Here is a quote from Bee Culture magazine, "Sugar for Bees", by Ann Harmon, Feb. 17, 2017. "As mentioned earlier our table sugar, sucrose, is obtained from sugar cane and from sugar beets. The sugar from each is identical - both are 99.95% sucrose. The 0.05% difference is from processing, from using different clarifying agents. However these are not toxic to bees or humans. They are perfectly safe, ordinary inorganic compounds".
The idea of beet sugar making bees ill stems back from the 1900s when the technology to clarify/purify beet sugar wasn't developed. The undigestible solids were still present and indeed had an effect on the bees, if you look at very old beekeeping books, you will see the mention of only using cane sugar. However, technology has progressed and they have been chemically identical for decades
Bob only just caught up on this one! Brilliant. Don’t think there is much you missed so much great information. I am going to be converting over time, to sucrose feeding. It’s a no brainer. Thanks.
I cut all my holes with a router. I use a 1/4" solid carbide spiral router bit and a template collar to cut all the holes in my lids, nucs, swarm traps. I have made a template for every hole I make and the router cuts a super clean hole. Great info as always and thank you for sharing.
We occasionally have a few dead bees. It's worse with very small colonies so I don't use them in that application and feed them from overhead with a jar or small bucket. We routinely take them apart and clean them once a year but will also clean them anytime if we see an issue. They're not perfect.
Hi Bob, We are sideliners with about 150 hives and we have been using primarily frame feeders. Thinking about switching to mostly 1 gal pails and/or 5 lb or quart jars. I see how one can use I gallon pails inverted over a 50mm hole and also close that hole with an unpunctured 50 mm plug. I also see how one can use a punctured 70 mm metal cap for a 5 lb jar. And I think I have seen you using the one gal pail feeder over the 70mm holes with a 70mm cap ring in that opening. That would seem to give you the flexibility to use either a 5 lb jar or a I gallon pail over the same opening.? But how do you close the 70mm opening if you want to have no feeder over it?
Thanks Bob you are like a book of history ( not saying you are old at all ) I think you an I are about the same ago just saying your words mean a lot . Thanks for all your info . On those 1/2 Gal glass jars what kind of price are they . Thanks
My dad died from stomach cancer. My husband is a nurse and we have 5 kids, the health of whom is our number one priority. We began keeping bees after learning that it is common for US honey farmers to use bees as recyclers: put in processed sugar = get honey. High fructose corn syrup contains trace amounts of mercury from the refining process. It is ecologically, environmentally, and physically damaging. Likewise GMO beet sugar that is also often fed to bees. We started with 2 hives in Tennessee of small cell bees. We did not harvest the first year and lost the weaker hive during winter. Without ever feeding, our one hive within the next 2 years produced 5-7 swarms and 3 nucs each year and we got about a gallon of honey. Never had mite problems or treated our bees with anything. Our goal with beekeeping was increasing healthy bee populations, not honey production though. Thank you for sharing your processes with us and for listening to another point of view 💚
If your goal is healthy bees then treating a must. It’s very possible you lost that colony over winter do to mite over load and diseases. Bees are not native and have no way of naturally fighting off mites. Swarming is one natural way as they will go bloodless for a short time but it’s not always enough and you don’t wanna be shooting out too many swarms as it’s our job as a beekeeper to be doing swarm preventions as well.
Good afternoon, we watch your videos with pleasure in Russia.I am a beekeeper from the Crimea, your experience is very valuable for us, a lot of new products
@@charlesoneill466 Lebanon, TN on January 8th & 9th. If you are interested you can find the information on Kamon Reynolds RUclips channel. Kamon is the person that has put it together.
Bob just gonna let everyone know Penn State Industries makes a 71 mm Forstner bit for mason jar lids. I just got mine and it works perfectly. Less than $30 shipping included. Everybody can find them on the internet.
Really appreciate the videos! Please consider voicing over the text inserts. I listen to a lot of videos as I’m working and when it goes quiet always pause the video so I can read it when I have time. Thanks for taking the time to look up and put in those references.
Unreal. I watched this video 5 times and just saw today where you mentioned cutting excess shaft off the adjustable bit. I'm cutting holes today thinking im gonna smack my hand lol
I live in New Mexico, we are just a small bee farmer w/approx. 30 hives. We have been using the 1 gallon feed buckets for about 3 yrs. I appreciate the knowledge that you have given us regarding the plug for filling up the buckets. I wish there were more beekeepers that do what you do in making things easier & convenient for helping out our bees.
This feeding series has been great. Very, very helpful and educational. I’ll just buy more when I come thru in December. For what you sell them for, it’s way easier for me as a hobbiest with 30 or so hives to just buy them. With time and plastic costs, well worth the price you’re asking.
Bob, we ALWAY'S enjoy hearing your words of wisdom with beekeeping. If we're willing to listen, we can prevent ourselves from making some of these flub/goofs, & get the best possible results for our efforts.
Custom hole saw looks alot better then mine .. Mine uses a drill bit makes it hard getting that wood plug out .. Maybe ill try it without the drill bit .. Thanks for sharing that
When I drill those holes 1/16 of the inch I drill about 20 holes and I didn't bother with that leftover plastic but one other thing where I used to do I put a 2x4 under and the lead in top of that and I just drilled and that helps a little bit better just a thought and I use some kind of container for yogurt which is almost half a gallon and the surface the lead it's about 18 circle now we're free well and those buckets are free by the way also I go to Mueller paint or something by one of those one gallon with the lead about $4 or $5 in my case I don't have too many call me so I don't spend too much money but if I have a 30 hive 40 and more I will be more careful with the money
Great video again! And yes things got much better when I started feeding my bees in the early spring. Here in canada 🇨🇦 when won’t have any flowers until almost end of April early May. When can’t just rely on red maple, pussy willows and pines for early feeding.
