Hey all,
I caught a 5lb'er yesterday in the parking lot on the bottom of a buggy at our local SavaLot downtown. It barely makes up for the lack of swarms, but it was good to catch.
When I picked it up that evening after they all came into the hive I set up there I was in a hurry so I used a boardman feeder with 1 to 1 sugar water. The jar has much black mold inside it. Is this harmful to the bees?
Jason
NEVER FEED THEM ANYTHING THAT HAS SPOILED CAN GIVE THE BEES NAUSEA. THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN THESE JARS IS TO GET YOU A BAG OF SAND TO KEEP AT YOUR HOUSE POUR A LITTLE IN THE JAR NOT MUCH AT ALL LESS THAN A QUARTER AND THEN FILL IT HALF WAY WITH WATER, PUT A REGULAR LID ON TOP AND SHAKE FOR 1 MIN THE JAR WILL BE CLEAN.
I try to clean them out after they are empty but I still feed syrup to them when it's moldy. I've never seen any ill effects.
I have been using Thymol in sugar syrup for some years and find that it is an excellent anti-funguside, and syrup with Thymol added will keep all year
The formula is, Dissolve 10 grams of Thymol in 250 mls of Surgical Spirit and add one teaspoon of the mix to each gallon of syrup
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Richie
I would say no it does not harm them. I have used pail feeders on my hives. They get a black slime in them. I am not about to clean these every time out in the yard, but do at the end of feeding season. I soak in bleach, then wipe off with a cloth.
I too have seen a lot of black mold in the plastic pails. The syrup itself doesn't seem to get moldy. The mold forms on the sides of the pails as the syrup level goes down. I generally wash them out when I fill them, but it does stain the white plastic pail. My last 3 gallon batch of syrup I added the juice of 1 lemon (I think I read about it somewhere on this forum). That seemed to keep the mold down considerably -- perhaps another lemon or two would eliminate it entirely. The bees don't seem to mind and take up the syrup normally.
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