Open Sugar Feeding

by Adam Ziegler on 2013-09-12, 8:36 pm

Tonight I placed a bucket of sugar water out with pieces of styrofoam sheet pieces floating on the top. It took the bees about 5 minutes to find the bucket, and only two hours to empty it.

Open feeding can have problems such as drowning bees and attracting other insects. Feeding from a community feeder can pass along disease from one colony to another. In general I don't like to feed the bees but I noticed that the hives are lacking reserves due to the long dry spell we have been having.