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  • Dead Bees in Rapid Feeder

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #4684  by Japey Edge
 01 Sep 2019, 13:59
Had a walk around the apiary today and checked the feed levels after putting the same syrup on three hives. The one with the most remaining syrup has quite a few bees dead in the rapid feeder, under the cup.
Identical setup on another hive and they're fine and took most of the syrup.
Should I just clear the dead bees and let them try again? Any reason why they would do this?
 #4696  by MickBBKA
 01 Sep 2019, 23:19
Was the syrup cold when you fed them ? I always feed warm syrup.

Cheers, Mick.
 #4700  by Japey Edge
 02 Sep 2019, 06:19
Hi Mick - no it was still warm. They're quite light compared to my other identical hive and I remember them having little stores - maybe they all rushed in to the feeder and the first to feed were trapped by the rush?
 #4702  by AdamD
 02 Sep 2019, 13:53
Occasionally you have some dead ones - usually the bees will clear out the dead for you.
Some of the books say that colonies will take down x amount of syrup in a day - where x is a large number, but it doesn't always happen as quickly as the books say.
 #4704  by Japey Edge
 02 Sep 2019, 16:28
AdamD wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 13:53
Occasionally you have some dead ones - usually the bees will clear out the dead for you.
Some of the books say that colonies will take down x amount of syrup in a day - where x is a large number, but it doesn't always happen as quickly as the books say.
Yeah I'm finding my 6 frame nuc is the fastest at taking down syrup, was nearly dry yesterday. One of my abelo nationals is steady - had a small amount left yesterday, but this one with the dead bees in, they'd taken down a little but not much. I removed them as there were a lot - say around 30 dead bees.
 #4708  by Patrick
 02 Sep 2019, 17:28
Was the nuc the one with the wasp activity? You may find they are assisting with the syrup uptake..

I don’t know why but some colonies are reluctant to take down syrup although apparently already light. As the weather changes it can become quite annoying their reluctance. I can only suggest if they are healthy and persistently refuse to store syrup over the next few weeks, another option is to just put a block of fondant over them and then you have probably done everything you reasonably can.
 #4709  by Japey Edge
 02 Sep 2019, 19:17
Patrick wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 17:28
Was the nuc the one with the wasp activity? You may find they are assisting with the syrup uptake..

I don’t know why but some colonies are reluctant to take down syrup although apparently already light. As the weather changes it can become quite annoying their reluctance. I can only suggest if they are healthy and persistently refuse to store syrup over the next few weeks, another option is to just put a block of fondant over them and then you have probably done everything you reasonably can.
I'm not feeding the little nuc as they'll be united on Saturday.
The nuc that's guzzling the feed is my 6 frame Maisies nuc which is pretty full. Will be hiving them in the spring no doubt!
The nuc and other national have ran dry. The one that had the dead bees has given it a good go today - now they can get to it! A few more dead bees but not loads.
 #4712  by Japey Edge
 02 Sep 2019, 21:29
Patrick wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 20:42
Great, Glad to hear its not one of the stubborn ones, they can be a right pain!
Yeah I hope none of mine turn that way, I've had enough excitement this year. It feels non-stop haha :lol:
Thanks for the pointers though Patrick, always appreciated.