MendozaMiel · Mendoza, AR · Swarms · Sep 18, 2026
Mendoza spring check-in: 1:1 stimulative feeding, first nucs before the flow and the spring mite wash — poke holes
Seven years, forty hives near Mendoza, Argentina, where mid-September is early spring. The poplars are giving pollen, the first Zonda came through last week — one afternoon at 30°C with a hot dry wind and then straight back to frosts — and the colonies are sitting at four to six frames of bees with queens laying nicely.
My plan for the next month, and I'd like the other southern people to poke holes in it: 1:1 syrup, a litre every three or four days for three weeks, to push brood before the flow; a pollen patty on the weaker ones; first nucs in early October from the strongest colonies (two frames of brood, one of stores, a shake of bees, grafted cells from my best queen); and an alcohol wash on everything now, treating anything over 1%.
Our main flow is alfalfa and clover from November. Is stimulative feeding before that just asking for swarms?
#southern-hemisphere#spring-buildup#stimulative-feeding#nucs#swarm-prevention
▲ 8 votes
💬 3 replies
BallaratBees · Sep 18, 2026
Ballarat, same spring rhythm. Yes, 1:1 before a November flow can push a strong colony into swarm mode by mid-October, so stay ahead of them with space — a drawn super on the big ones as soon as they're covering all frames — and treat the nucs as your swarm control, not just an increase. I only feed small amounts and only when the weather closes in for a week; pollen is what actually drives the brood here, and your poplars are doing that for you. Spring wash threshold is 1%, 3 per 300, and this is our first proper varroa spring in Victoria so I'm washing every colony too.
KiwiBeek · Sep 19, 2026
Wellington: I'd drop the syrup unless a colony is actually light. Stimulation from a feeder in a cold snap is a good way to get a big brood nest and then chilled brood when the frosts come back, which they will. Your nucs from the strongest colonies are the best swarm prevention there is — start weekly checks for cells from early October. On mites: anything over 1% I treat before supers go on, with a product that suits the temperatures; Apivar takes six weeks and eats into your flow, so plan the calendar now.
NalediBees · Sep 19, 2026
Spring here in Mpumalanga too, and the one thing I'd add is water. After a hot dry wind like your Zonda the colonies drink hard, and a brood nest you have pushed with syrup is exactly the one that suffers if the water source is far. Put a water station in the apiary before you start feeding, not after. Otherwise the plan reads fine — the mite wash first is the right order.
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