这是俺的原文。

http://bees.msu.edu/2015/to-feed-or-not-to-feed/

This is the question for us beekeepers. A recent study from Beeinformed group (linked here) says that colonies would actually have higher mortality, if bees are fed with honey, compared with those fed with sugar (via sugar boards) or nothing! This is rather intriguing but perhaps because feeding honey (usually from deadout colonies) might transmit nosema, AFB, etc.

A student said I would be killing my bees “because bees wont have a chance to seal their cracks with propolis” this time of the year. Well, yesterday, I fed my bees.

In the first yard, where we had 8 colonies, 4 were alive. I moved the honey supers to those still alive — the bees were already on the top, near the inner cover anyway. They for sure will die from starvation in a month if I do not give them food. Giving them sugar board might be a better idea, but then that is much more work compared to just lifting a super from a neighboring colony.

At home yard (MSU field lab), out of 4 overwintered colonies, 2 were still alive. One was actually inside a single medium box! They of course will run out of food soon, but I was surprised that they lasted this long.

The worse case: out of 13 colonies only 3 survived. Many of these were too weak anyway and they should have been united around end of Sept. Another half died from starvation, they did not have 60 lbs of honey on top of them.

So out of 25 colonies, 9 are alive. I plan to provide them with pollen patties in 2-3 weeks and expect to make splits out of them. I will need to purchase 10 to 15 packages to make the total colonies close to 40. This year’s package price is about $105 for 2 lbs of bees.

I should have done it on Saturday, it was 38F, but there was a MBA meeting that morning, and then I worked in my office until 5 ish.  On Sunday it was supposed to be 34 when I left but by the time I finished the 2nd yard and got into my car, it said 32 and then 27 when I got home (only 10 min! Not sure why the temperature dropped that fast). Still, I believe I might have 2-3 left in the spring if I did not give them food today.  Of course I do not have a proper control group (not giving them food) and see if feeding really made a difference.

Photos taken by a cell phone (Samsung S3) and I did not adjust for exposures…Snow is a bit dark — but actually matching what I saw that day.

1. A yard in Okemos. Dead ones counting from left: 1, 2, 3, and 6.

2. This colony should be strong enough to pull through. The cluster is not all way to the top yet so it looks smaller. It was about 34 F when I checked them.

3. Another shot of the same apiary as #1. here the first 2 colonies (dead) were not shown. Counting from left, #2, 3, 5, are 6 are survivors here.

4. I had to walk about 20 min to the lab from here….too much snow for me to drive in, and I had trouble even just to open the gate due to the drifted snow near the gate.

5. A sign of nosema disease (mostly like to due to Nosema ceranae, because Nosema apis shows up only in 5% of bees, if the bees have spores). but this colony survived.  The top super was transferred from another (dead) colony.

6. This one also had nosema but it died. you can see the cluster between the 2nd and 3rd frame from the right side. The cluster was too small.

7. The view of all 13 colonies. Number 3, 12, and 13 are survivors.

Related post:

Feeding bees in the snow, January 19, 2012.

First glimpse of bees, Feb. 27, 2013

可是， 古狗竟然翻成这么烂的中文。。。

这对我们来说是养蜂人的问题。从Beeinformed组（最近的一项研究在这里挂 ）说，克隆实际上有较高的死亡率，如果蜜蜂喂蜂蜜，与那些用糖（白糖，通过董事会）或没有喂养相比！这是相当有趣的，但也许是因为喂食蜂蜜（通常从deadout殖民地）可能传递微孢子虫，空军基地等。

一个学生说，我会杀了我的蜜蜂“，是因为蜜蜂不会有机会封住他们的裂缝用蜂胶”每年的这个时候。好了，昨天，我喂我的蜜蜂。

在第一个院子里，在那里我们有8个菌落，4人还活着。我搬到蜂蜜超类那些还活着 - 蜜蜂已经在上面，内盖附近的反正。他们肯定会死于饥饿一个月，如果我不给他们食物。给他们糖板可能是一个更好的主意，但就是这一比例仅为起吊从邻近的殖民地超级更多的工作。

在家里的院子里（MSU领域的实验室），开出4越冬的殖民地，2人仍然活着。其中一个竟是内单一介质盒！他们当然会耗尽食物很快，但我很惊讶，他们持续了这么久。

最坏的情况：出13个殖民地只有3人生还。其中许多太弱无论如何，他们应该已经团结在九月结束的另一半死于饥饿，他们没有60磅蜂蜜在它们上面。

所以出了25殖民地，9个还活着。我计划为他们提供花粉肉饼在2-3周，预计使分裂了出来。我需要购买10〜15包，使总菌落接近40今年的套餐价为105美元2磅蜜蜂。

我应该在周六做了，这是38F，但早上有一个MBA会议，然后我曾在我的办公室，直到5十岁上下。上周日就应该是34，当我离开，但被我完成了第二个院子，钻进我的车的时候，它说32，然后27，当我回到家（只有10分钟！不知道为什么气温下降得那么快） 。不过，我相信，我可能有2-3个左右的春天，如果我今天没有给他们食物。当然，我没有一个适当的对照组（不给他们食物），看看是否真的喂养做了区别。

采取手机（三星S3）的照片，我没有调整曝光......雪是有点暗 - 但实际上符合我所看到的那一天。

1.在奥克莫斯A码。死的人从左侧计数：1，2，3，和6。

2.本殖民地应该是强大到足以渡过难关。集群是不是所有的方式顶端又那么它看起来更小。它是关于34女性，当我检查他们。

3.另一个镜头一样养蜂场为＃1 。这里的前2菌落（死）的未示出。由左，计数＃2 ，3，5，是6顷幸存者这里。

4.我只好从这里步行约20分钟到实验室... .too大的雪让我在开车，我遇到了麻烦，甚至只是为了打开门，由于门附近的漂流雪。

5.微粒子病的标志（主要是想向因微孢子ceranae，因为微孢子虫的API显示了蜜蜂只在5％左右，如果蜜蜂有孢子）。但这个殖民地存活。顶超是从另一个（死）菌落转移。

6.这其中也有微孢子虫，但它死了。可以看到第二和第三帧之间的集群从右侧。群集是太小了。

7.所有的13个殖民地的观点。号3，12，和13是幸存者。

相关帖子：

饲养在雪地里，蜜蜂 2012年1月19日。

蜜蜂第一次看到 ，2013年2月27日

最后， 最近秀华体比较时髦也， 也有一个：

其实，喂你和不喂你是差不多的，
BIP说， 喂了蜜糖， 你会死的更多

但是， 我是仁慈的
喂了， 就是尽了全力
虽然我知道
我不是上帝

眼泪冻在了脸上
是太冷？
还是因为你们的大多数已经死了

我走过及膝的大雪去喂你

我把一个老蜜留在家里去喂那么多的你

农药在增多， 花儿在减少

气候在变化

病毒猖狂  寄生虫在你身上唱歌

而这些