fall feeding

[rober]

i read the posts about adding vinegar to sugar syrup. michael bush had robbing in his yards when he used vinegar. if i try open feeding 300 ft from my hives is that far enough away to prevent robbing? all my hives are evenly matched strength & stores wise & i put entrance reducers on all the hives. i'm interested in encouraging the bees to take as much syrup as possible since all hives are low on stores thanks to the drought we're having & it's looking like an early fall is already cooling things down so i'm not sure how much longer i can feed them syrup.

[T Beek]

300'/100 yards, that's the rule of thumb I've always heard and adhered to when open feeding. 

Had an early start this year as the goldenrod blahed out early September.  Been open feeding ever since.  My 5 colonies are consuming a couple gallons a day any time the temps are in the 60's.  Did a heft test yesterday and all are heavy so the time frame has likely ended for open feeding up here, although I may yet have to feed inside before it gets "really" cold. 

[rober]

i have plenty of floats in the buckets but there still bees drowning. some are too coated with syrup to fly.

[T Beek]

I used straw for many years with good results, very few drowned.  I also use a 'fitted' wooden float with 1/4 inch holes drilled throughout, fits a 5 gallon bucket.  It just rests on the syrup and as bees feed, slowly goes down to the bottom. 

Both work equally well for open feeding but the wooden float drowns more bees than just plain old hay or straw........... Tried those little packing peanuts once.........they 'roll' drowning bees so I went back to hay.