I just started watching your stuff a couple months ago but have seen and learned a lot I was actually told a couple times sugar would kill bees I got one box of bees and it wasn't nothing for them to eat I watched yours and I seen you feed them so I tried it with mine and they didn't die I think it actually saved them because it was two months before I seen them bringing in nectar and when there is nectar they do not bother the food that I seen
How do bees cluster in winter to keep Queen warm if there's frames in the way? They just 'cluster' all 'sandwhich-like' with multiple frames cuttin' through the 'cluster'? A diagram would be helpful. Seems hard to even flap their wings for her to keep her at 95f all winter with no room between frames to spread their wings, let alone being smothered in stuff. So it's not a 'true' cluster like you'd find in a tree-branch, it's more of a 'sythetic'-cluster broken up by frames? Or should you remove a center-frame so they can make a nice cluster & center-bridge of comb (aka like 'burr'-comb), leaving a nice thick, mass of honey to keep her insulated and fed all winter? (probably more like what you'd find in the wild? like with those big, hidden, wall-sized heaps of comb found on local-news or Nat-Geo-type shows?).
Even in nature the bees tend to be clustering within several combs. Normally, the comb they're clustered in will be mostly empty cells with food on the perimeter. During warm spells they will move up to be in touch with the food or pull some in.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you so much for your time. I think next year i will experiment with removing a center frame so they can invent their own intricate network of inner-sanctum comb for the queen with whatever passageways they might make. (like ants?). I feel like the impassable center frames is a bad transportation idea. I assume she'd rather be boxed-in warm by a hundred fluttering drones/workers rather than a piece of wood/plastic which probably doesn't conduct heat as well as a big ball of comb. Has anyone ever disected a big blob of comb to see if it has any golden-ratio properties or interesting engineering pathways? Thank you.
Hey Bob - curious if you could elaborate a bit on the number of holes in the plugs. I understand the 3-4 for early spring dribble and 10-12 for putting on weight in fall, but is there any situation where you would use 6-8? Curious to hear your thoughts. Fantastic video as always!
Hi Bob, I like your idea of putting a 70mm lid in the cover when you place the plastic buckets to create a little water dam should water get underneath the plastic top feeder. I just picked up 10 old 64oz mason jars with the regular mouth (70mm). Do you plug those 70 mm holes with lids when you are not feeding or do you put solid lids without holes on the hives?
Where do you source your buckets? I’ve heard you mention it in a video but can’t find it again. I rather not go through a bee supply company as they will charge much more money. Thank you
Could you please discuss how you can tell if the syrup is too old? How can you tell if it’s fermented? Also, when (time of year) do you use syrup to draw out foundation?
Hi Randy Yes, you can easily tell if syrup is beginning to ferment by smelling it. We begin drawing out foundation in mid spring and continue throughout the summer. It helps if fresh pollen is coming in and the temperatures have warmed up a bit. For us that is late March.
Bob, Another really helpful video. Thank you! You mentioned that you have occasionally made sugar syrup at less than a 1:1 ratio, and I believe you said that was when you just wanted the bees to draw foundation. Would you recommend using less than a 1:1 ration if someone were installing a package on new plastic frames? Also, do you add extra wax to your new foundation frames using a stick of wax or do you melt it and apply it with a brush? Thank you very much! Jim
Hi Jim. Less than one to one will work fine but if you want them to gain weight at a substantial rate also, 1 to 1 would work best. See our video How to apply beeswax to plastic foundation. ruclips.net/video/tfMISC9zIaM/видео.html
@@bobbinnie9872 or how about spray-foam insulation on those bucket feeders. That would block the light even better and it would probably last longer than paint on plastic. And it would probably keep the buckets from dribbling by keeping the temperature more constant.
On top of the one deep one medium super I end up with that the reason why I leave the maiden super is because I do have food in there honey so I didn't know how to make them to collect honey into the deep ones maybe I should take the super out and end of July but the next year it's still learning process for me but they are gathering in the top of the Vivaldi board so one deep one medium and they go up to Vivaldi boy which I have that fabric over and I understand they supposed to be in the cluster bottom box and I find a lot of humidity in there I want which I find a lot of humidity I have two mediums on top of each other full of honey so I decided to take one medium out and I didn't find that much humidity for now what do you think could be the cause and I have lots of Aurora because I didn't treat all Summer Long until September when I start to since then I see I treat six time with oxalic acid. I think the Gap was too large even if the bees were a lot of bees in October November I lose a lot of bees and the Gap was too much for them to warm up what do you think I thank you.
And one more thing before I send you some question regarding my bees I know you are in Georgia I'm an Oregon Portland and it's a different than the temperature you've been here also long time ago and we know I know the story of yours I used to be in California for 9 years before I moved here 20 some years ago
Mr Binnie, Excellent Video. Coca Cola use to ship their coke syrup formula in the same size half gallon jars as you described. I was told this By Tim Durham and he informed he could get all he wanted back in the day when they were emptied by Coke. I tried to obtain some at the Coca Cola bottling company in my area. Unfortunately I was informed they no longer use these.
I am a new beekeeper. First nucs etc coming in a couple of weeks. I am in middle GA. By any chance do you have any of those 1 gallon buckets, drilled etc for purchase. I expect hopefully about 5 hives this year but i don't have the equipped or knowledge to attempt your feeder buckets with predrilled caps.
Hey Bob how are you it's Filip I'm Romanian by the way and I talked with a guy I think he's from Texas he said he's talking to you regarding bees and advice how to... thank you for doing that by the way if you need any translation from Romanian to English you can approach me I'll do that for free.
