I have about fifteen Photinia bushes of various sizes that are about to bloom. I just got my honeybees today and I am feeding them syrup. Will they stop/decrease their amount of syrup consumption and go for the Photinia flowers? Do they even bother going to flowers when they have syrup? Hope that wasn?t a silly question...
Thanks,
-LizzieBee
They will do both. They might slow down on the syrup if you have a heavy flow going but if they are packages on foundation or foundation less they will still consume the syrup to draw comb. I don't know if you are in a flow now or not.
Quote from: LizzieBee on April 08, 2018, 12:30:49 AM
Do they even bother going to flowers when they have syrup?
Generally in my area they will leave syrup and forage on flowers. I suppose it matters what flowers are available and the location of the hive. Observe for yourself and get back to us on their preference.
Lizzie,
Keep in mind that 15 bushes of any one kind of flowers is just a snack. It takes a lot of flowers to feed a hive.
Jim
The bushes are just starting to bloom so it?ll be a few days until they are all blooming. I?ll watch for how much syrup they consume.