Bees not hungry?

[Andymon]

Hi I am a new beekeeper and just purchased a nuc and everything appears fine. I was advised to put a 50:50 sugar:water feed in the hive. My bees do not seem to like my feed. Could they just not be hungry or could my feed be to sweet/not sweet enough?

 

[Anduril]

Have you placed the feeder over the hole in the crownboard to allow access and have you dribbled the sugar syrup onto the bees using the hole?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

what sort of feeder are you using? Bees cannot 'smell' sugar syrup so you have to give them a hint it's there - if you are using a rapid feeder you need to trickle a little bit of syrup down the side of the entrance of the feeder.
Although, maybe there's a flow on and they would much rather the nectar they're foraging.

 

[Andymon]

Have you placed the feeder over the hole in the crownboard to allow access and have you dribbled the sugar syrup onto the bees using the hole?

what sort of feeder are you using? Bees cannot 'smell' sugar syrup so you have to give them a hint it's there - if you are using a rapid feeder you need to trickle a little bit of syrup down the side of the entrance of the feeder. Although, maybe there's a flow on and they would much rather the nectar they're foraging.

what sort of feeder are you using? Bees cannot 'smell' sugar syrup so you have to give them a hint it's there - if you are using a rapid feeder you need to trickle a little bit of syrup down the side of the entrance of the feeder. Although, maybe there's a flow on and they would much rather the nectar they're foraging.

 

[Andymon]

The holes in the crown board are not blocked. However I was aware that I was to trickle some syrup through the crown board holes, I shall try that today, don’t want to disturb them too much

 

[BoStor]

The holes in the crown board are not blocked. However I was aware that I was to trickle some syrup through the crown board holes, I shall try that today, don’t want to disturb them too much

 

[BoStor]

Got a smallish colony installed 6 weeks ago and all doing well with 70% full brood & super added and most frames with drawn comb. Fed them 1pint and they only used 1/2 of next pint so stopped. Am I correct?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The holes in the crown board are not blocked. However I was aware that I was to trickle some syrup through the crown board holes, I shall try that today, don’t want to disturb them too much

what sort of feeder are you using?

 

[Anduril]

Got a smallish colony installed 6 weeks ago and all doing well with 70% full brood & super added and most frames with drawn comb. Fed them 1pint and they only used 1/2 of next pint so stopped. Am I correct?

You are feeding sugar syrup with a super on, have they stored syrup in the super frames, which will taint your honey?
It is better to remove the feeder now and allow them to build up to 8 frames of brood in a deep national, before adding a super.

 

[BoStor]

You are feeding sugar syrup with a super on, have they stored syrup in the super frames, which will taint your honey?
It is better to remove the feeder now and allow them to build up to 8 frames of brood in a deep national, before adding a super.

You are feeding sugar syrup with a super on, have they stored syrup in the super frames, which will taint your honey?
It is better to remove the feeder now and allow them to build up to 8 frames of brood in a deep national, before adding a super.

Stopped feeding before adding super.

 

[Anduril]

Stopped feeding before adding super.

How many frames of brood and did you have before adding the super?

 

[BoStor]

How many frames of brood and did you have before adding the super?

7&1/2 frames brood before super and now all frames with brood.

 

[Anduril]

Thanks for that, you were correct to stop when you did.

 

[Andymon]

Thanks for the replies and of course your knowledge, after trickling the feed through the crown board the bees then took the feed