Bob, i have a new hive this May doing well, lots of bees. Started with a Nuc 1wk, then a Deep-10, then another Deep-10, then a Medium-10. I've never checked the bottom, assume it's full of whatever (brood/honey/pollen?). The 2nd Deep i let a buddy open with me and rob 3 full center frames of capped honey for his small starter-swarm he caught early august. My 2nd Deep probably had 2 empty frames on each side, and the Medium box hardly anything. So, maybe i have 3frames honey, not including whatever's in the bottom deep. I regret letting him take any now. The golden-rod is plenty around here in mid-September in row-crop-counrty Iowa, and i don't see any other decent batches of ditch or field flowers other than goldenrod. Being that i researched i need ~90lbs honey or 10full full frames going into our cold winters, should i feed? And if so, do so thin, to promote drawing comb? ....Or,... do so thick, to promote weight. Seems like i need both now, but i just don't want to stimulate brood, if i'm' correct. I just want them to make comb for honey, not for brood. Advice? It won't freeze till Christmas (and then gets REALLY frozen for Jan/Feb). So 3months till sub-freezing, and maybe 1month till flowers are mostly dead. Recommendation? Feed Y/N? Viscosity? Thank you. Please anyone else chime in, since i know Bob is very busy with his beesiness. T.Y. (maybe they'll make comb/honey like gangbusters this month anyways, maybe they won't, idk, no experience, i think the last few months they were mostly focused on growing in #'s, maybe they were just shifting into production anyways??).
I would feed one to one sucrose syrup until the goldenrod is done and the if they're not heavy enough switch to thicker syrup until they are. They are being stimulated now by the incoming pollen and feeding the thinner syrup will compliment that in terms of hygienic behavior and the other chemistry that will occur.
Early on you mention that you had comb drawn faster on sucrose after sourwood. I'm curious, how long would you say it took to draw out, and, what time of the year is 'after sourwood' ? I'm at 50N, and we deal with a long dearth in July thru August for bees we dont move out into the bush, and have been pondering the concept of running as essentially a 'feedlot' thru August to build colonies for spring nuc sales.
Hi Gerry. Our Sourwood ends in late July and the colonies are usually full of bees at time so they will continue drawing foundation as long as they have the right feed. We can draw out and fill another 10 frame deep in 2 1/2 to 3 weeks using 1 to 1 sucrose.
hi bob I'm watching your very informative videos I wanted to ask you where to find the "2 inch tint plug" and if you know if they ship to Italy. thanks Merry Christmas max
Do you use the same 71mm drill bit for both feeder holes and double-screen boards? They look about the same in the videos. Also, do you put the feed hole dead center in every top board you make now? It looks like your holes are a bit off center long-ways, but I am assuming this is just a concession to the drill press specs. Is that right? Also, when you put solid lids in top boards you are not feeding, does the fact that the lid fills with water in the rain matter?
We do use the same hole saw for both but it's strictly out of convenience. The hole size isn't as critical with the double screen board. All the lids we drill now have holes centered but we still have some from the past when we drilled off center. We were trying to keep the jar lid we use to plug the hole out of harms way when we stack pallets of bees. The 1x6 board underneath the pallets tends to sit on top of the jar lid if the hole is in the center of the lid but now we don't worry about it anymore. The jar lid filling with water isn't a problem.
A lot of this doesn’t make a lot of sense to those of us with 100=200 hives…you’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars when most of us are dealing with expenditures and volumes of a couple hundred to a couple thousand at a shot. I love your content but it’s hare do make it relatable. Thanks for the video…I’ll keep watching for what applies.
All I can do is report on what we do and hope there is at least some ideas for most viewers. I appreciate your comments. Everyone's comments gives me ideas.
I wonder if an ultrasonic parts cleaner would clean off those plugs? They're pretty cheap at harbor freight. Hot water and little dawn soap will clean all the gunk right out of a carburetor.
You said you are doing more bucket feeding then division board feeding because your not moving bees like you use to. Are there other reasons for this decision? My question is do you feel the bees draw comb better on buckets then division board feeders? Could you elaborate on this decision? Thank you so much!
Hi Donovan. I like the idea of the feed being metered out over time rather being dumped in a couple of days which is what happens with inside feeders and strong colonies. This provides more stimulation for brood rearing and is better for drawing comb. Of course there are times when it's OK for getting a lot of feed in them fast but that"s rarely necessary for us these days.
In another question you mentioned 6 to 8 holes is your most common. Do you have a number of holes you like for nuc production starting with 3 frames or so of bees?
Hi Bob, when you feed with a jar does the syrup go all the way down to the bottom board ? My point is, if I use screen bottom boards and the syrup dribbles on the screen it can go through it.
If you are referring to queen cells they hatch in about 16 days from start. A five pound package will be almost a box of bees and can draw a lot of comb fast in a good nectar flow. The quantity of bees will begin to expand in about four weeks when the new brood begins to hatch..
We use HDO (high density overlay). It's commonly used by large concrete wall contractors for making forms. We purchase ours from Mid South Lumber in Atlanta.
