Some friends are harvesting apples and pears and juicing them and they asked me whether it would be OK to feed the bees the juice.
Temperatures in the daytime are 60 to 65 and nights are 41 to 48 so nights are a bit cool for liquid.
However it was more of a question of the advisability of feeding them juice rather than was the temperature OK.
Two thoughts;
There's sugar in them, yellow jackets love to tackle an apple on the ground.
Sprays?
I don't see why not. It would be more natural than sugar water. I might check to see what they were sprayed with first though.
They are completely organic fruit.
I would think twice on a couple of counts:
- While yellow jackets feed on ripe fruit, I've never heard of honey bees or bumblebees doing so, which makes me think it is not a suitable food for them for some reason - may cause dysentery or something?
- fruit juices at room temperature (or warmer, as in a feeder over a hive) ferment very quickly, in my experience - also probably not good for the bees.
Honeybees don't feed on apples because of the skin but if you juice them they will go for it.
My second yard is on a veriety of fruit trees. when the birds start picking them the bees are all over them. they love it because when the fruit rippin there is so little blooming they use it. I don't have to worry about them because of this. they will suck a fruit dry in about a hour if the skin is broken by the birds. I'll try and get some photos of this next year if i dont forget.
john
Well, I take it back! You learn something new about bees all the time - thanks!
Can't speak for apples or pears - but my girls love ripe windfall plums after the ****** birds have pecked holes in 'em. Unfortunately, so do the wasps ...
I think the only slight caution is to watch out for fermentation - if that can be avoided, then go for it !
LJ
Funny you should say that LJ. I have to pick our plumbs early before they are perfectly ripe to beat the birds, squirrels, wasps and every darn creature that loves plumbs. We lay them out on the dining room table for a week or so. Then when the fruit flys come we know they are ripe. Of course we are sampling as time goes on. Then they are put into the refrigerator to stop the ripening process and canned at a later date. If we don't do this we will lose every one on the tree. Been there, done that. Peaches and cherries are even worse.
I did not have any figs this year because of a late freeze but does anyone know if they will go after figs this way?
If its sweet and sugary. They will find it. Cut some in half and place on table in front of hives and see.
John
The solids in juice aren't very good for bees. That said, mine do work the rotting pears when the goldenrod gives out, but until then they tend to ignore them. I would not purposely feed fruit juice to bees. I've done it, and it gives them dysentery and I suspect it shortens their lives.
What is bee dysentery?
He means 'diarrhoea' - loose stools. Much brown stuff seen smeared over the front of the hive.
Strictly speaking, dysentery is diarrhoea resulting from an infection - but beekeepers often use the terms interchangeably.
LJ
Quote from: bwallace23350 on October 03, 2016, 09:51:33 AM
I did not have any figs this year because of a late freeze but does anyone know if they will go after figs this way?
Yes they do.
I have seen bees going nuts out the back of a local grocer where they had a lot of spoilt fruit. A worker there said the bees are always there over the fruit.
How does it effect the flavor of the honey?
I imagine it would have some effect as flavour is determined by what has been foraged. To what extant or what flavour I do not know. Could be worth experimenting so long as it's not the only source of forage, as mentioned the girls get the runs.
Interesting that bees are feeding on apples, my hives are on the edge of the orchard at our farm (3500 apple trees). The varieties are mostly ones that are no longer commercially viable so the fruit if left on the trees for the birds and what ever else wants them.
Only had my bees 12 months but I haven't noticed bees feeding on apples, possibly because there is so much fruit available or maybe because last season they still had other options with a little still in bloom while the apples were available to them.
I will certainly be keeping an eye on them if we get a late summer early autumn dearth.
I have heard that bees can't cut into the fruit with their jaws. But if the yellow jackets has already done it, they can take the juice. I haven't seen this first hand, though.