Quanity of Feed

[Hillbilly Tilley]

I have two hives both from packages in may, three mediums as bodies with the foundation mostly drawn. I have feed 1:1 syrup from the start. Now they are taking about a gallon a day. This sound like an awful lot. I have hive top feeders and do not see any leaks. Is this normal?

Thanks,
Hillbilly

[Derek]

I don't know the answer to your question. Newbee here. Feeding May-now seems excessive. Here is a recent post about feeding I have been reading. Good info.


http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221357&highlight=feeding

[tecumseh]

I guess a good strong hive could suck that down, but yes it does sound a bit excessive.

one problem of hive top feeder is they don't allow you to limit the level of uptake (dribble to a pour).

you do need to make certain that they don't totally plug the central brood area plus you need to establish some idea of the hives total weight (ie... they haven't plugged the entire box).

once I had some idea of weight (ie the hive wasn't dead light or a brick) I would limit syrup to so much per week.

I often time maintain modest size hives here on about a quart of syrup per week.

[Ravenseye]

I've had hives take that much all of a sudden. My first year beekeeping, I just kept refilling the top feeder and the girls ended up filling two deeps full of syrup. I had to toss a medium on top to give them space going into the fall. Actually, that hive still has two deeps and one medium as brood area. I'd check and see how much they have stored away and how the brood is looking. If you don't have too much stored and you have a lot of brood, you know where it's going....assuming that you don't have robbing or leaks, etc.