Hi Bob! A question about the plugs. How do bees manage to take the syrup from the bottom of the bucket (syrup that is left behind the upper point of the plug, inside the bucket). Hope you understand what I mean
Thanks Bob for the video i tried ordering from your store awhile back and the girls said you didn't ship it was instore pickup only ? I was looking for bucket feeders
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you very much. I have learned a lot from your RUclips videos. For me, the invert sugar is of great importance because I isolate the queen for about 8 months (!) in the so-called isolator of Hmara. For this, it is necessary that the bees are not exhausted from processing sugar. If you are interested in the topic, you can check out the Ukrainian beekeeper Malykhin's channel (in Russian) ruclips.net/video/5odnrFwm55A/видео.html
@@bobbinnie9872 I think I didn't seal the lid properly .I'm trying again today,my colony is only 3 frames should I feed a thicker sugar syrup to grow faster ? I'm in the subtropics of Australia so don't have to worry about winter I'm just looking to expand as quickly as possible .thanks your channel is great
@@bobbinnie9872 that is good to know ty, any way i got 6 hives through winter 6 out of 9 im in york pa and we gotten couple days the past two weeks of 55 degrees here and Wednesday i checked to hives and queens have just started laying no capped brood yet but they had eggs and larva about 3 to five day old larva. It is down in the 28 to 38 degrees and up just breaking 41 but next we it suppose to get in the 60s being that queens just started laying again how soon can i expect to see swarm cells cause i am looking to make splits off swarm cells and when i do swarm cell split i have seen videos on how its done they move the cells in to a nuc and leave them where mother queen was and then they take mother queen and dump her and her bees off on a sheet or ply wood and let the march back in the hive, Trovinoff split im sure your are furmillure with this procedure. My question is, is this a good procedure would i be better off grafting a few what im wondering what is the safest procedure with out messing up my bees and to hinder there swarm tendencies for the rest of the yr?? I do have a favorite hive and they are Russian how true they are being Russian or (german black ) i dont know what i do know is they are an acute little black bees that can get pretty stingy. I favor this hive cause i feel it has my best queen i want to make more hives off this queen. I have started keeping bees three yrs ago and this is the first yr a gotten bees through winter it like wow now what to do like wow almost feels like coming out of winter the stakes have gone up and more challenge ahead Take care
Can you treat your bees with the Oxalic Acid if you using a frame feeder or have sugar on top of the frames? Will the OAV hurt the sugar or syrup? Thank You
@@HereWeGoSteelers Try using Oxalic Acid as a Trickle (% of OA in 1:1 Syrup) Subject to your Agri Law etc. (? in USA.) Here in Scotland OA Trickle is done more than Vap Application. Means the OA is passed about from Bee to Bee (transfer) than that of a Vap Gas impregnating everything in the Hive. Just my thought... 👀 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Happy Beekeeping 2022. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Any thoughts from other Beeks ? Watching Bob's Fab Video Feeding Series. 😎
bob what do you think about sugar beet sugar ? for feeding.
Here is a quote from Bee Culture magazine, "Sugar for Bees", by Ann Harmon, Feb. 17, 2017.
"As mentioned earlier our table sugar, sucrose, is obtained from sugar cane and from sugar beets. The sugar from each is identical - both are 99.95% sucrose. The 0.05% difference is from processing, from using different clarifying agents. However these are not toxic to bees or humans. They are perfectly safe, ordinary inorganic compounds".
The idea of beet sugar making bees ill stems back from the 1900s when the technology to clarify/purify beet sugar wasn't developed. The undigestible solids were still present and indeed had an effect on the bees, if you look at very old beekeeping books, you will see the mention of only using cane sugar. However, technology has progressed and they have been chemically identical for decades
Thank you for the comparison of the syrups. Helpful😉👍
Bob only just caught up on this one! Brilliant. Don’t think there is much you missed so much great information. I am going to be converting over time, to sucrose feeding. It’s a no brainer. Thanks.
Hi Richard. Thanks.
I cut all my holes with a router. I use a 1/4" solid carbide spiral router bit and a template collar to cut all the holes in my lids, nucs, swarm traps. I have made a template for every hole I make and the router cuts a super clean hole. Great info as always and thank you for sharing.
Bob do you have several dead bees using Mann Lake cap and ladder system also how often do you clean.
We occasionally have a few dead bees. It's worse with very small colonies so I don't use them in that application and feed them from overhead with a jar or small bucket. We routinely take them apart and clean them once a year but will also clean them anytime if we see an issue. They're not perfect.
Hi Bob, We are sideliners with about 150 hives and we have been using primarily frame feeders. Thinking about switching to mostly 1 gal pails and/or 5 lb or quart jars. I see how one can use I gallon pails inverted over a 50mm hole and also close that hole with an unpunctured 50 mm plug. I also see how one can use a punctured 70 mm metal cap for a 5 lb jar. And I think I have seen you using the one gal pail feeder over the 70mm holes with a 70mm cap ring in that opening. That would seem to give you the flexibility to use either a 5 lb jar or a I gallon pail over the same opening.? But how do you close the 70mm opening if you want to have no feeder over it?
We use a 70mm single piece metal lid commonly used on quart honey jars.
Thanks Bob you are like a book of history ( not saying you are old at all ) I think you an I are about the same ago just saying your words mean a lot . Thanks for all your info . On those 1/2 Gal glass jars what kind of price are they . Thanks
Hi Kathy, thank you. Dadant sells a case of six 5 lb. honey jars for $22.55. Ouch!
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks for all . Hope you have had a great bee season. 🐝
Good info . Thanks. When and at what temp do you pull the feeding ?
We try to be finished feeding by November when the day time highs begin to be below 50f.
My dad died from stomach cancer. My husband is a nurse and we have 5 kids, the health of whom is our number one priority. We began keeping bees after learning that it is common for US honey farmers to use bees as recyclers: put in processed sugar = get honey. High fructose corn syrup contains trace amounts of mercury from the refining process. It is ecologically, environmentally, and physically damaging. Likewise GMO beet sugar that is also often fed to bees. We started with 2 hives in Tennessee of small cell bees. We did not harvest the first year and lost the weaker hive during winter. Without ever feeding, our one hive within the next 2 years produced 5-7 swarms and 3 nucs each year and we got about a gallon of honey. Never had mite problems or treated our bees with anything. Our goal with beekeeping was increasing healthy bee populations, not honey production though. Thank you for sharing your processes with us and for listening to another point of view 💚
📖✈️🐝🐝
Great comment, thank you for sharing that info.
If your goal is healthy bees then treating a must. It’s very possible you lost that colony over winter do to mite over load and diseases. Bees are not native and have no way of naturally fighting off mites. Swarming is one natural way as they will go bloodless for a short time but it’s not always enough and you don’t wanna be shooting out too many swarms as it’s our job as a beekeeper to be doing swarm preventions as well.
