fed all the hives and all but 1 are feeding

[adamant]

(25 lbs added to a 5 gal bucket filled it with water).. all bees are eating except 1 hive.. is this normal?

[PCM]

25 lb# of sugar to 5 gal.water 40# is mighty slim pickings, they have to reduce most all the water to get to the sugar.

Spring feed is 1-1 feed that's 40# sugar- 40# water

Fall/Winter feed is 2-1 that's 80# sugar - 40# water

Back to the basic beekeeping books.

No one said beekeeping was a inexpensive hobby !

Good Luck

PCM

[adamant]

i am only putting in about 2 gal of water to the 25 lb. sugar .still not strong enought?

[shadow-cw]

Just some quick figures to add to PCM's:
5 gal of water weighs 41.7 lbs.
You need 16.7 more pounds of sugar to make 1:1 feed.

[PCM]

Just some quick figures to add to PCM's:
5 gal of water weighs 41.7 lbs.
You need 16.7 more pounds of sugar to make 1:1 feed.

???????
I must of went to a different school !!

PCM

[shadow-cw]

i am only putting in about 2 gal of water to the 25 lb. sugar .still not strong enought?

ok, that 16.68 lbs of water. Still not a 2:1 but is alittle stronger than 1:1.

[PCM]

Yes,
2 gal. of water is a little over 16#, so 16# lbs. of sugar gives you 1-1, so with 25 # sugar in 2 gal. water you would be some were about 1 1/2 - 1 syrup mixture, plenty good, right now.

What threw me was you said orginally " 25 lbs of sugar in a 5 gallon bucket FULL of water "

Most generally in beekeeping, water is rounded off to 8 lbs. to the gallon, until you get into the commercial quanities !

Sorry
PCM

[adamant]

dam thats a lot of sugar.. so its 15 lb sugar to 1 gal h20? correct?
but why are the rest eating and the 1 hive is not?

[PCM]

Just some quick figures to add to PCM's:
5 gal of water weighs 41.7 lbs.
You need 16.7 more pounds of sugar to make 1:1 feed.

OK, Sorry I was wrong, I didn't read the last line correctly, your right, ADD 16.7 and it would match my figures.

Sorry

PCM

[PCM]

That's hard to say, you might want to open up and see what their stores look like.

See any appearance of them bringing in any pollen/nector

I believe you said in past posts, this was your first year and have 17 hives ? May bee I am thinking of some one else.

Now you know why every one watch's the sales ads for sugar.
A hive can eaisly take down a Quart of 1-1 or 2-1 or more a day depending on weather, condition, location etc.
Going in the store and buying 40 bags of sugar, turns a few heads, till they get to know you in a week or two.
Eaiser to leave honey on the hive.

Check with your local bee club, they can give real info for your region.

Again Beekeeping ain't cheap !

Good Luck
PCM

[shadow-cw]

OK, Sorry I was wrong, I didn't read the last line correctly, your right, ADD 16.7 and it would match my figures.

Sorry

PCM

No problem Brother, it's too early in the morning I about confused myself, lol.
I always use 8.34 for a pound of water, it's the formula that I use at work.

[stripstrike]

I made the seven o'clock call at the grocery store last night and wheeled out another 100#'s of sugar. They do look at you funny.

Four of my hives took down about 45 pounds of 2:1 since Saturday, no hesitation with them.

[Joseph Clemens]

I think the advise to, "leave some honey on the hives" is very good advise, but around here, I often leave all, or nearly all the Spring/Summer honey on the hives and it's usually almost gone by this time of the year. Though, about once per decade we get some Autumn/Winter rains that bring out Winter wildflowers which provides a late Winter/early Spring honeyflow. Whenever this happens I get a kick out of the bright blue pollen the bees bring in from the Redstem Filaree (Erodium cicutarium).

