Communal Feeding

[bschmidtbauer]

Hello all, I've got a quick question. Can you just fill one large feeder and fill it with sugar syrup and leave it outside for fall feeding. My plan is to use a chicken waterer with sponges. Will this increase robbing tendencies? Thanks.

[BEES4U]

Open feeding can be used to stimulate the hives for brood or winter weight.
But, it will become a major robbing event.
The problem with open feeding is that the target hives that are light in weight do not get as much syrup as the stronger hives.
Open feeding spreads disease and invites your local bees to the meal.
I fed 120 gallons of syrup last week and the bees emptied the 30 gallon containers in 4 hours!
:thumbsup:I would suggest an alternate plan on feeding like inside feeders or top feeders.
I like the one gallon and bigger bucket feeders.
Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries

[bschmidtbauer]

Oh, one thing I forgot to tell you guys is that I can't really use a top feeder because I am treating with Mite-Away 2.

[sqkcrk]

One problem w/ open feeding is that the hives that need feeding don't benefit from the open source as much as those that don't need the feed. The stronger colonies get more and the weaker ones get less.

[Ross]

But, it will become a major robbing event.
Not necessarily. I open feed when all of the hives need stores and it works out well. It actually does not promote robbing as all hives are being fed. You get robbing when you try to feed just the weak ones during a dearth. If open feeding promoted robbing, so would a flow. You will get some fighting at the feeder, so it's best to have more than one. It's also good to be away from the immediate area of the hives. I find the other side of a building or behind some bushes or trees is enough. This just spreads out the bees.

Open feeding spreads disease Why? Do you have sick bees?

I fed 120 gallons of syrup last week and the bees emptied the 30 gallon containers in 4 hours Exactly, its a great way to get a lot of feed to a lot of hives in a hurry. Its tough to feed 120 gallons one gallon at a time to 50 hives, and sometimes just not practical.

The stronger colonies get more and the weaker ones get less. Yes, just like a flow. If they all need food, that's as it should be. If only a few need it, there are better ways.

[Wax Moth]

Communal feeding can lead to fighting between bees from different colonies and thereby dead bees. You can also end up feeding the yellow jackets and ants as much as the bees.

Not sure about spreading disease. Putting your supers in the open for all bees to clean spreads disease. Had not heard that communal feeding spread disease.

[honeyshack]

you can feed and mite away at the same time!

[Ross]

I've never seen a yellow jacket able to elbow himself into the trough through the bees. I usually end up with a cup or so of dead bees, nothing more. Ants simply don't have time to find it before its cleaned up.

I move supers and frames from hive to hive all the time, as well as letting the bees clean the supers and the extractor. I haven't lost a hive in several years. I would only worry if they were supers that didn't come from my hives. Do you mark your supers to be returned to a particular hive year after year?

[sc-bee]

>Do you mark your supers to be returned to a particular hive year after year?

Very good point there Ross!

[dcross]

Put it at least 300 ft. from the hives. I use five gallon pails with at least six inches of grass on top of the syrup. If I see fighting(haven't yet) I would add more pails.

[BEES4U]

No sick bees!
How about some positive thinking?
It is a fact that open feeding can spread diseases.
Ernie

[Ross]

Ok, I'm positive it doesn't......

[MichaelW]

Put a dead bee with Nosema spores (and God knows what elese)
in its gut in a small pool of syrup, then let the other bees drink out of it.
Sounds like a good way to spread diseases to me. If that matters in the
grand scheme of things, I don't know. It does, however, show one
way diseases could jump to wild bees, if the pathogen can make the leap.

[Ross]

And drones move from hive to hive all the time. Next....

[BjornBee]

I open feed my home nuc yard which has late splits and test hives. It does not spread disease anymore than other posible vectors. And if you have healthy bees what does that matter? As Ross noted....drones, as well as drifting and other things spread disease to the point I find worrying about open feeding not worth it.

Open feeding means the bees stay away from robbing stiuations. And strong hives which take more feed, does the work for weaker hives. Why just feed weak or light hives? Let them all be productive. And with open feeding, the bees can only process and store what they can bring into the hive.

I can fill feeders each morning and not open or disturb hives.

Here are couple pictures...

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x236/BjornBee/?action=view&current=Beepictures059.jpg

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x236/BjornBee/?action=view&current=Beepictures095.jpg

[beenovice]

Bjorn how far away from your hives you have feeders ?

[BjornBee]

Those particular pictures are from a station about 60 feet from the edge of the apiary.

You will see some chaos and confusion the first day when using this little distance. I do favor more than that. But after the first day, the bees are tuned into the location.