Good afternoon, we watch your videos with pleasure in Russia.I am a beekeeper from the Crimea, your experience is very valuable for us, a lot of new products
Great info thanks Bob for taking time out of your day to explain this
Bob, thanks for your videos. I’m looking forward to meeting you and hearing you speak at the conference in TN in January.
When and where is Tennessee bee conference in January 2021?
@@charlesoneill466 Lebanon, TN on January 8th & 9th. If you are interested you can find the information on Kamon Reynolds RUclips channel. Kamon is the person that has put it together.
Bob just gonna let everyone know Penn State Industries makes a 71 mm Forstner bit for mason jar lids. I just got mine and it works perfectly. Less than $30 shipping included. Everybody can find them on the internet.
Thanks.
So thankful for all this info Bob...thank you so much for taking the time to impart your wisdom on us!
Mr Binnie, I greatly appreciate you sharing your knowledge on all aspects of beekeeping. You are a great influence worldwide!
Really appreciate the videos! Please consider voicing over the text inserts. I listen to a lot of videos as I’m working and when it goes quiet always pause the video so I can read it when I have time. Thanks for taking the time to look up and put in those references.
15:42 I purchased a 50mm hole saw on Amazon that cuts the perfect hole for your plugs.
Unreal. I watched this video 5 times and just saw today where you mentioned cutting excess shaft off the adjustable bit. I'm cutting holes today thinking im gonna smack my hand lol
I live in New Mexico, we are just a small bee farmer w/approx. 30 hives. We have been using the 1 gallon feed buckets for about 3 yrs. I appreciate the knowledge that you have given us regarding the plug for filling up the buckets. I wish there were more beekeepers that do what you do in making things easier & convenient for helping out our bees.
I like your attention to detail Bob, I like that you share How you do things and the reasons why
Great video Bob,thanks for sharing helpful content. 👍🇺🇸
This feeding series has been great. Very, very helpful and educational. I’ll just buy more when I come thru in December. For what you sell them for, it’s way easier for me as a hobbiest with 30 or so hives to just buy them. With time and plastic costs, well worth the price you’re asking.
*Always great information. Especially for beginners. Tank you!*
Wise words from a very wise man
I was like, awe crap! How did I miss part two🤣. Then I saw it was posted today too.
Bob, we ALWAY'S enjoy hearing your words of wisdom with beekeeping. If we're willing to listen, we can prevent ourselves from making some of these flub/goofs, & get the best possible results for our efforts.
Custom hole saw looks alot better then mine .. Mine uses a drill bit makes it hard getting that wood plug out .. Maybe ill try it without the drill bit .. Thanks for sharing that
When I drill those holes 1/16 of the inch I drill about 20 holes and I didn't bother with that leftover plastic but one other thing where I used to do I put a 2x4 under and the lead in top of that and I just drilled and that helps a little bit better just a thought and I use some kind of container for yogurt which is almost half a gallon and the surface the lead it's about 18 circle now we're free well and those buckets are free by the way also I go to Mueller paint or something by one of those one gallon with the lead about $4 or $5 in my case I don't have too many call me so I don't spend too much money but if I have a 30 hive 40 and more I will be more careful with the money
Great video again! And yes things got much better when I started feeding my bees in the early spring. Here in canada 🇨🇦 when won’t have any flowers until almost end of April early May. When can’t just rely on red maple, pussy willows and pines for early feeding.
I just started watching your stuff a couple months ago but have seen and learned a lot I was actually told a couple times sugar would kill bees I got one box of bees and it wasn't nothing for them to eat I watched yours and I seen you feed them so I tried it with mine and they didn't die I think it actually saved them because it was two months before I seen them bringing in nectar and when there is nectar they do not bother the food that I seen
🐝Appreciate all the info you share with us all.🐝
Awesome video series. You have been a huge help to me and I'm very thankful. I'm looking forward to seeing you in Lebanon, TN next month.
I think you should try a solder gun with a needle tip to make the hold in the cap. Maybe fater than the drill. Maybe more dangerous...
Very generous information as always. Thanks Bob!!!
I'm going to be keeper for 3 years and I have 12 bee collony and 6 five frames bee nucleus
I like apple cider vinegar added to my 1:1 to slow fermentation in my 1 gallon buckets.
The video was great good to see u again. I feed and always will I hope u had a wonderful Thanksgiving keep the videos coming they are great
Mostly of them are from trees and I do by the way have one log which has a bees on it somebody cut their birch tree so I take the whole thing with me
Thanks for "inside" type information, really appreciate that.
You are a gift to bee keepers.
How do bees cluster in winter to keep Queen warm if there's frames in the way? They just 'cluster' all 'sandwhich-like' with multiple frames cuttin' through the 'cluster'? A diagram would be helpful. Seems hard to even flap their wings for her to keep her at 95f all winter with no room between frames to spread their wings, let alone being smothered in stuff.
So it's not a 'true' cluster like you'd find in a tree-branch, it's more of a 'sythetic'-cluster broken up by frames? Or should you remove a center-frame so they can make a nice cluster & center-bridge of comb (aka like 'burr'-comb), leaving a nice thick, mass of honey to keep her insulated and fed all winter? (probably more like what you'd find in the wild? like with those big, hidden, wall-sized heaps of comb found on local-news or Nat-Geo-type shows?).
Even in nature the bees tend to be clustering within several combs. Normally, the comb they're clustered in will be mostly empty cells with food on the perimeter. During warm spells they will move up to be in touch with the food or pull some in.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you so much for your time. I think next year i will experiment with removing a center frame so they can invent their own intricate network of inner-sanctum comb for the queen with whatever passageways they might make. (like ants?). I feel like the impassable center frames is a bad transportation idea. I assume she'd rather be boxed-in warm by a hundred fluttering drones/workers rather than a piece of wood/plastic which probably doesn't conduct heat as well as a big ball of comb. Has anyone ever disected a big blob of comb to see if it has any golden-ratio properties or interesting engineering pathways? Thank you.
