Bee's not taking sugar

[EdNewman]

Hi All, I'm in the middle of doing my varoa treatment and my bees are in need of feeding. I have got thick syrup in a rapid feeder, but despite running some of the syrup down into the frames the bees are not finding it. Anything else I can do to tempt the up?

I have

Floor with varoa tray in
BB
eke with api-guard
crownboard
rapid feeder in super
sealed crown board above

Cheers,
Ed.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Some bees are reluctant to take syrup when being treated with thymol,mine take it just fine though,they are all thymol junkies.

 

[For want of a better word]

Put thymol in the syrup.... Mr Hivemakers recipe...... bet thoze little buzzerz will find it then!!!

 

[rae]

Never had a problem with bees troughing syrup - unless there is a decent flow on. Have you got balsam or ivy around in abundance?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Do you have a frame feeder to try if they are desperate? Just guessing they may take that more readily than cross the thymol line

 

[Appinpiper]

My bees are taking syrup and I am treating at the same time. It is strange that the strips of the treatment are covered with bees. The only thing that I have noticed is that they are a little more bad tempered but how much of this is due to the Thymol treatment and how much is to do with the crap weather? The bees have been flying in the gales and the rain but in fewer numbers.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Ed, how long have the feeders been on?

Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the bees to get the message. If you have some of your honey, you could dribble a bit down the feeder; syrup doesn't smell much - unless it ferments and then it needs throwing.

If the Apiguard is close to the feeder, it will also put them off.

 

[Eyeman]

The bees may be reluctant to feed when there is something wrong with them. I've heard it said that significant nosema can put them off taking down thymolated syrup.
Alec

 

[biglongdarren]

hey i had the same problem yesterday with one hive,had the apiguard on with an eke and the bees werent finding the feeder,they were very light so i took the eke away and just placed the crownboard on top of the apiguard with the feeder on top of the crownboard,bees were into the feeder in minutes,will place the eke back on this evening hoping they know where the feeder is now...
Darren

 

[EdNewman]

Thanks for the replys so far. The syrup has been on since the weekend, and the bees seem fine, even with the api-guard on.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't put the rapid feeder straight on to the top of the bb frames rather than a crown board? Just thinking they may be struggling to find the feeder with the eke gap filled with api-guard fumes?

Cheers,
Ed.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

The bees may be reluctant to feed when there is something wrong with them. I've heard it said that significant nosema can put them off taking down thymolated syrup.
Alec

"

I've heard that bees won't feed with nosema too - not sure where though.