ok to give bees rapid syrup feed now?

[cstroud]

Hi,
any thoughts on this? I have a couple of colonies that seem to have very little stores, and to am a little concerned that they could starve before theres any real nectar around.

I have been giving them a slow syrup feed through a contact feeder, but wonder if they would benefit from access to a gallon or two? I think its warm enough- they should'nt get dysentry should they? ratio 2lbs sugar to 1lb water- correct?

would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

Chris

 

[Finman]

.

Feeder works fine if they take. but if they don't

I use to pour small quantities into combs directly.

If I need to feed 5 kg sugar as syrup, I pour it to the combs and put those combs into box and then under the brood box. It takes some says that bees lift the syrup to the upper box.

I manage bees only at weekends and it is not sure if bees take in time syrup from feeder. The empty box can be under the brood box several days.

It is better to be a good day because bees start to fly quite much.

 

[mbc]

I think its fine to feed bees syrup pretty much anytime of the year that they will take it the only concerns being you mustnt get any sugar syrup into your supers

 

[Bcrazy]

I will bee feeding my colonies on Monday or Tuesday next week.

 

[Finman]

I think its fine to feed bees syrup pretty much anytime of the year that they will take

For winter I feed once and in summer they ought to find nectar even to me.

To feed sugar any time to hives makes a huge yield. Good business.
It is better to give fructose. No one finds out where it comes from.

.

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi cstroud
You mention a ratio of 2 to 1 that will give you a sugar concentration of 61.5 % this will cause the bees a bit more work to ripen it to 80% for storing and sealing. I will be using a mixture of 1 to 1 which gives a sugar concentration of 50% which the bees can metabolise into energy to help them in wax production cleaning out of old pollen etc. I will be using rapid feeders because I do not and wont have contact feeders they are too messy.

 

[cstroud]

Hi mbc,
I don't think thats the case- I was always told not to give bees syrup in winter because they can get dysentry which is why we give them candy. Good point about syrup in the supers though- I had thought about this- and am willing to except that of they move unused syrup up to the supers at a later date, i'd rather they do that than let them die of starvation- its been a very lean winter this year.

They have all been bringing in masses of pollen over the last couple of weeks- I know they feed this to the young bees, but obviously they need a certain amount of honey/ syrup as well, and at least one of my colonies is very large and does'nt seem to have much left.

cheers
Chrid

 

[ian]

Hi

Go ahead and feed them syrup they will be fine.


Regards Ian

 

[Midland Beek]

As per the last post. If we get a cold spell they just won't take it, that is all.

 

[mbc]

Hi mbc,
I don't think thats the case- I was always told not to give bees syrup in winter because they can get dysentry which is why we give them candy.

Give bees syrup in a rapid feeder in the winter and they either ignore it or eat it very slowly. Theyve never got dissentry from syrup in my experience - maybe its different in other localities

 

[oliver90owner]

I will likely be removing some unused stores from mine. They can have it back later if needed (park it at the back of the Dartingtons). What they need now is room to expand the brood nest. That is when I get in to sort them out now the weather has improved.

Regards, RAB

 

[cstroud]

thats interesting mbc- I'm not sure about it, but your'e experience is interesting. It does seem as though beekeepers methods and timings for feeding bees varies a lot- at this time of year, I think its a bit of a balance of not filling up the much needed space for brood with stores, but also making sure they have enough to keep them going- does anyone have any ideas about how much food is pollen at this time of year and how much honey is consumed?


Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

about how much food is pollen at this time of year and how much honey is consumed?

It will depend entirely on size of colony, amount of brood and several other factors (there, justified the use of the word 'entirely'!). Others being insulation, forage, weather, health, etc.....How long was that piece of string?

A watchful eye and a few observational notes, if more than a very few hives, is needed to keep track of progress - forwards or backwards!

Regards, RAB

 

[mbc]

To feed sugar any time to hives makes a huge yield. Good business.
It is better to give fructose. No one finds out where it comes from.

.[/QUOTE]

Finman you'll know as well as I that feeding syrup during a flow is a waste of time as they wont take it. I do however leave feed on small hives I'm building up during flows and if the weather turns they go back to the feed. I personally dont go along with feeding while honey supers are on full size colonies at all.
Is that trick with the fructose a Finish beekeeping invention ? It sounds dastardly

 

[RoofTops]

Honey made from feed given to the bees is sometimes called "shunny", that is Sugar Honey. If you give them Sucrose (ordinary sugar) it can be detected in the honey as it turns polarised light in a different direction to honey made from invert sugars such as glucose or sucrose. Nectar has sucrose in it but the bees invert it with enzymes. Why this doesn't happen completely with syrup I guess is because if you give them a few gallons of sugar syrup all at once they don't invert it all and some ends up in the honey.

 

[Black Comb]

So RT, are we better off feeding Ambrosia (which is inverted)?