- Joined
- Jun 20, 2009
- Messages
- 2,428
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Kingsbridge, South Devon
- Hive Type
- None
- Number of Hives
- 0 - Now in beeless retirement!
I met a Bulgarian beekeeper this week who told me about his very simple way of feeding syrup.
He took a large plastic bag, the sort with a zip lock closure and filled it with sugar syrup. He then pricked a number of holes in one side with a pin and laid the bag, holes downwards, on the top frames. The bag was then covered with a spare hive body and the roof.
Big advantage of this method over a bucket and gauze is there is never any air in the bag so it is unaffected by changes in air pressure or temperature - which often cause the inverted bucket type feeders to leak. The holes need to be quite small I suspect.
The syrup does not leak out but drops form which the bees can feed on. I haven't obvously tried this myself yet but he swore it worked.
I guess any type of bag would work so long as the top was firmly closed.
He took a large plastic bag, the sort with a zip lock closure and filled it with sugar syrup. He then pricked a number of holes in one side with a pin and laid the bag, holes downwards, on the top frames. The bag was then covered with a spare hive body and the roof.
Big advantage of this method over a bucket and gauze is there is never any air in the bag so it is unaffected by changes in air pressure or temperature - which often cause the inverted bucket type feeders to leak. The holes need to be quite small I suspect.
The syrup does not leak out but drops form which the bees can feed on. I haven't obvously tried this myself yet but he swore it worked.
I guess any type of bag would work so long as the top was firmly closed.