Should I get a FUTTERTASCHE or not is it not necessary ?
And where should I install it… My box is full
Any chance you can give it an English name? I get it a German word but can’t find a translation to find what it is.
Cheers
Hi @Piano_House
Feeding is only necessary if there is no nectar around and hive does not have honey stores of its own. You can use top feeder instead of frame feeder. Something like this:
https://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/all/what-feeders-will-work-with-a-flow-hive/p/188
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Hi there @Piano_House and welcome! Feeding may not be necessary at this point in your season, but only another beekeeper in your local area would be able to say for sure. Feeding a colony that doesn’t need it and/or during a nectar flow risks sugar water stored instead of nectar in your supers, and can invite pests.
When you say your box is full, are you talking about the brood box being full of comb, brood, some food storage and lots of bees? If so it might be time to add another brood box of that’s best for your area, or to super!
For early spring and helping small or weak colonies, a ziplock baggie will fit under the Flow roof nicely and is lots simpler than making a special jar and using extra equipment:
This is a photo I copied from the web, don’t have one of mine but this is what I do in early spring or with a new colony. The photo shows regular outer covers which need a feeding shim to fit the baggie under them, but with a Flow roof you simply put the baggie, filled with 1:1 sugar water, on top of the inner cover to one side so you don’t block the hole in the middle, make two or three short slashes in the top of the plastic with a sharp razor blade to give the bees access, gently push larger air bubbles out being careful not to let the liquid slosh out, and set the roof back on.
I don’t like using plastic but I do like the fact that there isn’t a big vacant space left when using another box to house an inverted jar in cold damp weather.