New Beekeeper - Should feed be changed??

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

honey

New Bee
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
Location
Kent
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
1
Hi everyone,

I've had my small cast a few weeks now & have been feeding them sugar syrup with a rapid feeder, as instructed by the person I inherited them from.

I've been checking it every 3-4 days and most of the feed has gone by then, so I've been re-filling accordingly. I have been finding a couple of drowned bees occasionally, but was told this is normal. I've been thinking this might be because I was re-filling too quickly and not giving the bees at the liquid level time to get out of the way? So now I'm doing it ever so slowly and hopefully that will make a difference.

My question is - so far I've just been topping up or re-filling, but should I be removing the feeder and cleaning it occasionally? Would any drowned bees contaminate the feed for the others?

I've fished them out & disposed of them, but there was some funny clear foamy/frothy stuff attached to them that seemed to be coming out from their behinds!! Don't get me wrong, it's only been the odd one or two, but I'm worried it will contaminte the feed.

So do you think I should be cleaning out the feeder and if so, how often?

Thanks
 
I clean out the feeders every time i refill just to be on the safe side. It only takes a few minutes. I've found that mould can grow on the inside. To prevent drowning bees I always invert the feeder to one side of the hive before I put it on the cover board. That prevents the initial flood of syrup going in to the hive and locks the vacuum in.
 
I To prevent drowning bees I always invert the feeder to one side of the hive before I put it on the cover board. That prevents the initial flood of syrup going in to the hive and locks the vacuum in.

This is a top feeder not a rapid feeder.

I always clean my feeder before filling, black mold tends to grow on the sides if not.


Dave
 
This is a top feeder not a rapid feeder.

This is a rapid feeder....not a contact feeder.:rolleyes:
 

At least i got the bit about it not being a rapid feeder right


It is a rapid feeder.
 
One of the sad facts of beekeeping is that bees to get killed via our best efforts.

Try not to worry.

PH
 
Hi Hive maker.

It just sounded a lot like the method i use for my contact feeder.

Originally Posted by keithgrimes
"To prevent drowning bees I always invert the feeder to one side of the hive before I put it on the cover board. That prevents the initial flood of syrup going in to the hive and locks the vacuum in."

I did not realise there was a vacum in a rapid feeder.

Sorry to cause any confusion.


Dave
 
Think your confusing yourself Dave.....OP is using a rapid feeder.
 
Hivemaker


Now i know were we have gone wrong.

My original post was to keithgrimes letting him know that the op was a rapid feeder and not a contact feeder as he described in his post, this is why i included a quote from his reply in my post.:banghead:


You thought i was correcting the OP.

Dave
 
No.....because you imformed Kieth that he OP feeder was a top feeder....not a rapid feeder.....it is a rapid feeder.
 
Ehrmmmmmm,

I think a 'contact' feeder is being described, although it is indeed a rapid delivery (esp if you dont get the vacuum right:biggrinjester:).

A rapid feeder being a bottom entry device that has a high bee/feed contact area contained within it, small ones with a central cone big ones being of the 'miller' variety.

For what it's worth I go for Miller style rapids (or small circular ones if I am administering a treatment) over a contact any day.

:smash:
 
I think a 'contact' feeder is being described,

By who....certainly not the OP.:biggrinjester:
 
No, i informed keith that his description was of a top feeder or a contact feeder as you rightly corrected me, and not of a rapid feeder as in the OP.

The reason for adding quotes from other posts is so people can see what we are commenting on, if i was commenting on the OP i would not have taken the time to cut and paste from keiths post.


Dave
 
But they both feed from the top,one is called rapid,one is called contact,lol:laughing-smiley-014
 
Oh no......another post by Keith.....thread should be good for another twenty posts now...:party:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top