Why are my bees drowning?

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Compost Kid

New Bee
Joined
Mar 8, 2011
Messages
31
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Location
Lincolnshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
10
Hi, I'm having a problem with bees drowning in the feeder. Everything has been going well up to this week, I'm feeding thick syrup every three or four days to keep them topped up and they've been taking this down nicely. But I've just been out to feed again today and out of my three hives, one had lots of syrup left and a lot of drowned been in the dome cap. The other had lots of syrup left and only about six drowned bees. The last one had taken all the syrup that I gave them on Sunday (six pints of water mixed with twelve pounds of sugar shared between three hives) and although there were no drowned bees, the cap was full of bees making filling up the feeder impossible without some of them falling in, no matter how slowly I poured. It's quite depressing seeing all these drowned bodies, am I doing anything wrong? I'm using the normal, rectangular box style feeders which up to this week have been feeding them without a problem. None of the hives are starving, they all have stores and when I checked on Sunday were filling up their brood boxes with the syrup. Any advice would be great, thank you.
 
Check your dome caps are seated properly. If there is more than 1 bee space some casualties are inevitable in the rush.
 
The dome caps are in the little groove that they fit into, is that right?

If you are using the round plastic rapid feeders, yes. It's easy for the domes/cups to become loose.
Don't use them much these days, but used to enjoy seeing the columns of bees retreating back up the sides as you refilled.

M1010-228x228.jpg
 
I changed to the same feeder pictured above, it took awhile for them to take to it but now the cup is teeming with bees. Twice when I came back to fill it they had emptied it and the problem was getting them out to fill it. Use a brush and they warned the other bees that came out of the cup to assist, so I started filling and used a twig to lift the strugglers out of the syrup and put them on the ground.
I refilled it before it was empty today, there was one drowned be in the cup before I started and even though I did it slowly, two more didn’t go back up in time.
It’s sad but possibly inevitable that there will be some casualties.
I suppose you could take the cup off and knock them out before refilling, but you might end up with bees in the syrup.

Courty
 
If your hives are near to you try to check the feeder regularly and top it up when you have around a one inch depth of syrup.. i have found with empty feeders the bees rush in and in doing so push the bees in front into the syrup.. also fill nice and slow if you have bees in the cup.. i always get casualties but the numbers are low..
 
s-l640.jpg


This is the same kind of feeder that I'm using. Courty, what you describe is exactly what I'm getting. I'm trying to pour really slowly, but they don't move up in time. With the other hives that have plenty of syrup left but drowned bees, I don't know whether to change the syrup (it doesn't look mouldy, just cold) and give them new or just fish out the dead bodies. There were probably about twenty bodies in the hive with the most fatalities.
 
If your hives are near to you try to check the feeder regularly and top it up when you have around a one inch depth of syrup.. i have found with empty feeders the bees rush in and in doing so push the bees in front into the syrup.. also fill nice and slow if you have bees in the cup.. i always get casualties but the numbers are low..

Thank you. I'm currently feeding about every three or four days and the feeders have been almost empty each time, they're taking it down really fast. It makes sense that there would be a rush if syrup had got low. Thanks for that advice.

Also, should I be feeding the syrup warm or cold?
 
I changed to the same feeder pictured above, it took awhile for them to take to it but now the cup is teeming with bees. Twice when I came back to fill it they had emptied it and the problem was getting them out to fill it. Use a brush and they warned the other bees that came out of the cup to assist, so I started filling and used a twig to lift the strugglers out of the syrup and put them on the ground.
I refilled it before it was empty today, there was one drowned be in the cup before I started and even though I did it slowly, two more didn’t go back up in time.
It’s sad but possibly inevitable that there will be some casualties.
I suppose you could take the cup off and knock them out before refilling, but you might end up with bees in the syrup.

Courty

I would always feed in the evening when flying bees are back home. Plus, it doesnt attract robbers.
 
If you are using the round plastic rapid feeders, yes. It's easy for the domes/cups to become loose.
Don't use them much these days, but used to enjoy seeing the columns of bees retreating back up the sides as you refilled.

M1010-228x228.jpg

Re-filling very slowly is the key as you will definitely drown bees filling it quickly as they cannot get away from the rising syrup
 
Re-filling very slowly is the key as you will definitely drown bees filling it quickly as they cannot get away from the rising syrup

Trouble is, the bees weren't in the cup when I poured syrup in, they've gone down to feed and fallen in, but I don't know why.
 
Just for the record, the see-through plastic cup just fits into the circular groove doesn't it? I can lift it straight off again, but can't slide it from side to side, is that fitted correctly? When I fill the feeder, the level of syrup on the outside of the cup (the part that the bees cannot get to) is the same level as the inside of the cup (the part that the bees access) Is that right?

I'm going round in circles wondering why there were drowned bees in there and wondering if it's normal. Thanks for all your advice everyone. X
 
These things are really quite cheap and rather than fill them so slowly to avoid drowning bees that wasps get the scent it is better to have two for each hive and take the empty one out and replace with a full one. It's easier and much, much quicker to use a spare feeder.
 
Does the cup 'click' into place like the circular half gallon ones? It should leave a gap the bees can't get through.
A few drowned bees is nothing to be worrying about.
 
That's a useful idea, thank you. :)

It's not a good idea. In most cases as soon as you remove the original feeder you will have bees pouring up and into, what was, a bee-free super with a feeder.
Now you have to remove the bees or leave them to die before sealing up.
 
Does the cup 'click' into place like the circular half gallon ones? It should leave a gap the bees can't get through.
A few drowned bees is nothing to be worrying about.

It doesn't really click, just rests in the groove and doesn't move at all once it's in the groove, unless you lift it off. The bees have access to syrup on their side of the cup and it's in this small area that they are drowning. I can only presume that they are shoving each other a bit but why they are only starting to do this after feeding from this feeder without casualties for the last few weeks, is a mystery.

I've removed the dead bees as the syrup looks ok and I think I will go out again tomorrow afternoon/evening and see if any more drowned bees have collected in the cup again. Just when I thought everything was going smoothly .........................
 
I use them. It is honestly the filling that does it, the bee is stupid enough not to move when you are filling it, so they are suddenly under the syrup, often they have a little air bubble around them and they can get out again but if lots of bees are in there they can't get out before they drown. I can't believe they are 'falling' in . You are right about the way the cup fits, if fits on three little right angle pieces which stops it going all the way to the bottom and from moving from side to side. There is no need to remove the cup when filling. You just need to fill very very slowly. In the scheme of things a few tens of drowned bees will hardly deplete the hive. But I do understand it is a bit destressing.
E
 
I had this occur with the round rapid feeder. By making the plastic surface of the cone rough - by using coarse sandpaper, the bees could retreat faster from the rising tide. Sometimes they can't get a good grip on smooth plastic.
 

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