On Fri, 10 Feb 1995, Andy Nachbaur wrote:
<in response to Dave>
 
> >AN   For Honey Bee's dry feeding is ok in an emergency situation,
> but not so good as a regulated or metered way to feed honey bees to
> will work and some may use it this way, but it will also burn out the
> bees, or prematurely age them.
>
> >AN   Feeding bees a pound of sugar solids in any form does not give you
> a poun of honey replacement as the bees will use much of the energy from
> the suga up in storing it, and with dry sugar will have to fly several
> miles with water for each pound of sugar fed.
>
> >Dave Andy:  I enjoy your contributions, and mostly agree with you, but
here I h
> to disagree from my own experience.  Perhaps this may reflect the differen
> between eastern and western conditions.
>
> >I have fed dry sugar for several years, and increase use every year.  Last
> year we fed about six tons, and I thorougly believe it pays.
> We use any kind of sugar we can get.  The last three years brown sugar has
> been cheapest and that's been the main one.  The bees love it.
 
> >AN I know no reason why granulated sugar would
> be different as far as bees go in any area, most of our feeding here is
> in the wet season also. I don't have any idea if you have ever tried
> feeding liquid invert syrups, but I have feed much dry sugar. I don't
> any more because I have found the use of liquid sugars easier, faster,
> and cheeper, for feeding bees and have fed it that way for many years
> past to my bees with out harm to the bees. It does require extra
> investment and modification of bee equipment and a source of liquid
> sugars. With the advent of inverted corn syrups a competitor for sugars
> syrup, we have had to rethink our bee feeding modalities and most
> beekeepers this area have switched to liquid feeds. Northern California
> queen and package beekeepers did this several years before the average
> commercial beekeeper. My own observations have been that some inverted
> corn syrups are more like nectar then just sugar syrups, and have fed
> mixtures and straight inverted corn syrups for years. If you do any
> protein feeding the inverted corn syrup also makes patties that is much
> easier to handle then patties made with just sugar syrup.
 
>        We feed mostly to produce more brood and bees, but I have also
> have fed to stimulate bees to gather more pollen from plants that were
> not producing nectar, with good results and added production of pollen
> in the traps. In California it is necessary to replace large numbers of
> hives we need all the brood we can get to do this. Many local beekeepers
 
> I had the opportunity to feed imported honey
> and used several car loads that year. Would you believe though this
> honey was beautiful honey that any beekeeper would be proud to have
> produced, it was not as good for feeding bees as the same beekeepers
> would argue, then feeding liquid invert sugars. Every drum was the same,
> it was not a question of quality. The bees just seemed to do better on
> the sugar syrup. *WARNING* Feeding sugar syrup to real weak hives or
> queen less hives may result in their death. In a normal bee yard there
> is always going to be what we call "dinks", and personally find this a
> good and economical way to identify them in some situations. Most
> beekeepers know what to do with dead hives, but are never sure what to
> do with the dinks that can cost you more in time and money then setting
> up a new hive.
 
I nominate Andy for the 'Post of the month award' -- with Dave a close
second.
 
This is a pretty well one of the central issues in beekeeping.  There is
no better way to ensure your bees are going to do well than to make sure
they have lots to eat -- seems simple, but it is amazing how many
people believe in 'making them work'.
 
What, when and how much are the real questions. Whether there will
be a stimulation effect, or whether you can medicate at the same time are
secondary, but important issues too.
 
I pretty well have to agree 100% with Andy, and quite a bit with Dave too
-- but not about dry sugar.  maybe it is a lot more humid where he is,
but the main use my bees have for dry sugar is building muscle taking it
outside.
 
Personally, I have a frame feeder (preferably composition and wood, not
plastic) in each and every brood box.  It helps the staff know them from
supers :-)
 
We fill them from drums that have a 10 pounds or so air pressure and a
hose of the type they sell for farm bulk gas tanks. It takes 20 seconds each.
 
We use 67 % syrup right off the bulk tanker truck year round and find it
extremely efficient.  I keep meaning to measure weight gain, but never do.
I suspect that very little weight is lost in storing.
 
I agree 55 % (is that the right number? -- I haven't been able to afford
it since the Canadian dollar went down) invert is the best, but beet (or
cane) sugar is still way better than honey or dry.  Honey makes the bees look
greasy and act sluggish.
 
As Andy says, any hive that doesn't take feed is likely in trouble.  We
send anyone who can read a map out to feed and tell them to put a rock on
the ones that haven't eaten.  A beekeeper follows up at leisure (they are
non-producers anyhow) and decides what to do with them.  The others we
don't open again.
 
Heartless as we are, our main cure for losers like them is shaking out the
bees.  We seldom waste time and money trying to requeen a dud, unless we
have a cell handy.  At the price of queens, who can play around?  Good
splits are easy to make, and if you feed you will have to split, unless
you want them to do it for you their way.
 
No one has mentioned candy -- a good friend of mine has started making
candy boards and swears by them.
 
Now -- who feeds pollen sustitute?
 
I tried it several years in the spring and maybe my timing was off, but I
found that it built the hives up, but then they dwindled.
 
I'm thinking of trying again, but only about two weeks before the first
pollen flow -- Comments?
 
____________________________________________________
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                      VE6CFK
Rural Route One, Swalwell,  Alberta  Canada  T0M 1Y0
Email:  [log in to unmask]   or   [log in to unmask]
  Web home page: http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka
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