ernie scofield

Feeding Bees

Just like everything in beekeeping there are several ways to do things and feeding is no exception. The following is how I do it now, having tried just about all the ways in all the books. Bear in mind I'm a hobby beekeeper, no trucks, tanks, or pumps.

I've seen arguments at the local bee club meeting border on religious concerning what a 50/50 mixture exactly is. This is my mixture. Take a jar, whatever size and fill it half way with sugar from the grocery store. Before you put in the sugar, run tap water, as hot as it gets, in the jars to warm them up.

Fill 'er up with water hot from the tap. Let it run first 'till is as hot as it gets.

Now this came out of one of the books. Add 1/2 teaspoon vinegar, to a half gallon, to retard the formation of the black mold the forms in the feed.

The lids here happened to come from Boardman feeders (yes I tried them too). You can use Mason lids also. Just punch a lot of holes with a frame nail.

This is a gizmo I made from scrap material I had on hand. I don't think you'll need measurements. It just raises the surface of the feed jar top a bee space above the inner cover. I thought it would help more bees get to the holes but I did without it for years.

Here's the gizmo sitting on top of the inner cover with the full jar. You'll notice I sit the assembly back just enough to let the colony bees up top to clean off the jar and "guard" the empty space around the jar from robbers. If you look very closely at the inner cover you'll see propolis rings from where I tried feeder buckets with the mesh screen. They become a moldy mess after a while, and the jars fit better in the dishwasher.

Put a couple of old supers around the jar. You'll have old supers around after you've been at this a while.

Repeat as often as needed!

P.S. The ramp looking thing at the front isn't a usual fixture with my hives. I call it a "dumping board" but that's another story (I bet I gave the secret away).