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Author Topic: Feed honey back to bees.  (Read 14080 times)

Offline bernsad

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Feed honey back to bees.
« on: October 19, 2011, 07:27:55 am »
I extracted 2 boxes on the weekend but managed to spill about a kilo of honey. I scraped most of it up off the floor and I have it in a bowl, can I feed it back to the bees and what is the best way to do it?

Offline Mardak

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2011, 05:31:03 am »
They will ove it anyway you want get it in the box. Outside means other robber bees from other hives or ants get a free feed. Keep it in box even on a flat tray above the supers and they will love it.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2011, 01:22:34 pm »
If you feed them outside, don't do it with a bucket. I have found that if the bees have to climb up the side of the container after they load up with honey, large numbers die in the container. Even putting a super full of spun comb has this problem. I turn the super or bucket on it's side and now have almost no losses. I prop the buckets, full of drained cappings, up just a little.
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Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2011, 07:25:44 pm »
If you feed them outside, don't do it with a bucket. I have found that if the bees have to climb up the side of the container after they load up with honey, large numbers die in the container. Even putting a super full of spun comb has this problem. I turn the super or bucket on it's side and now have almost no losses. I prop the buckets, full of drained cappings, up just a little.
Jim
Yes I've had a number die in a deep tub also that's why I was looking for a better solution.

Offline JP

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2011, 08:17:19 pm »
Reduce entrances to hives that need it and feed on shallow pans like a cookie sheet away from the apiary, 50' or more. Buckets or anything deep with honey at the bottom is a death trap for bees.


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Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2011, 03:10:18 am »
JP, feed on shallow pans just out in the open, is that correct?

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2011, 04:43:48 am »
Open feeding of honey or sticky combs is an offense in Victoria :shock:

Offline yantabulla

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2011, 04:57:33 am »
It's also a great way to spread AFB

Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2011, 08:42:15 am »
Open feeding of honey or sticky combs is an offense in Victoria :shock:
It's also a great way to spread AFB
OK, so how would you guys do it?

Offline prestonpaul

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2011, 09:11:24 am »
I've never done it, but I would think on a shallow tray under the lid, or perhaps in a zip lock bag as a baggie feeder?

Offline yantabulla

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2011, 04:28:27 pm »
I would'nt.  Throw the honey away.

Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2011, 06:54:48 pm »
yantabulla, why wouldn't you feed it back to them?

Offline yantabulla

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2011, 07:38:02 pm »
If it's being fed back to the hive that it came out of it's not a problem.

Allowing bees to rob honey in the open is illegal & irresponsible.

Feeding honey back to bees increases the risk of disease spread among your hives

This may assist

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/66216/American-foulbrood-Primefact-209---final.pdf

Note section titled "Spread"

Good luck



Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2011, 08:51:46 pm »
Thanks for the link Yanta, I had read/heard somewhere that open feeding was illegal, I wasn't planning on doing that. I was considering that 5 of my 6 hives stemmed from the original 2 that are side by side and that they would probably have the same problems/ health levels, is that not correct?

Offline Mardak

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2011, 04:32:08 am »
You can plonk the stuff into a tray on the top of supers under the lid or there is a plastic feeder the size of a frame that some have used. there are little drip hole in the sided of the feeder that allow the bees to drain the contents. The feeder itself will last for many years. You can use to feed syrup over winter as an aside.

Offline yantabulla

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #15 on: October 23, 2011, 04:47:08 am »
G'day Bernsad,

That depends.  There might be a bit of drift.  If one hive has a problem & the others rob it out then disease can spread.  

If one hive has AFB then they can all be exposed. AFB is the worst case scenario. Other diseases are manageable but still a pain in the arse.

I'm speaking from experience.  I lost all of my 8 hives to AFB in August.  I didn't pick it up early enough in the autumn & it was right through them in the spring.

Failing to identify it early was my fault.  I am a lot wiser now.

I don't know how they picked it up. Possibly from robbing out a hive in the scrub around my property.  Looking back a lot of the practices that I used could have aided the spread eg putting extracted stickies back into any hive.  

Allowing bees free access to honey in the open is a bad practice & I have never done it.

Unless you have more than one apiary you should try to minimise the intermingling of hive parts & material between those hives.

Bernsad, with the greatest of respect to our American friends & particularly JP you should consult the several reliable sources available in OZ.  In particular the QLD & NSW DPI websites.  Forums should not be the only source of your information.

Both of these sites have heaps of reliable info.

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/27_124.htm

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/honey-bees

There may be info more relevant to Victoria however you can chase that up.  I'm a cane toad living in NSW so I'l stick with those states.

Good Luck

Yanta

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #16 on: October 23, 2011, 12:56:52 pm »
Pretend it's syrup and feed however you would feed syrup.
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Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2011, 07:02:51 am »
G'day Bernsad,

That depends.  There might be a bit of drift.  If one hive has a problem & the others rob it out then disease can spread.  

If one hive has AFB then they can all be exposed. AFB is the worst case scenario. Other diseases are manageable but still a pain in the arse.

I'm speaking from experience.  I lost all of my 8 hives to AFB in August.  I didn't pick it up early enough in the autumn & it was right through them in the spring.

Failing to identify it early was my fault.  I am a lot wiser now.

I don't know how they picked it up. Possibly from robbing out a hive in the scrub around my property.  Looking back a lot of the practices that I used could have aided the spread eg putting extracted stickies back into any hive.  

Allowing bees free access to honey in the open is a bad practice & I have never done it.

Unless you have more than one apiary you should try to minimise the intermingling of hive parts & material between those hives.

Bernsad, with the greatest of respect to our American friends & particularly JP you should consult the several reliable sources available in OZ.  In particular the QLD & NSW DPI websites.  Forums should not be the only source of your information.

Both of these sites have heaps of reliable info.

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/27_124.htm

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/honey-bees

There may be info more relevant to Victoria however you can chase that up.  I'm a cane toad living in NSW so I'l stick with those states.

Good Luck

Yanta

Hi Yanta,

Thanks for all the info, I'm trying to lean towards local knowledge when I can get it just because it will be a little more relevant to my situation and I mean no disrespect to our overseas beeks as I'm getting lots of good info/ideas from them also.

Sorry to hear about your AFB problem, are you back on your feet with bees now? Do you only return your stickies to the hive they came from or what do you do with them now? Does that mean that you never interchange frames between hives now?

Don't think I've been on the QLD DPI site yet though I've been looking at Vic. and NSW.

Appreciate the help.
Regards,
bernsad

Offline yantabulla

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #18 on: October 25, 2011, 03:20:50 am »
G'day Bersad,

As a matter of fact I just picked up two nucs last night.  It is good to have bees on the place again.

I'll be pretty careful until I'm sure that I'm running a disease free apiary.

The general aim would be to set up a barrier system. If I only had two hives & certainly wouldn't swap frames except in an emergency eg no queen.

Say for example I was consistently disease free.  If I had 10 hives I could treat it like two apiaries of five & only interchange between those five hives or any other combination you want.  It depends on the risks you are prepared to take.  I don't want to loose all of my ives again.

I'll be playing it safe for a while because I still have no idea where the AFB originated from.

There is information about barrier systems on the NSW DPI website if you dig deep enough.

Good luck

Yanta

Offline bernsad

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Re: Feed honey back to bees.
« Reply #19 on: October 25, 2011, 07:19:13 am »
Barrier systems? Righto I'll look that up. Thanks for all the help Yanta.

 

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