[Organist]

Hi,

I checked the hives today. Last Wed. I put on another bucket of sugar syrup (1 gallon) on each hive. The hive with the lower population of bees (the 3 lb. package) had the bucjet empty. The hive with the larger amount of bees (the 4 lb. package) still had about 1/4 of its contents left. I would expect the hive with the most bees to empty their feed first. Just wondering if this is normal, if they are feeding on something else, or if they are just being themselves by making another human scratch his head. Both hives have a lot of pollen.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[TWall]

They must have found something they like better. Bees will do that.

Tom

 

[Jeffzhear]

Also, depends on how much room they have in the hive. If you have been feeding them sugar for awhile you may need to give them room to expand. If the bigger one built up quicker because they had more bees, they may have less room to continue building up and hence will not use as much sugar syrup.

 

[Fallonhoney]

I installed two new packages this year, I have been feeding them sugar water and wanted to know when to stop. I have added my second brood box on both and one has already filled 8 frames so I added a honey super. Someone told me once I added a honey super to stop feeding. Is that correct?

 

[Colobee]

There are many aspects to feeding. New packages on foundation will benefit from feeding, but may need to be restricted to prevent backfilling the brood nest and inhibiting growth of the new colony. If you stop feeding, and there is no nectar coming in, they will likely cease or reduce drawing out comb. Restricting the feed is an approach that mimics an uninterrupted flow, encouraging comb building and reducing the risk of backfill. I recently cut the number and size of holes, from five 3/32" holes , to two 5/64" holes and saw consumption (in 3 lb packages) fall from 1 Qt in 12 hours to 1/2 pint in 12 hours. Feeding math says that is ~3X what they need to survive, for the first month. Natural flows can impact consumption.

Feeding, with honey supers on, may result in an adulterated crop of "sugar/honey".