Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Sun, 16 Jul 2000 22:36:35 -0400 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Our local bee club did an unscientific but really interesting experiment
this year.
We started with:
3 pound package of bees
Plain foundation - no drawn
New hive boxes and frames.
1 : 1 sugar water
Feed was replaced as it was emptied by the bees.
Some of us fed the package bees using the pail feeders with the small
wired hole that goes on the hive upside down over the hole in the inner
cover. An empty super was placed over the feeder pail then the inner
cover, then the telescoping cover.
Some of us fed the package bees using quart jars as feeders. Not the
ones at the entrance. A board the same size as an inner cover has 5
holes drilled out of it. Each of the holes accepts a quart jar with
lid. The quart jar lids have usual feeding holes. An empty super was
placed over the quart jars and then the inner cover and telescoping
cover.
The bees fed using the pail, took 5.5 to 6.5 weeks to draw out the
foundation in the hive body.
The bees fed using the multiple jar method took 1 to 1.5 weeks to draw
out the foundation in the hive body.
Impressive results. There was some early blooms, but pretty much the
same at all the locations.
The newbie beekeepers that used the multiple jar method for starting
their bees are now collecting excess honey to bottle. (They fed sugar
syrup to draw the super's foundation, then extracted the sugar syrup and
replaced the supers without feed to get natural honey)
The newbee beekeepers that used the pail feeders are still getting their
second hive body drawn and not even thinking about stealing any honey
this year.
Judy in Kentucky, USA
|
|
|