BBKA Forum

Hi everyone!

I'd like to pick your brains on how you feed syrup without spilling it! Also, what do you do once you have spilled it?

Yesterday I realised a little too late that my nuc is slightly off-level and so syrup was slightly splashing over and onto the frames - likely trickling down to the mesh... I took some back out so it wouldn't keep going.
I also noticed the Pyrex jug I'm using doesn't give a perfect pour. I use my 25L bucket lid to catch drips and then pour with the jug completely over the feeder.

If I get any drips I have a damp rag that I wipe up with. If I see any sticky hand prints on the hives when they're closed up I get a bucket of water filled from the water butt and give them a good wet down.

It would be useful to see what everyone does - so if you're reading this please just reply with how you skillfully execute your syrup feeding with zero mess!

Try and minimise or eliminate any drips. Drips attract wasps

On Payne's nucs, I use a large funnel and a 10l bucket to fill it. The funnel is perfect at avoiding drips

With maisemores nucs , I just use a 10l bucket and pour it in as the feeder is an Ashford type feeder.

All other rapid feeders I own including the thornes English feeder, the maisemores rapid feeder and the lyson Ashford feeder, I just pour in from a 10l bucket. Simplz.

My ability to make a sticky mess with either honey or syrup is a recurring joy and bringer of happiness to those around me.

A watering can is used by some and makes sense. I mix up syrup in beer fermenting barrels in 5 gallon batches with a mains drill and plaster mixing paddle.

I decant at the apiary and prefer the plastic English feeders. Miller and Ashworth feeders have a bee feeding rim lower than the height of the surrounding feeder and it is possible to overfill and flood the hive if it is not level. They can also have a seeping leak which attracts bees from all around.

Chrisbarlow wrote: ↑

03 Sep 2019, 22:22

Try and minimise or eliminate any drips. Drips attract wasps

On Payne's nucs, I use a large funnel and a 10l bucket to fill it. The funnel is perfect at avoiding drips

With maisemores nucs , I just use a 10l bucket and pour it in as the feeder is an Ashford type feeder.

All other rapid feeders I own including the thornes English feeder, the maisemores rapid feeder and the lyson Ashford feeder, I just pour in from a 10l bucket. Simplz.

Minimising drips feels like a fine art. Funnels may be a good shout, they're cheap enough to take a punt on.

Patrick wrote: ↑

03 Sep 2019, 22:48

My ability to make a sticky mess with either honey or syrup is a recurring joy and bringer of happiness to those around me.

Ah, good to see I'm keeping up with the experienced beekeepers in some way! Ha! :lol

Patrick wrote: ↑

03 Sep 2019, 22:48

Miller and Ashworth feeders have a bee feeding rim lower than the height of the surrounding feeder and it is possible to overfill and flood the hive if it is not level. They can also have a seeping leak which attracts bees from all around.

Yeah that's what nearly happened in my nuc. I saw a few wasps around this nuc the day after I overspilled so I'm guessing it went through the mesh floor and on the stand/grass.
Tried cleaning it with water from the water butt.

So far I think I'll get a couple different sizes of funnels and watering cans

I often take syrup to my out apiary in Innocence 1.5 litre fruit juice bottles. They have a large cap which his easily undone if the threads are gummed up with sugar crystals and they pour OK too - they don't 'glug' like larger containers can. And if there's a little sugar in the bottom, they can be shaken to disperse the sugar before it's poured into the feeder.
However I cannot guarantee that I don't make a mess - see Patrick's reply!

Adam I like that idea - Innocent drink bottles seem to be ideal. I'll give that a go. Thanks!

Empty plastic 2 pint milk bottles. They have a mark on the bottle indicating where the 1L level is. I fill bottles to this level with syrup. I have a strong plastic crate that takes 12 bottles.

Two beekeeping friends with more hives than I have do the same, they use the plastic mushroom crates to transport the bottles, but I find them a bit flimsy.

Advantage of milk bottles v Innocent bottles, is milk bottle have handles. I'm a bit late adding to this thread, had a few issues at work so not logged on for a while.......

Thanks for contributing Caroline it's a good idea I have two 900ml Innocent bottles and one 1.35L still has some juice in it in the fridge. My main gripe with these is the weird measurements. Why not a 1L and 1.5L? The sturdy and wide neck is a bonus though, even at the cost of having no handle. They were good for topping up the miller feeder in my 6 frame nuc. Really need to get the biggest bottles I can though as the 900ml will be tedious before long.

I pour straight from the 25L bucket into the Ashforth Feeder. Now that's easy!

I store and pour from 5 litre plastic jerry cans like the ones pictured at the bottom of this post. And also the 10 litre jobs that invert comes in.
The splashes are the least of my worries as by the time I'm filling the last few Ashforth feeders the bees are all seeking their "new nectar" source and I'm usually picking bees out of feeders covered in syrup. So drips of syrup soaked bees being thrown around everywhere /wry grin/
It don't last for long and the wasps seem to disappear quite quickly.
Although beginning to realise how fortunate my wasp problem isn't. Mate of mine is having to literally shovel dead wasps put of his extracting shed which is not currently wasp proof. He says he has never seen them in these plague numbers before and wonders when he will eventually be able to extract the last of his honey.

Let’s hope the last of his supers aren’t the reason his extraction room is of such interest!