Newbies needing advice

If your climate drops below 50F, your bees will like fondant. Otherwise, syrup is just fine. :wink:

Ok so I could mix the fondant and feed them in the hive instead of the syrup outside then :slight_smile:

So y donā€™t everyone go get fondant way since itā€™d cleaner (less messy) and more controlled ?

Iā€™ve gone back to using the Michael Bush recipe of 5 sugar: 3 water. If you are a technical minded person, this is a ā€œMVā€ ratio, Mass of sugar in kg, Volume of water in litres. Hereā€™s the direct quote from Michael Bushā€™s site.

ā€œThe standard mixtures are 1:1 in the spring and 2:1 in the fall (sugar:water). People often use something other than those for their own reasons. Some people use 2:1 in the spring because itā€™s easier to haul around and keeps better. Some people use 1:1 in the fall because they believe it stimulates brood rearing and they want to be sure to have young bees going into winter. The bees will manage either way. I use more like 5:3 (sugar:water) all the time. It keeps better than 1:1 and is easier to dissolve than 2:1.ā€

Hereā€™s the link to Michael Bushā€™s ideas on supplementary feeding. In summary, his advice is more or less, ā€œdonā€™t supplementary feed at all unless you really have to.ā€

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm

Tomorrow I will give some supplementary feeding to two colonies. They are both nucs Iā€™m requeening. I made one nuc by splitting a crowded colony 5 days ago and Iā€™m splitting another colony this afternoon. The splits will be located right next to their parent colonies so most of the forager bees will head straight back to their original homes. A little bit of supplementary feeding means my new colonies will be less reliant on their limited honey stores.

Because it is expensive if you buy it, and tricky to make if you do it yourself.

My syrup goes in a pail (bucket) feeder inside the hive, like this:

I would never leave syrup open outside the hive - too much risk of attracting robbers (bees from other colonies), wasps, ants and other pests. I donā€™t even like entrance feeders, because likewise they tend to increase robbing behavior in my experience. The pail feeder inside the hive is effective and carries none of the above risks, as long as you seal it properly. :blush:

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I hive made of heavy duty polystyrene. Much warmer than wood. Used round the world

Hi @Dee, I was just discussing these with my husband. He has never seen one, and they are not easily available in the US yet. He was asking whether they are fragile. I suppose our concept is that they are made of polystyrene foam like the boxes that frozen foods are shipped in with dry ice. He was wondering what a hive tool does to the box if you need to use it to lift a frame? I guessed that they probably have a toughened outer skin, but is that correct? Would love to hear your observations. :wink:

They are much denser than packing polystyrene at 100g/litre
They can degrade in UV over the years so most people paint them. Any paint is OK. I have used gloss/masonry/car spray paint all successfully.
As for hive tools I have got into the habit of levering a frame against another and never against the side of a box whether wooden or poly. One of our biggest bee farmers has 3000 poly hives and he has banned J tools for that reason in all his employees. So itā€™s technique.
I used to think cleaning poly was a pain but I only clean the tops where the frames have been between colonies. The thin skin of propolis the bees put on the inside of the box I leave alone. However, it comes off easily in hot washing soda solution if you suspect disease, follow this with a spray of bleach and there you are.
Where they are fragile is when you drop them on a cornerā€¦but they just glue together and away you go again.
This is from a supplier but it gives a good description

http://www.beehivesupplies.co.uk/PDF/Polystyrene%20Beehives%20Key%20Facts.pdf

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I made a video of my somewhat flawed efforts at making up some syrup. Hereā€™s a link.

Another question,how often should i inspect my hive?like smoke and check the frames etc.?

Oh and how often should i feed them ?,everyday or as soon as the syrup finishes mix up another batch and feed them again? And how long should I do it for ?.

Oh and building frames ,canā€™t I just Glue Them and nail them ? Whatā€™s the point in making the dovetails or other joints ?.

Yes you can just glue them and nail them but if thatā€™s all you do, your box will be weakest where you want it to be strongest. As a minimum, I suggest you at least rebate the joints so you can glue and nail from both sides.

When your bee boxes are in use, your bees will propolise the individual boxes together. From time to time, you will need to prise them apart near although preferably not right at the joints. If your joints are weak, your boxes will come apart.

I use both the rebating and box jointing technique. If Iā€™m making up a box myself, I rebate the joints. When I buy boxes in, I get unassembled, box jointed ones. Box joints are similar to dovetails but easier to make. Jeff Herriot has a good video on assembling box jointed bee boxes. I have a couple I need to make up sometime soon. If it isnā€™t too hot in my shed this afternoon, I will make a little video showing how I assemble mine.

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Thatā€™ll be great thanks,wld be even better if you could make a video of you actually making your own box ,so I cld see if itā€™s something I could do myself,I prefer to build my own stuff that way I know itā€™s built strong and to last,the boxes I have here arenā€™t the best :neutral_face:

It was very hot earlier this afternoon but later on, it did cool enough for me to assemble a couple of boxes and make a video. Now I need to edit it into something short and not boring!

I did edit the video down from more than half an hour to about 14 minutes. Uploading and ā€œrenderingā€ took a very long time. Itā€™s now uploaded and here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmWXxRDl_h8

Have you ever thought about getting a book on beekeeping, like Beekeeping for Dummies? It can answer many questions for you, and is a good reference when you need an answer quickly. Better still, join a local club and take a hands-on course, if available. During a nectar flow, you need to inspect your hive every week, to make sure that the colony is not preparing to swarm. Given your climate, I would never inspect less often than once per month - you probably have conditions suitable for swarming all year round. Of course you also need to look for disease, pests and other problems in the hive on a regular basis, when inspecting.

I only feed when there is a nectar dearth and they have no stores. For a very new small colony, I might continue to feed them until most of the frames have fully drawn comb on them, depending again on nectar flow. If you have plenty of nectar in plants around the hive, you may not need to feed at all.

What is the bottom of the bucket? Excited to say if all goes well I will be getting another hive Sunday. I feel I should supplement at this time from what I have been reading because they are from a different area not sure of their condition and maybe only for a few days. I am just not understanding how they reach the solution with the bucket?

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Glad to hear you arenā€™t giving up beeking and that yourā€™re getting another colony.
The bucket would have small holes in that small plug in the lid and when inverted the vacuum created inside the bucket when liquid escaped keeps the liquid in and the bees can access it through the hole in the top/feeder board. Iā€™ve gone away from the entrance feeder and have made some out of old jars with pinholes in the lid. Works a treat and I use a bit of thin cardboard to slide between when refilling the jar, no need for kitting up either. Once empty or if they arenā€™t interested they just propolize the holes. Increases in temperature can also push out liquid due to thermal expansion is its only downside I can see.

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The first of my two photos above shows the lid of the bucket. In the middle there is a darker area. This is a fine metal mesh. When you fill the bucket with sugar solution and invert it (turn it upside down) over the hole in the inner cover, the bees can stick their proboscis through the mesh into the syrup, as @skeggley says. Surface tension holds the fluid inside the bucket unless the bees drink it. Tiny bubbles of air can go up through the mesh during feeding to replace the liquid that the bees remove. It is vital to be sure that the lid is on tight, otherwise the bucket will leak into the hive = very not good. The bottom of the bucket is solid, but as this is the side which is up when feeding, the bees donā€™t need to access syrup from that side.

I bought the bucket (pail feeder) from this supplier:
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Pail-Feeder/productinfo/664/

Hope that makes things a bit clearer. :wink:

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