quieter week last week, colonies appear to have realised Summer is over and are settling down in preparation for the months ahead, not a single queen cell to be seen in any colony inspected and all of them appear to be queen right at long last. I did spend a hot sunny morning with Pete cutting away brambles from a neglected tractor at the Alpaca apiary. The tractor sits at the entrance to the apiary but for various reasons it hasn’t been used for a few years and Pete has had his eye on it for a while so I suggested to the owners they might like to move it on and that’s why Pete and I spent an hour cutting away brambles and nettles to reveal the tractor in all it’s glory. I have to say, I wouldn’t mind have a run around in it myself to cut down some of the nettles and thistles that have grown so high this summer, some of the thistles are six feet tall! I think they’ve done so well because the apiary also happens to be beside the alpaca poo pile, plenty of fertiliser feeding into the ground so everything is looking very lush.

Anyway, the plan is to get the tractor working again, it currently has a dead battery, and to then get the nettles, thistles and brambles around the apiary all chopped down before Pete makes off with the tractor, then at least I might be able to get a mower in and keep on top of it. The apiary also happens to be the last remaining orchard area of the old farm that once stood here and it’s full of pear trees, I’m hoping that if I can clear a few more trees we might get a crop of nice pears for next year. Maybe I’ll be allowed to have a drive of the tractor too, if that happens I’ll be sure to get the camera running as it’s likely to end badly, probably knocking hives and feeders full of syrup off stands!

With that thought in mind I should turn my attention to the main topic of today’s podcast that of feeders and feed for the bees in the Autumn. I guess firstly it would be useful to discuss why we feed at all during the Autumn months and it is fundamentally as a result of removing a honey crop from our bees. For me, it provides an income, albeit relatively small compared with many commercial bee farmers, and as such is an important part of my beekeeping practices. I know there are many hobbyist beekeepers who leave a super full of honey on their bees to overwinter and that’s fine, if you are one of those beekeepers then a lot of what I’m discussing simply won’t be relevant as you already have food stores set up on your hives. For other beekeepers who do want to take a honey crop from their bees for personal use or for friends and family it will probably mean reducing the amount of available food stores for your bees to what remains in the brood box unless of course you have had a good year and want to remove maybe just one or two supers and leave one behind for the bees. As with many tasks and processes in beekeeping there are many ways of doing things and provided you’re not reducing t