One gal. gone in 48 hours?

[jamiev]

I am feeding two hives. Trying to build up stores for the winter. There is some honey on them but not enough. I put a gallon of 2 to 1 syrup in both empty hive top feeders on Sat afternoon. They are sealed tight at the top. On Monday pm, both were dry. I did see a lot of flying activity around both hives on Sunday but did not see the other signs of robbing, dead bees, fighting, ...
Is it normal for a hive to dry up the feeder this fast or am I being robbed?

[power napper]

Am curious as to where your hive entrance is. If it is a bottom entrance and you are feeding on the top or top entrance. Is the feeder leaking?
We have had more robbing this year than ever before. If you suspect that robbing is occurring then by all means reduce the entrance or put a robber screen on the hive.

[George Fergusson]

Mine can drain a gallon of feed almost overnight, certainly in 24 hours.

[Ravenseye]

I put three gallons in a hive top feeder on Saturday morning. This afternoon, Tuesday, it was dry. Put another gallon out just now...it's all I have. I'm worried, as a new beek, if they will plug up the boxes with it if I keep feeding. How do you know when enough is enough or do the girls already have it figured out?

[jamiev]

My hive entrance is on the bottom and i have checked for leaks. Did not notice any but I'll check more closely next time. I sealed all the lower seams of the hive top feeder with melted parafin wax in the spring. I will reduce the entry. What does a robber screen look like? I should probably ck the Brushy catalog ?
Good question Can you over feed in the fall when working on winter stores?

[Ron Young]

I too am feeding bees. This am I came home after being gone for a full day, and found that the feeder was full. I thought that rather odd, especially since it rained all day yesterday. I went to investigate and found that the entrance feeder base had filled up with rain water and the bees could not even access the feeder because of the water. Can I drill a hole to drain water, our will this encourage ants, robbing, or will the bees just propolize the hole?

[Jeff]

The bees are hungry they will use as much as they need. You will know when they have had enough.