[BEES4U]

FUI;
FEEDING BEES

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Beekeep...s_for_the_Bees
One of the reasons to keep bees is because you can harvest the honey that they create. After a honey harvest, it may be necessary to supply bees with an artificial honey replacement or with a source of artificial nectar, in order to prevent starvation. At other times when real nectar may be scarce or unavailable, artificial nectar can be used to encourage the drawing of comb or to aid in the rearing of brood. It should also be noted that honey contains materials that bees can not digest and sugar syrup makes for a better source of bee feed. This does not mean that it is appropriate to take all of the bees’ honey. After all, the bees did work rather hard for it. Bees should always have excess honey in storage. When using sugar, only use white cane sugar. Don’t used raw sugar, brown sugar or molasses as they contain impurities that may harm the bees or may be difficult for the bees to digest. If using powdered sugar instead of standard crystallized cane sugar, be sure to check the ingredients list as some powdered sugar contains anti-caking agents that might be harmful to bees. Although the following recipes call for ingredients by weight, volume is a close enough approximation as the bees don’t particularly care about the specifics of sugar concentration.
[edit] 1:1 Syrup
1:1, or One-to-One syrup can be used for supplemental spring feeding and encourage the drawing of comb.
• 1 part (by weight) sugar
• 1 part (by weight) water
Simply stir sugar into room temperature water until all the sugar has dissolved to produce the desired quantity. The dissolving process will be sped up with hotter water, just be sure not to boil the sugar solution. One volume of water plus one volume of sugar when prepared equals roughly 1.5 volumes of syrup. Weight of water = 8.34 lbs(#) per gallon 1/2 gal = 4.14# 1qt = 2.09# 1pt = 1.04# & 1 cup = .52# of water.
One 2-liter bottle of water plus one cup of water plus 5 pounds of sugar yields just under two 2-liter bottles of "close enough" 1:1 Syrup
[edit] 2:1 Syrup
2:1, or Two-to-One syrup can be used for fall feeding after the last honey harvest, or if the bees do not have a sufficiently large store of honey.
• 2 parts (by weight) sugar
• 1 part (by weight) water
The two parts sugar will not dissolve in room temperature water. Because of this mixing difficulty it is advisable to mix the sugar into near-boiling water. Do not allow the sugar mixture to boil, as this will give the chance for some of the sugars to caramelize, creating a partially indigestible and possibly even toxic solution as far as the bees are concerned. Be sure to let the solution thoroughly cool before feeding it to the bees. It was once common practice to add cream of tartar (tartaric acid) to 2:1 syrup to prevent re-crystallization of the sugars, however this is not recommended, as it is believed to shorten the life spans of the bees that consume it.
[edit] 1:2 Syrup
1:2, or One-to-Two syrup can be used to stimulate brood rearing by simulating a nectar flow.
• 1 part (by weight) sugar
• 2 parts (by weight) water
Simply mix the sugar with room temperature water and feed the bees.

[jadell]

I made the seven o'clock call at the grocery store last night and wheeled out another 100#'s of sugar. They do look at you funny.

Most folks around here would think you're making some form of alcohol if you walked out of the store with that order. They might even ask you when it's gonna be ready to try! Haha!

[AR Beekeeper]

Adamant; I don't want to be doom and gloom, but a few years ago I had 2 colonies that refused syrup when the others were taking it. Neither of them survived the winter.

[minz]

I am in the same boat. I have one hive that is not touching feed and they are real light. I came back from the long weekend and noticed almost zero activity in that hive. Don’t know why but I figure it is in serious trouble. Highest temps of the year today so I figured I would let them alone for a day or two (not certain what I could do for them anyway at this point).

[PARKBOY]

I am in the same boat. I have one hive that is not touching feed and they are real light. I came back from the long weekend and noticed almost zero activity in that hive. Don’t know why but I figure it is in serious trouble. Highest temps of the year today so I figured I would let them alone for a day or two (not certain what I could do for them anyway at this point).

Add essential oils to youa 1:1 mix and watch how fast they take it.

[BEES4U]

Queen less bees usually do not consume syrup or Pollen Substitute as fast as the queen right colonies. The laggers can become your winter losses.
Or, the hive may have Nosema ceranae

[Bigtwin]

Mine aren't haven't any problem.... I try to remember 1 pint to 1 pound = 1:1

https://picasaweb.google.com/BigTwin...eat=directlink