bees and maple tree sap

stella · March 16, 2012, 07:05:52 PM

Hi all!
I started my first hive last spring and it looks like they made the winter just fine.

They appear to be sipping the sap from the maple trees I tapped. Do they drink it or store it?

Indiana Dave · March 16, 2012, 08:22:08 PM

I'm not sure, but several drowned in my maple buckets this year, especially toward the end of our season when it warmed up into the 60's at the beginning of the month.

iddee · March 16, 2012, 09:49:08 PM

It's too warm here to gather maple sap for syrup, but it is great for feeding bees very early in spring. And much cheaper than sugar.

Finski · March 17, 2012, 02:21:17 AM

.
practically the sap is water. In nature bees take only nectar which sugar content is over 9%.
Mapple sugar varies between 1-5%
In birch sugar content is 1-0,5%.

So in 100 litre sap you have 2 kg sugar.

Algonam · March 18, 2012, 08:46:11 AM

That's great news Stella (that your bees survived). Since we both started at the same time, probably similar climates but very far from each other, I've been wondering how you are doing.
My 2 new hives survived as well!
I expect the sap is more for water with a bit of sweetness since maple syrup has to be boiled from 40gallons down to get 1 gallon of syrup. As kids, we used to break off the sap icicles and I remember tasting the sweetness. I am currently feeding our bees fondant by putting it is a plastic sandwich container upside down over the 3" feeder hole on the top cover. They seem to love this. I also switched my insulation to pink fiberglass for over top of this in an empty super.
My issue with this warm weather is the bees are buzzing everyone around, up to 1,000 ft away. This reaches the neighbouring property. We still have 1 foot of snow but the temps are like May this weekend. I expect the mild weather is making them think there are apple blossoms or lilac blooming and maybe they are searching for anything. The neighbours are a bit annoyed and are swatting them!

This is my first Spring with bees, so I don't know if this normally happens every Spring, or is it the unusual warm weather all of a sudden.
Maybe an experienced "Northern" beekeeper can help answer this question......

gardeningfireman · March 18, 2012, 10:14:26 AM

I have a maple stump where I cut down the tree last fall. It was covered with watery sap last week and about 100 bees were gathered there drinking it. That lasted for 2 days, then they stopped. I was told that after a short while, the sap gets really bitter and isn't any good any more.

Finski · March 18, 2012, 11:43:58 AM

.
From one thing to another...

We have here common woodpecker Dendrodopos major.
It hits small holes into birch branch. When sap drills, flyes come to suck the sap.
Then woodpecker catches those flyes from sap.

SEEYA · March 18, 2012, 08:00:11 PM

>>practically the sap is water. In nature bees take only nectar which sugar content is over 9%

I don't know about honeybees gathering sap. My opinion is; thin soup is better than no soup at all. :-D

Finski · March 19, 2012, 02:38:49 AM

.soup is soup but water is not soup.

Sap will become soup when it is full of bacterial growth. You need not much eys to see what happens to sap in nature.

Soup at all......bees have their sugar stores in the hive and bees do not need any sap.
So simple.

When bees move syrup from feeder to the combs and cap it, they use 24% out of sugar to process the store.

Do you think that 3 % sugar is easier to process. It will -20% negative. So simple is that.

As said, bees should carry 100 litre sap to the hive to get 2 kg sugar. Then they should ventilate 98 litre water off.

..

BlueBee · March 19, 2012, 02:44:24 AM

Are those wood peckers in Finland smart enough to know that drilling as hole in a birch tree will attract flies for them to eat? That is pretty smart! I don't think our wood peckers are that smart.

stella · March 19, 2012, 03:25:28 PM

Thank you all for your input.
I liked the info on the woodpeckers too. Very interesting how nature provides for itself.

Hi Algonam! I am happy your bees also survived the mild winter. I added an extra super last fall and dumped in dry sugar. It worked well and they had taken most of it when I peeked in there early last month. So I added more just in case until Im sure it is really spring...we can be easily fooled when the temps hit near 80 here. My bees are also making the rounds. No complaints so far. PM me if you like.

Finski · March 19, 2012, 04:19:19 PM

Quote from: BlueBee on March 19, 2012, 02:44:24 AM
Are those wood peckers in Finland smart enough to know that drilling as hole in a birch tree will attract flies for them to eat? That is pretty smart! I don't think our wood peckers are that smart.

that woodpecker is a smart guy. Its distribution is from the whole Europe to Siberia, China. Japan and Vietnam.

jajtiii · March 21, 2012, 12:14:42 AM

They do that every year.

When you have a warm day in Jan/Feb, the sap oozes from the maples. It gives them a 'nectar' source. It's some of the darkest nectar you will see them store, if you happen to go in when it is happening.

Woodpecker holes ooze when it first warms up. The maple will seal it off by April. I have no idea if they would still be attracted to it when the normal flow is on. I don't even know if the maple would even ooze then. I just know it doesn't.