I've just been given my first hive. It is a queenless split (2 frames each of egg, brood, and nectar/pollen/honey and a good complement of nurse bees) from a friend. It was suggested that I feed them for a while at least until they get established.
I'm feeding them with a feeder that is sitting on top of the deep the bees are in. I went out today (4 days after the split) and found a good number of bees drowning or dead in the feeder and a fist size cluster on the ridge in the feeder. I know that some drowning is normal with most types of feeding, but I'm concerned since there's no way for the hive to replace the lost foragers.
My question is this, what, if anything, should I do about the drowning bees?
Thanks all.
Here's the type of feeder I'm using.
I'm feeding them with a feeder that is sitting on top of the deep the bees are in. I went out today (4 days after the split) and found a good number of bees drowning or dead in the feeder and a fist size cluster on the ridge in the feeder. I know that some drowning is normal with most types of feeding, but I'm concerned since there's no way for the hive to replace the lost foragers.
My question is this, what, if anything, should I do about the drowning bees?
Thanks all.
Here's the type of feeder I'm using.
