# Open feeding?



## Nate's Nectar (Sep 28, 2016)

I've been looking around for different ways to feed my bees so that I do not have to crack the box every couple days and saw an article on open feeding. I was just curious if many people use open feeding and if you do what they think about it and what do you use to put the feed in.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I've done it in the past. I haven't done it in years. The problem, besides setting off robbing, is feeding every insect that is attracted to sugar in flying distance, including other bees, yellow jackets etc.

I used five gallon buckets with various floats. I've made floats out of luan and I've used straw and sticks for floats.


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

It's a common method of feeding here. 55 gallon drum. 300lbs of sugar, 18 gallons of water. Put some straw on top.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

I like it. It is fast. It is something that a non beekeeper can do. As long as somebody can read a map and turn the pump on they are good to go. We are able to feed a complete triaxle load in a couple of days. It is pretty hard to do that any other method. Make sure you provice as much surface area as possible per hive. This reduces robbing behavior. Use plenty of straw. Once the bees find the drums they can sure suck it back awfully fast.

Jean-Marc


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Boy I'm tempted to set out another half tote for the weekend. They are promising 14's, 15's, ... I might send the truck after all this rain passes


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Any feed that is given to the colonies now even if it appears excessive, gets converted to brood in the spring. At a certain time in the spring what appears to be excess feed gets turned into capped brood ensuring better crop yields. In our area it can be tough in the spring to feed bees during pollination. Some years the bees need a fair bit of feed come spring because of the excessive rains. Extra feed now buffers the colonies from those heavy rains. At this time of year and say starting 8 weeks ago it only takes us a couple of days to feed a load of syrup. In the spring that same load requires 3-4 weeks, therefore it is much cheaper to feed now in a slight excess than it is to feed colonies that are on the edge of starvation because of insufficient feeding in the fall and heavy spring rains.

Most ofmy yards around here I do not have too many neighboring colonies so I open feed. If I know there are apiaries of 20 or more hives I will not open feed. They can pay for their own feed. I am not sure what other insects suck nectar or syrup but I never really see any in the drums or around when the bees are going for it. I see plenty of bees hopefully only mine.

Jean-Marc


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

If I can get a few good days, I'm pushing the end a bit close, as long as I actually those days. Boy October has been a wet cold month. I'm glad I had everything basically fed up in September


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

That is the advantage of open feeding, assuming you can get a truck to show up with syrup, it gets done fast and at the right time for the benefit of the bees and beekeepers. With that extra time you can go fool aroundwith that new vmVaporizer and take care of the mites.

Jean-Marc


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Ya we plan on blasting those mites as well , soon as the weather turns.


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## swarm_trapper (Jun 19, 2003)

do you worry about having wet syrup sitting in the brood chamber for the winter, feeding this late Ian?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

swarm_trapper said:


> do you worry about having wet syrup sitting in the brood chamber for the winter, feeding this late Ian?


Not really
The hives are fed up, this may just be a top up, which would likely be used first off. 
My bees tend to sit pretty dry inside anyhow


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

One thing to keep in mind with open feeding, is that you have to feed them in a couple of steps, otherwise the hives that still have brood will end up light.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Good point Adam.

Jean-Marc


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

zhiv9 said:


> One thing to keep in mind with open feeding, is that you have to feed them in a couple of steps, otherwise the hives that still have brood will end up light.


That's exactly right


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

what do you mean by couple of steps, feed, wait a week, feed again, wait another week, etc? How far apart are these steps?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

We back fill our nests here for winter


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

2 weeks is about right. That would mean feed sept 1, then the 15th and again Oct 1st or something like that. You have to work around the weather a bit and this year hope you could get your syrup.

Jean-Marc


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

Ok, how much would you recommend setting out for 20 triple stack hives that all have most of the top box full?


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Set out a drum, more or less full. That is about 2 gallons per hive. That should get them good and heavy. If that is not enough, do it again.

Jean-Marc


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

Harley Craig said:


> Ok, how much would you recommend setting out for 20 triple stack hives that all have most of the top box full?


If the top box is mostly full and they have some stores below, a single barrel would likely do it. Should bump them up ~20lbs. They may not need feeding at all.


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