>
> In
>
> In Bee World, Vol 43, No. 1 (1962) there is an article by H. Ruttner on The
>  Percolation Feeder. In it he states that the bees cannot satisfactorily process
>  (invert) more than 2-3 pounds of sugar per day. Six of his seven references are
>  in German (understandable). Does anyone know of any English language info on
>  this feeding rate? Has anyone ever tried the percolation method of feeding
>  cold?
>
> Dick Bonney  @  [log in to unmask]
>
HI Dick,
 
        Why other than the obvious reason do you want to feed
bees large quantities of sugar (Sucrose)? As an Queen breeder and honey
producer we fed our colonies between 12 & 18 tonnes of sugar crystals
per year, in liquid form. We used two types of feeding equipment,
internal feeders that contained about 2.5lt and an external
feeder that fed sugar on demand. We tried feeding dry crystals
however the bees then need a close source of clean water in order
to liquefy the sugar crystals.
 
        We used two concentrations of sugar depending on the
desired aim for feeding the sugar. To stimulate bees to breed we
mixed 90kg of sugar in a total volume of 200lt and to get bees to
store the sugar as thicked syrup for short periods we used 150 kg
in 200lt. The higher concentration of sugar was fed internally
only.
 
        As to the volume of sugar processed per colony, this is
obviously dependent on colony strength, available room within the
colony to store the syrup and the presence of any natural sources
of nectar that the bees may also be using. However based on personal
experience, a strong colony of say 45,000 to 60,000 bees would
consume/store 2.5lt of sugar syrup fed internally in about 10 to 12
hours. The sugar would then be used by the bees within a couple
of days.
 
        The external feeder was used to feed colonies used for
queen cell production and other colonies related to this process,
around one hundred hives in total. When demand on the external
feeder was high, ie. a very short supply of nectar, the bees would
drain the 200lt external feeder in about 10hrs.
 
        Which brings me back to the original question as to why
you want to fed bees the sugar in the first place. Is purely of
academic interest as to how much sugar bees will invert in a day
or do you have some hives that need a feed. Also as you proberly
know bees wont process sugar (sucrose) as though it was nectar,
ie, store it for any lenght of time. Additionally if your in a
warm climate like Australia the sugar, if not consumed, tends to
ferment within a week and can cause dysentery in bees.
 
        I hope this information is of some use.
 
Bye,
 
Robert Rice.