For the plugs, I use a wood burner (for burning art onto wood) to melt holes. Works really well for me.
I feed my bees because I don't want them to die I want them to thrive
@@trisleaner5738 great to hear 👍🏻
Bob thank you for the good information. Your videos are great and very clear.
Hey Bob - curious if you could elaborate a bit on the number of holes in the plugs. I understand the 3-4 for early spring dribble and 10-12 for putting on weight in fall, but is there any situation where you would use 6-8? Curious to hear your thoughts. Fantastic video as always!
Hy Ryan. To be honest we use 6 to 8 a lot of the time. It's enough to draw foundation but not so much that it goes too fast.
Hi Bob, I like your idea of putting a 70mm lid in the cover when you place the plastic buckets to create a little water dam should water get underneath the plastic top feeder. I just picked up 10 old 64oz mason jars with the regular mouth (70mm). Do you plug those 70 mm holes with lids when you are not feeding or do you put solid lids without holes on the hives?
We use a one piece 70mm jar lid to plug the hole. Works great.
Where do you source your buckets? I’ve heard you mention it in a video but can’t find it again. I rather not go through a bee supply company as they will charge much more money. Thank you
We purchase from "Pipeline Packaging" in Kennesaw, Ga ( they have many more outlets around the country) and "All American Container in Atlanta".
Your videos are well done and vey helpful! Thank you 👍
I've watched this series several times and seem to catch a new tidbit every time.
Could you please discuss how you can tell if the syrup is too old? How can you tell if it’s fermented? Also, when (time of year) do you use syrup to draw out foundation?
Hi Randy
Yes, you can easily tell if syrup is beginning to ferment by smelling it. We begin drawing out foundation in mid spring and continue throughout the summer. It helps if fresh pollen is coming in and the temperatures have warmed up a bit. For us that is late March.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you, sir.
Thanks for another good video Bob
16:20 I found that a 71mm hole saw works perfectly for cutting the jar lid feeder hole.
where do you buy a 71mm hole saw
@@raylopez5904 Amazon is where I got mine. I made a video about it that has links to the 71mm hole saw in the description.
Bob, Another really helpful video. Thank you! You mentioned that you have occasionally made sugar syrup at less than a 1:1 ratio, and I believe you said that was when you just wanted the bees to draw foundation. Would you recommend using less than a 1:1 ration if someone were installing a package on new plastic frames? Also, do you add extra wax to your new foundation frames using a stick of wax or do you melt it and apply it with a brush? Thank you very much! Jim
Hi Jim. Less than one to one will work fine but if you want them to gain weight at a substantial rate also, 1 to 1 would work best. See our video How to apply beeswax to plastic foundation. ruclips.net/video/tfMISC9zIaM/видео.html
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you!
High corn syrup is bad for people
في حالة عدم التغذية هل تغلق هذه الفتحة قطر 70 مم ولا تسمح بدخول الماء أو إغلاقها يمثل صعوبة بعض الشي ?
Cool
Few things in life are as fun as dropping a half gallon glass jar of 2:1 on the concrete floor😔 Love your videos btw.
I did that with a jar of honey while taking it to my car.
What would you think of spray-painting those buckets so the UV light doesn't destroy them too fast? Would it not be worth it?
I believe that would help and may try it on the next round of buckets I purchase.
@@bobbinnie9872 or how about spray-foam insulation on those bucket feeders. That would block the light even better and it would probably last longer than paint on plastic. And it would probably keep the buckets from dribbling by keeping the temperature more constant.
thanx....great information
On top of the one deep one medium super I end up with that the reason why I leave the maiden super is because I do have food in there honey so I didn't know how to make them to collect honey into the deep ones maybe I should take the super out and end of July but the next year it's still learning process for me but they are gathering in the top of the Vivaldi board so one deep one medium and they go up to Vivaldi boy which I have that fabric over and I understand they supposed to be in the cluster bottom box and I find a lot of humidity in there I want which I find a lot of humidity I have two mediums on top of each other full of honey so I decided to take one medium out and I didn't find that much humidity for now what do you think could be the cause and I have lots of Aurora because I didn't treat all Summer Long until September when I start to since then I see I treat six time with oxalic acid. I think the Gap was too large even if the bees were a lot of bees in October November I lose a lot of bees and the Gap was too much for them to warm up what do you think I thank you.
And one more thing before I send you some question regarding my bees I know you are in Georgia I'm an Oregon Portland and it's a different than the temperature you've been here also long time ago and we know I know the story of yours I used to be in California for 9 years before I moved here 20 some years ago
Mr Binnie, Excellent Video. Coca Cola use to ship their coke syrup formula in the same size half gallon jars as you described. I was told this By Tim Durham and he informed he could get all he wanted back in the day when they were emptied by Coke. I tried to obtain some at the Coca Cola bottling company in my area. Unfortunately I was informed they no longer use these.
هل في حاله التغذية بالدلاء من فوق يدخل الماء عندما تمطر إلى داخل الخلية?
I love bees and honey
55 works out normally at 80 % because the enzyme keeps working his way true as well in the livers off and the bee’s
👌
هل تمثل الرياح مشكلة بالنسبة لهذه التغذية ?
I am a new beekeeper. First nucs etc coming in a couple of weeks. I am in middle GA. By any chance do you have any of those 1 gallon buckets, drilled etc for purchase. I expect hopefully about 5 hives this year but i don't have the equipped or knowledge to attempt your feeder buckets with predrilled caps.
Yes. Call our store at 706 782 6722 and we cn take care of you.
Hey Bob how are you it's Filip I'm Romanian by the way and I talked with a guy I think he's from Texas he said he's talking to you regarding bees and advice how to... thank you for doing that by the way if you need any translation from Romanian to English you can approach me I'll do that for free.
