I will be getting 6 packages soon. I would like to know how much sugar syrup/feed i should have for each package?
I'd plan on feeding each a gallon or more depending on when things start blooming and how much they take. I always have sugar on hand for syrup.
For packages starting on foundation, I feed until they have 2 deeps of drawn comb. How much each takes depends on what's blooming. As Michael noted, just get in the habit of always buying sugar so you always have it on hand. I'd probably buy 10 lbs per package for starters.
Agree with the previous posts. Feed as much as they will take. They will stop when there is a good natural source of nectar. Your syrup ratio should be 1:1 (1 pint of water to 1 pound of sugar).
Last year when I started my packages in late April, each hive was going through a gallon about every 2 1/2 to 3 days!
Agree here too, I buy sugar in 25# bags at Wal-Mart. I use a gallon pickle jar on top of inner cover.
David
I have started to buy sugar in the #25 or #50 size range. Seems taht I use 20lbs at a crack, for seven hives. and they have honey stores from last years hive dieouts. They are taking half a gallon in a day and a half. Thirsty little gals.
Will they still take this much even if i use entrance feeders? I panned on using the inside frame feeders for 3 packages and entrance feeders for the other three to see which ones did better. The frame feeders are only about 1 gallon so does this mean that i am going to be filling that like every week?
Quote from: JordanM on April 16, 2009, 08:35:51 PM
Will they still take this much even if i use entrance feeders? I panned on using the inside frame feeders for 3 packages and entrance feeders for the other three to see which ones did better. The frame feeders are only about 1 gallon so does this mean that i am going to be filling that like every week?
More like every 5 days or so, mine like too take at least half a gallon in a day and a half, meaning the second day I need to put more in the jars, I now feed mine through a hole in the lid using 2 quart jars. I filled these last night around 5pm, its 8Pm today see how much went down, they are two quart jars. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/bettafan/DSCF1802.jpg I have to fill them again tommorrow.
I tried those frame feeders, I put screen in mine so the bees could get out, didn't seem to work so good it was full of dead bees. I threw it out. went to the jars. I had so much robbing with the entrance feeders those went away too.
Now that photo just brought a moment of clarity. Very cool way to do that, I'm not all that happy with the empty deep with a feeder in it method....
Do you run in to any issues with not having a tin cover on the cover? Or do you replace the top cover with an un-modified one once feeding season is over?
-T
I am just wondering if the top feeding method would introduce water into the hive on a rain storm? Other than that it looks like a good way to go. Boardman at the entry is an invite for robbing.
I can't see the picture that you're talking about but I have always fed my bees with a gallon jar inverted over the inner cover oval hole. If you fill the jar all of the way up, it takes very little to create a suction that prevents the syrup from dripping. Place the jar over the hole, put an empty deep around it, place a telescoping top cover on top, and a brick or two. Presto! No robbing and no rain. To check to see how much they are consuming, just lift the tele-top!
Quote from: Jack on April 17, 2009, 08:39:54 AM
I am just wondering if the top feeding method would introduce water into the hive on a rain storm? Other than that it looks like a good way to go. Boardman at the entry is an invite for robbing.
Hasn't yet , but what little there would be probly doesn't matter. the whole is just right and the jar neck plugs it up. I used a nice exterior paint so water just beads up on it so far. Only issue is that it may need replacing evey few years.
Here is a feeder that i through together tonight.
(http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6180/feeder.jpg) (http://img7.imageshack.us/my.php?image=feeder.jpg)
Will this work allright for the bees, it goes over the inner cover and you put a super over it and then the cover?
Looks great to me, no reason it won't work wonderfully. Your pretty handy with wood, wish I was.
I use one of these (http://www.roosterboosterproducts.com/product/084369) and crumple up a sheet of newspaper into a rope shape, then stuff it in the trough so the bees have a way to climb out. Fits inside a deep, so I put it on top of the inner cover then add an empty deep then the top cover.
Works like a champ.
i use those to mass feed away from the hives. i just put rocks in the dish ;-)
Quote from: MustbeeNuts on April 17, 2009, 09:06:22 PM
Looks great to me, no reason it won't work wonderfully. Your pretty handy with wood, wish I was.
Thanks i put together 6 in about 3 hours. I will proboly try these out and see how they work and maybe try a frame feeder in a few to.
Here is my modified frame feeder. I put a plexiglass window in the inner cover so you can see when the sugar water is getting low and a garden hose tube in the center to fill it back up when it is getting low. Now i do not have to open the hive to check the feeder or fill it up just look in the window and see how much is left.
The first picture shows the feeder through the window and the hose to fill the feeder up.
(http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9025/feeder2.jpg) (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=feeder2.jpg)
The second picture is the inner cover and window where you can see the feeder.
(http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7528/feeder1.jpg) (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=feeder1.jpg)
LOL looks like work to me Jordan, I still like my idea, on the top , pull, fill, put it back. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/bettafan/DSCF1802.jpg
Give the frame feeders to someone you don't like, all they do is drown bees. Tony
So far i only see 10 dead bees in the frame feeder and its gone down about 1/2 an inch.
The feeders that i built that sit ontop of the inner cover have only went down 1/4 of an inch. Under the lids there is a 3/4 inch gap is that to much for the bees to stand up and suck the syrup out of the jars?
That should be fine. From what I have observed, they don't stand up and drink from those jar feeders...they walk upside down and drink from it that way...so 3/4" is fine.
FYI: One of my new packages seems to go through 1-2 pints of 1:1 sugar water, and my other probably goes through 3/4 pint per day or less. The packages appreared identical, but one is obviously stronger than the other, and it is interesting to note that the stronger one is noticably more aggressive.
I have a buddy that uses a Styrofoam top feeder. On one side it has a clear plastic "L" shaped cover that runs vertically, down to the liquid. This forms the channel the the bees travel to get to the sugar water. The feeder must hold a good 3 + gallons of fluid or better. Unlike my top feeder, his Styrofoam feeder works extremely well. Few, if any drown bees. The feeder is Styrofoam so the sugar water seems to store quite well. It's pretty expensive, which is the down side. If it was 1/3 of the current price, I'd certainly buy several.
Ok, today i saw the bees bringing in some pollen so they maybe getting nectar from other places but the water is only down about an inch in each jar so i hope they are getting to it.