I'm feeding two hives with sugar water. The syrup has not been taken in Hive #1 as much the last few days and the odor from it is like a fermented smell. I'm thinking I should take that away, but I'm hesitating because it will take sooooooo long for the bees to leave it, so I can clean/wash it.
It's a B-MAX and there's a red tint inside......
What do you think?
Thnx
I think your bees will enjoy a night on the town, free booze included.
My bees drink fermented sugar syrup with no problems that I have seen.
Thank you for the reply. As it is now October, I'm getting concerned about the on-set of colder weather and how long I should leave these top feeders on. We've got several days coming with raw, cloudy, & rainy weather. The next nice sunny day, I am thinking that I'll remove the top feeders, and get ready for the winter.
But I've read soooooo many different ways to do this, I'm wondering how best to do it.
Each of my 2 hives has 3 deep hive bodies, & shallow super. At last inspection, 2 weeks or so ago, both hives had brood and stores [some capped some not] in the second hive body. Third supers were in various stages of being drawn. Shallows have capped honey in middle frames.
These hives are in a place where I can easily build a wind break, I could apply small lights for supplimental heat, as power is right there....
Moisture moisture moisture....that is my bugabu of what to do.
Dave
Once thing you need to do is reduce them down as much as possible making sure there is no empty frames above them. As the cluster moves up during the winter, they will starve if they move straight up to an empty frame, even if there is stores right next to them.
Depending on how much stores they have, you may need to feed them. If you are concerned with moisture, I would not feed anymore syrup.
Supplemental heat would not hurt, if nothing else, it gives them a little more ability to move to stores.
Thank you..I'll make an itemized ist of my observations when I open the hives...then I'll post those here.
I'm liking the idea a little warmth from a light, and the stacking of newspapers to wick the moisture. Is the newspaper placed above the inner cover, or put directly on the frames of the top body?
Quote from: Creamhorses on October 01, 2009, 10:28:30 AM
Is the newspaper placed above the inner cover, or put directly on the frames of the top body?
Place it above the inner cover, on either side of the hole (don't block the hole). If you use newspaper, you need to keep an eye on it and may need to change it.