Thanks.
Bob, i have a new hive this May doing well, lots of bees. Started with a Nuc 1wk, then a Deep-10, then another Deep-10, then a Medium-10. I've never checked the bottom, assume it's full of whatever (brood/honey/pollen?). The 2nd Deep i let a buddy open with me and rob 3 full center frames of capped honey for his small starter-swarm he caught early august. My 2nd Deep probably had 2 empty frames on each side, and the Medium box hardly anything. So, maybe i have 3frames honey, not including whatever's in the bottom deep. I regret letting him take any now. The golden-rod is plenty around here in mid-September in row-crop-counrty Iowa, and i don't see any other decent batches of ditch or field flowers other than goldenrod. Being that i researched i need ~90lbs honey or 10full full frames going into our cold winters, should i feed? And if so, do so thin, to promote drawing comb? ....Or,... do so thick, to promote weight. Seems like i need both now, but i just don't want to stimulate brood, if i'm' correct. I just want them to make comb for honey, not for brood. Advice? It won't freeze till Christmas (and then gets REALLY frozen for Jan/Feb). So 3months till sub-freezing, and maybe 1month till flowers are mostly dead. Recommendation? Feed Y/N? Viscosity? Thank you. Please anyone else chime in, since i know Bob is very busy with his beesiness. T.Y. (maybe they'll make comb/honey like gangbusters this month anyways, maybe they won't, idk, no experience, i think the last few months they were mostly focused on growing in #'s, maybe they were just shifting into production anyways??).
I would feed one to one sucrose syrup until the goldenrod is done and the if they're not heavy enough switch to thicker syrup until they are. They are being stimulated now by the incoming pollen and feeding the thinner syrup will compliment that in terms of hygienic behavior and the other chemistry that will occur.
Early on you mention that you had comb drawn faster on sucrose after sourwood. I'm curious, how long would you say it took to draw out, and, what time of the year is 'after sourwood' ? I'm at 50N, and we deal with a long dearth in July thru August for bees we dont move out into the bush, and have been pondering the concept of running as essentially a 'feedlot' thru August to build colonies for spring nuc sales.
Hi Gerry. Our Sourwood ends in late July and the colonies are usually full of bees at time so they will continue drawing foundation as long as they have the right feed. We can draw out and fill another 10 frame deep in 2 1/2 to 3 weeks using 1 to 1 sucrose.
hi bob I'm watching your very informative videos I wanted to ask you where to find the "2 inch tint plug" and if you know if they ship to Italy.
thanks
Merry Christmas
max
I don't know if they ship to Italy. 2 inch tint plugs, www.penpoly.com/
If We treat bees as our pet, love them, bees will be more and more.One of cause why we loosing the bees as how we treat them.
Do you use the same 71mm drill bit for both feeder holes and double-screen boards? They look about the same in the videos.
Also, do you put the feed hole dead center in every top board you make now? It looks like your holes are a bit off center long-ways, but I am assuming this is just a concession to the drill press specs. Is that right? Also, when you put solid lids in top boards you are not feeding, does the fact that the lid fills with water in the rain matter?
We do use the same hole saw for both but it's strictly out of convenience. The hole size isn't as critical with the double screen board.
All the lids we drill now have holes centered but we still have some from the past when we drilled off center. We were trying to keep the jar lid we use to plug the hole out of harms way when we stack pallets of bees. The 1x6 board underneath the pallets tends to sit on top of the jar lid if the hole is in the center of the lid but now we don't worry about it anymore.
The jar lid filling with water isn't a problem.
Hey Bob, Would cleaning the plugs be easier in a water solution at a temperature to melt the wax and propolis? Thanks for the information.
It doesn't seem to matter.
@@bobbinnie9872 Good to know. Thanks.
A lot of this doesn’t make a lot of sense to those of us with 100=200 hives…you’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars when most of us are dealing with expenditures and volumes of a couple hundred to a couple thousand at a shot. I love your content but it’s hare do make it relatable. Thanks for the video…I’ll keep watching for what applies.
All I can do is report on what we do and hope there is at least some ideas for most viewers. I appreciate your comments. Everyone's comments gives me ideas.
I wonder if an ultrasonic parts cleaner would clean off those plugs? They're pretty cheap at harbor freight. Hot water and little dawn soap will clean all the gunk right out of a carburetor.
Interesting idea, thanks.
three years later and the cost of the bucket has gone up by three bucks.. hahaha. gotta love that good ole communist inflation
You said you are doing more bucket feeding then division board feeding because your not moving bees like you use to. Are there other reasons for this decision? My question is do you feel the bees draw comb better on buckets then division board feeders? Could you elaborate on this decision? Thank you so much!
Hi Donovan. I like the idea of the feed being metered out over time rather being dumped in a couple of days which is what happens with inside feeders and strong colonies. This provides more stimulation for brood rearing and is better for drawing comb. Of course there are times when it's OK for getting a lot of feed in them fast but that"s rarely necessary for us these days.
In another question you mentioned 6 to 8 holes is your most common. Do you have a number of holes you like for nuc production starting with 3 frames or so of bees?
I think 4 or 5 holes for small units works good. Then add more as the unit grows.
I just went to the "tint plug" site and was not able to find them. You might consider.changing the link.
-Cheers
Thanks for letting me know. We have them at our store if interested. 706 782 6722.
Hi Bob, when you feed with a jar does the syrup go all the way down to the bottom board ? My point is, if I use screen bottom boards and the syrup dribbles on the screen it can go through it.
If the jar were to leak or dribble it could go to the bottom board and go through if the cluster was too small to take care of it.
Hello sir, can you share we’re can we buy the plastic tint plug coz try fine her in Canada. Thank you
Sorry, I don't know where it can be purchased in Canada.
Bob, I need a contact for a sugar supplier in South Carolina. Do you have any info on this?
