What is the problem with feeding liquid to bees now?

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kazmcc

Queen Bee
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
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Location
Longsight, Manchester, UK
Hive Type
National
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None, although I have my eye on one ( Just don't tell Dusty ;) )
I read something about it the other day, but I can't remember where.
 
They will not have time to cap the liquid feed and it will ferment and give um the trots Kaz
 
Hi Kaz, They need to reduce the water content before they can cap it, as Broandy says otherwise it will ferment. It could I believe also go mouldy. It is too damp/cool now to acheive this:.)

Di:.)
 
One of the main concerns is the water content, too much and the syrup will ferment in the cells which can lead to nosema or dysentery. Hence after September/October fondant is a safer option although it requires small amounts of water to break it down fully. Ideally fondant should be wrapped in greaseproof paper or plastic to help retain its moisture content.
 
Ideally fondant should be wrapped in greaseproof paper or plastic to help retain its moisture content.

How do you give it to the bees if it is wrapped? Do you put it on top of the frames (so that the bees can get to it from below) and then 'cover' it with greaseproof paper?
 
I feed over the crownboard, but some feed directly onto the frame top bars.

Cling film, with a couple slits on the bottom side, allows the bees in and prevents the fondant dripping slowly and/or sticking to the item immediately beneath it.

Regards, RAB
 
Thanks Rab. i will bear this in mind if we give ours any.
 
Hi Kaz are you worried that the bees have not made enough stores for winter
they must have filled the super you put on, or am i wrong in thinking you put one on
 
this is another benefit of using thymol in the syrup feed to stop fermenting both in the feeder and once in the comb if not capped off, see hivemaker's recipe
 
How do you give it to the bees if it is wrapped? Do you put it on top of the frames (so that the bees can get to it from below) and then 'cover' it with greaseproof paper?

I wrapped up the fondant and cut a large slit through the paper for access and placed the slit over the hole in the crown board in the roof space. You could place it on the frames if you roll it out but you won't get much in that space which is why I put about 2-3 Kg's on the crown board in the roof space, the other benefit is its quick and simple to replace if required during winter with minimal heat loss.
:grouphug:
 
1) Order curry
2) Eat curry
3) Put plastic curry containers in the dishwasher
4) Press fondant into curry container. Put lid on.

....

5) Remove hive roof and curry container lid
6) Place curry container over the feed holes inverted, so the fondant is exposed to the bees. The roof space is sufficient to hold the container.
7) Monitor and when you can see bees in the transparent container, the fondant is gone, replace with new one.

Curry containers solve most of the worlds problems....
 
They will not have time to cap the liquid feed and it will ferment and give um the trots Kaz

I can understand that, but, how long does it take to ferment... meaning, if they have uncapped honey, would they not eat that first anyway? Like eating whats in the fridge before starting on the freezer.
 
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Monitor and when you can see bees in the transparent container, the fondant is gone, replace with new one.

Do we have to re-use the same container or is there justification here for the purchase of more curry?:drool5:
 
Alan they did fill the super. They have 9 and a half to 10 frames. I just didn't think. I suppose because we were told to feed I just assumed they didn't have enough, but after mithering my mentor....again lol....I know they have enough now. The feeding is just to teach me as next autumn I will be doing this alone so we will probably be doing things to these poor bees that they don't really need, just so I get experience. I'll probably have a word with the ladies ( not the bees, the other women I run the project with ) and see if we should just stop feeding. I don't want to risk nosema and feeding seems pretty straight forward, I just don't want to go against my mentor....I don't want to seem like a know it all lol
 
ooo....ooooo...just thought of a question! What happens to the nectar the bees are collecting now then? Why doesn't that cause them any problems?
 
Thanks RAB. Good to remember. I spoke to somebody today who gave me similar advice but instead of cling film he puts the candy on top of an old queen excluder to prevent dripping.
 
ooo....ooooo...just thought of a question! What happens to the nectar the bees are collecting now then? Why doesn't that cause them any problems?

There is a dearth of nectar about at the moment and the quantities are so small that they have little impact. Taking syrup at this time of year is a bulk operation, the bees cannot invert it because they cannot raise the temperature adequately.

Ambrosia, is an already inverted sugar syrup can be taken in slightly lower temperatures and so can therefore be fed later than normal sugar syrup, but it is too late now for either syrup types.

You can, I'm sure, imagine the bees working at the lower end of their temperature envelope are also in danger of chilling when attempting to take on a full load of cool syrup 40mg which is almost half the bee's body weight of 90mg.

Clearing my final feeders today, there were several where there was a thin line of bees at the bottom of the weir in feeders that still held vestiges of syrup. I suspect that they became chilled and subsequently died.
 

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