Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: WhipCityBeeMan on February 22, 2009, 08:36:02 am
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What temperatures will bees take syrup from hive top feeders? Its going to be about 35 (high temps) this week but March should see days in the mid 40's. (I hope) Is the best option feeding dry sugar this time of year or are there other good options?
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In most cases The bees will not take syrup that has cooled down below 50 degrees. Imo dry sugar wouls bwe the best choice for you withyour temps. When you introduce syrup in the hive you also introduce excess moisture. ;)
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It's really the temperature of the syrup that matters. If it was 20 degrees F last night and 50 today, the syrup will never make it to 50 F.
Dry sugar is good insurance. It's not something they will stock away, but they will eat it when they are starving even when it's cold.
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Bees made it all the way up to the top of 4 deep. I had to join two hives in the late fall due to bear knocking down one of my hives (no queen). Last week temp went up to 60 deg. F. They were all out! I started feeding bottles of pure honey that I bottled last fall. Tapped small holes on bottle lid and flipped upside down. I will continue to feed in this fashion till next flow.
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If painting a solar wax melter "black" works to raise the temperature inside then I will paint one of my deep suppers "black". The temp on the top empty deep should help to keep the honey viscosity "flowing". This theory should help on a sunny day, anyways.
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If painting a solar wax melter "black" works to raise the temperature inside then I will paint one of my deep suppers "black". The temp on the top empty deep should help to keep the honey viscosity "flowing". This theory should help on a sunny day, anyways.
Is it possible that could cause a problem with bees coming out of the hive on a day when the air temperature might be too cool for them?
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WhipCityBeeMan,
I thought about that. My whole hive is insulated with a 1" foam sheet. On cold days it helps keep the heat in. On warmer days, ~40 the bees do come out and peek through the top hole in the ventilated inner cover. I have several holes all around it and I believe that the bees can tell the temp. difference from inside and outside. I placed a deep empty supper on top and feed bottled honey. The bees keep coming to the center hole and feed from the bottle but they don't venture out to the inside area of the inner cover. I think they can feel the difference in temps. This is an experiment so far and I think it is working. I am happy with my ventilated inner cover. I got the idea from Tim Arhem of HoneyRunApiaries.com. There is plenty of ventilation through the winter and summer and allows me to keep an eye on the bees w/o opening the hive. I had a little problem at first when the bees were down on supper #1 (I have 4 deeps). By the time they got up to the 3rd. supper I could peek and get an idea where they were and approx. how large of a ball I had. When they got to the 4 th. supper we had a few days in the upper 30's and I could see them peeking through the vent hole. Now I just peek w/o taking the telescopic cover off. I just look through the screened holes on the side and I see activity. I also feed patties which I placed on the inside surface of the inner cover. On cold days I don't see any activity but as soon as the temps get near 40 I start seeing bees moving around feeding on the patties. Since the bees got up to the 3 rd. supper I don't see any flying out of the bottom mouse guard. They now use the upper vent hole.
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Gaucho10:
I tried using the 1" foam this winter with my hive. We have lots of scrap material at work, so I was able to wrap the hive completely around in the foam. I used rubber straps (Tie Downs) to how the foam in place, which worked out really well. The foam is a dark brown in color, so the color may help a little bit. The foam cells are small and closed, so it should be a fairly good insulator. I have a some entrance at the bottom of the hive, plus a smaller (1/4" x 1/4") hole under my top cover. This seems to give enough ventilation.
Let me know how you're foam insulated hive works out. It seem like a good idea. Thanks for posting the information.
Regards,
Tucker
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I'll post a picture later on. I used a grey covered insulation board, 1" thick. I cut it to the dimmentions of each side and I taped them together with "duck tape". I only allowed a gap down below for the lower entrance and a gap in the lower back so that I can pull the tray out to inspect/count varoa mites. I would not recommend this for someone that has hundreds of hives but in my situation with only one Hive at present it is not out of my budget. After I enclosed the hive in the insulation I THEN added my vented inner cover and the telescopic cover. Also, by checking on the slide tray underneath the screened bottom board I can see bee activity and location by checking the chewed wax residue that falls on the tray. Just shows me that they are still active and how much they are chewing. Right now they are all the way up on top and center and I am feeding them bottled honey through the center hole.