Bees not finding feeder...

[DRam]

Hi,

We have just got our first swarm. We were advised not to feed the colony for the first 3 days and then give it sugar syrup until the comb is drawn out and the colony is stronger.

I have used an 'English feeder' which is sat in a super and over a hole in the crownboard, above the queen excluder which is above the brood chamber.
The plastic feeder cup-cover is there to stop bees escaping the brood chamber into the feeder.

I know there are bees on the underside of the crown board, but 6 hours after putting the sugar syrup in the feeder, the bees have not yet found the syrup.

There is plenty of activity from the hive entrance, bees are flying in and out, but I'd be happier if they were feeding from the feeder.

Is this unusual or do they take a while to find it? I will check again to tomorrow, but if I am doing something daft it would be really useful to know and sort it when I am there.

Thanks

 

[pnkemp]

I’ve been told to dribble a bit of syrup down the hole and the bees will follow it back up.
Having said that, I’m new and only done it once and I’ll find out tomorrow if it worked.

 

[Swarm]

Take the excluder off.

 

[pargyle]

Take the excluder off.

Yes .. but it begs the question why is there a queen excluder above the brood box and below the crown board anyway ?

 

[iann41]

maybe they don't want the Q laying in the roof

 

[drex]

Yes, as said, dribble a little syrup through the hole in the crown board. I usually sit the feeder straight on top of the frames, and surround it with an empty super, then crown board ( no holes), then roof.

 

[DRam]

Thanks for the replies.

Visited the hive this morning and there were 3 bees feeding on the sugar syrup, when they left the feeder there was no more bees for a minutes or so, and then the odd one or two, so if I had opened the feeder at the wrong time I might have thought they still hadn't found it. The clips on YouTube show a full cup with loads of bees in and out and I guess that's what I was expecting.

We are behind a market nursery, with green houses within 50m, so maybe the sugar syrup isn't as appealing as what is on their door step.

To reply to some of the points... because I'm keen to find learn from other's experiences.

Swarm and pargyle, regarding the queen excluder, its sitting on top of the brood box as I didn't think it would make any difference as the queen won't be the one going for the syrup. I could remove it but why would it make a difference?
The crown board is above the queen excluder/brood box to stop bees going into the empty super and to only give access to the feeder. I was advised while the feeder is sitting in an empty super to keep the bees out as they might start building comb where it isn't wanted, and at this stage they need to be drawing out comb on the new frames/foundation below.

Drex - thanks for the reply, i would have done this next but for the fact they have found the feeder.

Thanks all.

 

[StephenT]

I’ve got rapid feeders on both a hived swarm and a re-queened split to help them build comb. The split is consuming it at a rapid rate whilst the swarm seem quite disinterested. Have dribbled some down the inside of the feeder hole and a few came up but can’t keep their interest. Will check to see how their comb building is going and could try a contact feeder if they need it.

 

[drdrday]

Hello DRam - In my (brief!) experience bees are reluctant to go through a queen excluder at first. For instance, if you don't have have drawn comb, and only have foundation in your supers it's usually a good idea to let the bees get used to going up there and starting to draw the comb before you put the queen excluder on.
Storing your QE excluder between the brood box and the feeder might be more convenient for you, but it seems to make more difference to the bees than you'd imagine. They'll go through happily once they have a reason to do so, but if not they'll naturally avoid it.
I also scoop a little of the syrup in the feeder cup and dribble it down through the hole into the hive to let them know it's there. However, even doing this, as you said yourself, sometimes it takes a while to get their interest if there is already a good flow on in the area. Once they do find it though, they are usually there in pretty big numbers!

 

[DRam]

StephenT & drdrday,

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, I'll remove the excluder later today.

As you say I don't need to just store it there and I didn't think it would make a difference, but this is why forums like this, where people can share their experiences, are so useful.

Best wishes,

 

[Swarm]

I've never had a problem with bees accessing supers through a queen excluder but they are entering a large space and not a small hole in the feeder, it's just an unnecessary obstacle.
As for laying in the roof, there is a crown board on top.