Installed 2 ea. 3# packages on Tues. evening. Put a gallon of syrup in ea. hive top feeder. Queens were released day one. Plenty of activity midday yesterday and today. When do I have to check the feeders to be safe. Want to leave well enough alone. Seems to be going well. Thanks in advance for any tips. I am sure I will be asking lots of questions.
It is M.T. fill it up.doak
Odds are good that 1 gallon will spoil before the bees can use it all, though. Keep an eye out for nasty growth in the syrup.
For what its worth , I also have new packages, they use a quart in a day , I fill it up every night. so I would say 4 days if there really taking it. Unless its real cold. Its gone by 4pm.
But you didn't and we didn't ask what kind of nectar flow you have where your at.doak
It totally depends on your area, absolutely, what the nectar flow is like. When we have hived package bees in the third week of April before, we fed them for about 6 weeks. They consumed all the honey always given to them. I would say that they were using about 1 gallon per week, if memory serves well. I remember this because I was astounded that they would require so much. They were hived on foundation only. Didn't have any drawn foundation, that could have been possible. Beautiful and most wonderful day, Cindi
Hello and Welcome!
Glad you found our forum! This is a great place to learn about beekeeping.
First - to answer your question - "it depends". As others have noted, a quart a day is a rough average, but that is highly variable depending on things such as weather and what is blooming (nectar flow).
Second - please update your profile to include your location. Much of beekeeping is "location specific". Very often the answer to a question depends on WHERE you are.
Third - this forum has a great 'search' feature. Many times when I have a question, I do a search first and find that there are several threads which have already discussed it. Very useful if you want an immediate answer!
my 2 hives have each been consuming about a gallon per week since they were hived on april 4th. (slowed down a tad bit after the first 2 weeks)
I have zero flow right now in Northern Utah. Heck. It even snowed all day yesterday on May 1st.
They have been taking about a gallon per week. I've had my new packages hived about two weeks and just yesterday I fed them their 3rd gallons each.
I had 3 packages this year that sucked the syrup down in about 2 days. The only ones that are sluggish now are my 3 frame NUCs.....
Somewhere between an hour and six months... ;)
I fed my bees(2 hives) from last spring all summer long pretty much..They just kept eating it! One gallon would last about 2 to 3 days in my hive top feeders.
This spring, my new package is already not eating it anymore, and a split i did isnt eating it either...Its totally different from last spring.
your friend,
john
Quote from: Michael Bush on May 02, 2008, 10:29:07 PM
Somewhere between an hour and six months... ;)
I like your humor ,,, you sound like someone easy to get along with..
you can say things with a little humor ,, but not a mean humor.....
the kid
I have seen them suck down a quart of syrup overnight. I've seen them ignore syrup for months...
Reality is there isn't a right answer.
Yes, I was exaggerating a bit. ;)