Roger’s 15 Minute Meals

Greedy bees. I take an early harvest (4 August), I leave them all their uncapped stores and let them clean up the cappings to see them though the winter and it turns out they’ve gobbled the lot by early September!

Perhaps there’s not much forage around, maybe the colonies are still getting established or maybe they are just like their keeper – greedy!

Time for me to get on my apron and get in the kitchen. The last time I fed the bees my sugar syrup using 2L bottles and an English feeder, I had to make many trips and had bees flying everywhere and getting into my mixture (bottles take a while to pour and English feeders are small).  It was like the great British Shake Off and it took me hours.

This time I was determined to deliver a more efficient and civilised culinary delight.

Step 1: Mix sugar and water in 30lb honey buckets

I used warmed water to speed up dissolving – but I’m sure cold water would do the job. I’m mixing 5Kg of sugar with 3L of water to avoid overloading. Read Feeding Bees for more information on this process.

Step 2: Use Jumbo Rapid Feeders

… and transport this and syrup in garden cart. Place these feeders above the brood box with a queen excluder below the feeder. Crown boards should be removed.

Jumbo feeders are great:

• Less than £25 – relatively cheaper than similarly sized alternatives
• Covers whole surface of hive – so bees can’t fly at you or get into the syrup
• Holds 16L (3.5 gallons) – so you could probably feed the bees in one go

And that’s it. “Proper Pukka”!

The bees have taken at least 10Kg of sugar in the last few days.

Read More

• Last year’s experience of not feeding bees early enough: Starving Bees
• How-To Guide: Feeding Bees
• Where are we in the Beekeeping Calendar
• Jumbo Feeders from Maisemore
• Garden Carts

Author: Roger

regaining my sanity through beekeeping View all posts by Roger