# How Long Do I Feed Them Sugar Syrup?



## roostershooter7 (May 26, 2011)

I've been feeding my hives sugar syrup for almost 3 weeks now, and they are consuming a pint a day for each hive. 

How long do I need to keep feeding each hive? 

I feel like they are storing a lot of the sugar syrup, and not immediately consuming or utilizing all of it.


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Is this a new hive? Started on foundation? If so, 3 weeks is not a very long time to be feeding them. You'll want to feed them until there is a large enough foraging population to support and expand the hive. I'd feed until you have a strong 2 deep hive (or 3 mediums if you are using mediums.)


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## MCC (May 30, 2008)

Keep feeding until they stop taking it, they know better than you do.


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## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

roostershooter7 said:


> I've been feeding my hives sugar syrup for almost 3 weeks now, and they are consuming a pint a day for each hive.
> 
> How long do I need to keep feeding each hive?
> 
> I feel like they are storing a lot of the sugar syrup, and not immediately consuming or utilizing all of it.


Are they taking only a pint a day or is that all you are giving them? It's so dry around here that mine will take at least two quarts a day... I have 9 hives and they are eating 25 lbs of sugar every two days!


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## djei5 (Apr 24, 2011)

Listen to MCC!


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## roostershooter7 (May 26, 2011)

Sorry for not giving all of the details in my primary post. 

I have two hives, new packages that were installed 3 weeks ago, and I'm still on the first 10 frame Deep Brood Box. I haven't added my second yet.

I inspected them on Monday, and 6 out of 10 frames were full of comb in each hive. 

In one hive I had 3 frames with brood, 2 with pollen and honey, and 1 with nothing but sugar water stored. 

In the other I had 4 frames with brood, 1 with pollen and honey, and 1 with sugar water stored. 

I am only feeding them 1 pint a day for each hive. I have a 1 gallon hive top waterer on each hive. They consume about a gallon of water a week, each hive.

I've heard of local beekeepers speaking of their bees becoming 'sugar syrup dependent'. One local beekeeper told me to only feed them a total of 1 gallon of sugar syrup in the Spring, but I obviously didn't follow his advice. I've been feeding them for 3 weeks.


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## notaclue (Jun 30, 2005)

I've never had any become syrup dependent in my tiny world. They have always stopped when the scouts brought something back that was better. I have no problems feeding the devil out of new packages, because they are normally not on drawn comb but on starter strips. I do check as I feed though to make sure everything is going okay and they have not run out of room.


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## MDS (Jan 9, 2011)

Sometimes I stop feeding for a few days or more after they have capped honey so the ants leave. Then after the new colony builds up numbers and I start feeding again they can fend off the ants.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I feed until they have capped honey and there is nectar available.


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## blist (Jun 15, 2010)

I was using baggie feeders in a top bar hive but the ants found it, I just moved the baggie feeder away from the hive...they have to take a little flight to get to it if they want it now...it seems to be fine...they are still feeding on it, just not sucking it down (probably because a few things are in bloom)...I read some people use big drums of syrup in bee yards.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

In my opinion there are many reasons to avoid feeding if you can. It sets off robbing. It attracts pests (ants, wasps, yellow jackets etc.) It clogs the brood nest and sets off swarming. It drowns a lot of bees.

Some people feed a package constantly for the first year. In my experience this usually results in them swarming when they are not strong enough and often failing. Some feed spring, fall and dearth regardless of stores. Some don't believe in feeding at all. Some steal all the honey in the fall and try to feed them back up enough to winter.

Personally I don't feed if there is a nectar flow. Gathering nectar is what bees do. They should be encouraged to do it. I will feed in the spring if they are light, as they will not rear brood without sufficient stores to do it with. I will feed in the fall if they are light, but I always try to make sure I don't take too much honey and leave them light. Some years, though, the fall flow fails and they are on the verge of starvation if I don't feed. When queen rearing, during a dearth, I sometimes have to feed to get them to make cells and to get the queens to fly out and mate. So while I do try to avoid feeding, I end up doing it very often. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with feeding if you have a good reason for doing it, but my plan is to try to avoid it and leave the bees enough to live on where there is a dearth.


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## ralittlefield (Apr 25, 2011)

Michael Bush said:


> .
> 
> Personally I don't feed if there is a nectar flow.


Would that still be true if it was a new hive still drawing out comb?

My plan is to feed until they have drawn comb in at least the brood hives.

I understand that wild bees would draw comb without assistance, but my hope is to help them do better than they would in the wild.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Would that still be true if it was a new hive still drawing out comb?

If they have some capped honey, yes it would be true. I would stop feeding. If they don't have some stores (indicated by capping the honey) then I would continue to feed. They need stores to get through rainy weeks, and dearths.

>My plan is to feed until they have drawn comb in at least the brood hives.

That may work well for you. And they may swarm on you if they backfill the brood nest.

>I understand that wild bees would draw comb without assistance, but my hope is to help them do better than they would in the wild. 

The other issue of sugar syrup is the pH encourages things to reproduce like AFB, Nosema, EHB etc. while honey supresses them. You change the microbial balance when you change the pH, not to mention other things about honey that inhibit some microbes and encourage the good microbes.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmorethan.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoursimplesteps.htm#naturalfood


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## ralittlefield (Apr 25, 2011)

Michael Bush said:


> >The other issue of sugar syrup is the pH encourages things to reproduce like AFB, Nosema, EHB etc. while honey supresses them. You change the microbial balance when you change the pH, not to mention other things about honey that inhibit some microbes and encourage the good microbes.


Thank you for this info. Frankly, I had not considered swarming as an issue with a new hive with so much room to expand. I will keep an eye on the brood nest for space.

I also did not know about the impact of the change of PH in their diet.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Certainly if they stop building up because there isn't enough nectar, I would feed more.


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