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Sprinkling/spraying syrup on bees

3K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  JBJ 
#1 ·
How effective (if it is at all effective) is this:

Whenever I feed my bees syrup I usually sprinkle some of it onto them on top of the frames. Most of the time I get lots of bees soaked with syrup.

I was observing one hive I fed today how they drank up all the syrup sprinkled on the top bars of the frames of their hive and then it seemed as if all the bees were thoroughly cleaning each other. Everywhere. At once all the bees started to clean each other off and I wonder if some mites can be picked off like that. Not saying that'll be my treatment "method", just wondering if it helps at all (kind of like powdered sugar).
 
#4 ·
I mist mine with HBH and water in a spray bottle (rather than smoke) and it works. You could easily even add some more sugar to it and keep them too busy grooming to pay you much mind - and probably be to sticky to fly much! (which I find hilarious to watch, and I'm sure I'm going to hell anyway)
 
#8 ·
We regularly "spritz" our bees for several different reasons. Sometimes when making large numbers of mating nucs we have to mix bees from several colonies and it works way better than smoke to eliminate fighting and keep flight to a minimum. Properly done it is stimulative and very calming to the bees and they are clean in dry in about 20 minutes. Use common sense and don't over wet them when it is cold. Another time we might use spritz would be if we have to place queen cells very soon after catching queens... A quick well timed spritz of "honey bee nice" can increase acceptance and create a happy vibe in the yard. I don't leave home without the smoker but there are a couple months a year a 25 gallon spritz tank lives on the truck.
 
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