Sorry, I do not. Our loads of sugar are brokered through Dadant in Florida. Ask for Jerry or Ray if you need a full load.
How many days does it take for a cell when it's strong? This package is five pounds
If you are referring to queen cells they hatch in about 16 days from start. A five pound package will be almost a box of bees and can draw a lot of comb fast in a good nectar flow. The quantity of bees will begin to expand in about four weeks when the new brood begins to hatch..
Is it possible to explain the method of increasing the lifespan of larvae by queen cells as a means of queen selection
Sorry, I don't know about that.
ill be looking for those tint plugs
Hello. What type of wood do you use for your lids? I'm having trouble with warping. Down in Palm Beach County. thanks Eric
Try putting something heavy on your lids... bricks, rocks etc
We use HDO (high density overlay). It's commonly used by large concrete wall contractors for making forms. We purchase ours from Mid South Lumber in Atlanta.
Hello where do you buy your sugar, I would like to purchase I truck load
Ask for Jerry Latner at Dadant in Florida.
So do the Feds come visit to check if your paying the taxes on your shine?
Not so far.
Hi Bob! A question about the plugs. How do bees manage to take the syrup from the bottom of the bucket (syrup that is left behind the upper point of the plug, inside the bucket). Hope you understand what I mean
Hi Andrei. There is always a very small amount left.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you
Thanks Bob for the video i tried ordering from your store awhile back and the girls said you didn't ship it was instore pickup only ? I was looking for bucket feeders
Hi Dave. We do have bucket feeders but we haven't made the move to shipping bee supplies yet.
@@bobbinnie9872 OK well let us know when you do I would rather buy from you then some of these other places thanks
Hallo and greetings from Bulgaria. Have you used invert syrup instead of sucrouse syrup and what is your opinion? Thanks!
I used an inverted sugar called "Drivert" in the past and liked it. It was expensive.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you very much. I have learned a lot from your RUclips videos. For me, the invert sugar is of great importance because I isolate the queen for about 8 months (!) in the so-called isolator of Hmara. For this, it is necessary that the bees are not exhausted from processing sugar. If you are interested in the topic, you can check out the Ukrainian beekeeper Malykhin's channel (in Russian) ruclips.net/video/5odnrFwm55A/видео.html
Thanks for the great information Mr. Bob I enjoy your videos and I greatly value your opinion 😁
Thanks.
@@bobbinnie9872 No problem please keep the videos coming it's great to learn from a Master Beekeeper like yourself 👍🏻
Regarding the number of holes in the tint plugs, I've noticed that they all have different numbers of holes. Is there a reason for this?
For most purposes we use between 6 and 8 holes. If it is a big colony and we want to gain weight fast we put in more.
Ok noted
Hi Bob, What's your best ratio to build comb?
For building comb and gaining weight 1 to 1 is best. For building comb and building brood 1 part sugar to 1.3 parts water is best.
Link for Rob Curry please
204-474-6020
rob.currie@umanitoba.ca
Tried making simple bucket with single small hole but it just all pissed out and flooded my hive
I'm sorry you're having trouble. We use them thousands of times a year with little trouble.
@@bobbinnie9872 I think I didn't seal the lid properly .I'm trying again today,my colony is only 3 frames should I feed a thicker sugar syrup to grow faster ? I'm in the subtropics of Australia so don't have to worry about winter I'm just looking to expand as quickly as possible .thanks your channel is great
@@danielcollins9628 One to one syrup is a good choice for growing colonies. With thicker syrup they will gain weight faster but won't grow as well.
Have you ever tried black molasses or brown sugar ??
No, it is very bad for the bees.
@@bobbinnie9872 that is good to know ty, any way i got 6 hives through winter 6 out of 9 im in york pa and we gotten couple days the past two weeks of 55 degrees here and Wednesday i checked to hives and queens have just started laying no capped brood yet but they had eggs and larva about 3 to five day old larva. It is down in the 28 to 38 degrees and up just breaking 41 but next we it suppose to get in the 60s being that queens just started laying again how soon can i expect to see swarm cells cause i am looking to make splits off swarm cells and when i do swarm cell split i have seen videos on how its done they move the cells in to a nuc and leave them where mother queen was and then they take mother queen and dump her and her bees off on a sheet or ply wood and let the march back in the hive, Trovinoff split im sure your are furmillure with this procedure. My question is, is this a good procedure would i be better off grafting a few what im wondering what is the safest procedure with out messing up my bees and to hinder there swarm tendencies for the rest of the yr?? I do have a favorite hive and they are Russian how true they are being Russian or (german black ) i dont know what i do know is they are an acute little black bees that can get pretty stingy. I favor this hive cause i feel it has my best queen i want to make more hives off this queen. I have started keeping bees three yrs ago and this is the first yr a gotten bees through winter it like wow now what to do like wow almost feels like coming out of winter the stakes have gone up and more challenge ahead Take care
Can you treat your bees with the Oxalic Acid if you using a frame feeder or have sugar on top of the frames? Will the OAV hurt the sugar or syrup? Thank You
It doesn't seem like it would cause problems but to be honest I have never done it.
Thanks Bob. I placed fondant in my hives just as a precaution. I wasn’t sure if the vapors would ruin the fondant or make it uneatable for the bees.
@@HereWeGoSteelers Please let me know if you see any issues. I'd like to know.
@@HereWeGoSteelers Try using Oxalic Acid as a Trickle (% of OA in 1:1 Syrup) Subject to your Agri Law etc. (? in USA.)
Here in Scotland OA Trickle is done more than Vap Application.
Means the OA is passed about from Bee to Bee (transfer) than that of a Vap Gas impregnating everything in the Hive.
Just my thought... 👀
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Happy Beekeeping 2022.
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Any thoughts from other Beeks ? Watching Bob's Fab Video Feeding Series.
😎