Mixing Syrup How To-Feeding Young Queens
Its the beginning of July, and although there is still some blackberry left out there, I find that I am making more syrup than ever, due to trying to get 15 or so new queens and their progeny ready for the winter to come- and as strong as possible. I am a month ahead of last year, but last year I combined the young queens with brood from my stronger hives- and got them to size quickly- this year I am only (at this point) adding brood to those that are still small.
I don't really know what I am doing- and have made no assessment of the worth of any of the new queens at all- that will come in future years I guess- this round, its just see what happens. And one of the things that happens is to transfer the three frames of their mating boxes into a super of 8 frames with a 2 gallon in frame feeder- let them expand, then add another super. If I can get them all to two supers, I think I can get them to carry over to Spring.
To do this, I feed them as much as I can so they can make comb and I keep pollen patties on them all the time. Seems to be going well, though I have had problems with robbing in a few.
There are, I am sure, lots of ways to mix syrup, but here is how I now do it. I've tried lots of ways, but they didn't make enough. Doing it all in the kitchen in a pot is a mess, and slow. So I do it this way now, and it works good for what I need and is quick.
First- I use the following for each 4 or 5 gallon batch- 25 pounds of sugar (a pint's a pound the world around, so 25 pounds takes 25 pints of water to make 1:1:), a drill motor with a paint mixer, a 5 gallon pail, some thymol mix (optional) and a teaspoon to measure it out with, and a 5 gallon water container with a spout, plus a funnel (if I am not just using the bucket with a lid):
Then when the water is boiling, I pour it straight into the sugar...
And immediately mix it for 3 or 4 minutes with the drill motor...
It doesn't mix fully yet, but it will when it sits awhile (if its hot)....
Then I pour in 2 teaspoons of a Thymol mix of crystals and 90% alchohol. Its a recipe from RO Manley, and I started doing it to lessen the black mold one sees in containers. For two years I used HiveAlive for no good reason except they had a good ad, and when I used it, it smelled nice. Well, its the same stuff, minus the magic seaweed, and infinitely cheaper. HiveAlive, I personally feel, is pretty much a scam and without any science at all- and enormously pricey. I like the Thymol, but have no idea what the bees think (its so powerful a smell they must think something!)...
I mix again to get the alchohol to mix with the syrup- I do this when the water is still hot...
Then I pour another gallon or so of water in, to get it to 25 pints. This makes pretty close to 5 gallons of syrup...
And then I use a wide funnel that I cut the tip off of and strung a thick wire to, so I could poke the funnel into the water jug (these are about 10 bucks) and tie it back to the handle. I like- but don't always use- the jugs. They are less leaky and more secure than buckets (unless you hammer down the bucket lids). In the winter I put a little bleach in each so they don't mold up. I use the funnel again to get the syrup into the feeders in each hive...
That's it. The above process goes quick, the syrup is clearish with minimum settlement, doesn't mold, and I can heat water while I am doing round one so I can do a lot of sets in a row if I need to.
Below is a view today of a queen in motion after I have just released her after marking her with this year's color. She immediately set out to lay- and seems strong and healthy (she's a daughter of a queen from my friend Denny's hive):
I don't really know what I am doing- and have made no assessment of the worth of any of the new queens at all- that will come in future years I guess- this round, its just see what happens. And one of the things that happens is to transfer the three frames of their mating boxes into a super of 8 frames with a 2 gallon in frame feeder- let them expand, then add another super. If I can get them all to two supers, I think I can get them to carry over to Spring.
To do this, I feed them as much as I can so they can make comb and I keep pollen patties on them all the time. Seems to be going well, though I have had problems with robbing in a few.
There are, I am sure, lots of ways to mix syrup, but here is how I now do it. I've tried lots of ways, but they didn't make enough. Doing it all in the kitchen in a pot is a mess, and slow. So I do it this way now, and it works good for what I need and is quick.
First- I use the following for each 4 or 5 gallon batch- 25 pounds of sugar (a pint's a pound the world around, so 25 pounds takes 25 pints of water to make 1:1:), a drill motor with a paint mixer, a 5 gallon pail, some thymol mix (optional) and a teaspoon to measure it out with, and a 5 gallon water container with a spout, plus a funnel (if I am not just using the bucket with a lid):
First, I put a 2 gallon pot of water on the stove, a spaghetti pot, with a lid, on high, and let it get to a boil. That takes 10 minutes or so, and when it is close, I cut open the sugar and pour it into the pail. I use beet sugar here- about 11 bucks a bag, and the bag is plastic. Neither is great environmentally- but the bag means I can leave it outside for the winter without it turning to a rock. Regarding the beet sugar (it doesn't say that's what it is, which makes me think it is), I don't really have a problem and doubt the bees care. Maybe they do? Walmart sells cane sugar at about 11 bucks a paper bag- but Im not super happy about going in there. Still- I buy it there sometimes as well as I like the people.
And immediately mix it for 3 or 4 minutes with the drill motor...
It doesn't mix fully yet, but it will when it sits awhile (if its hot)....
Then I pour in 2 teaspoons of a Thymol mix of crystals and 90% alchohol. Its a recipe from RO Manley, and I started doing it to lessen the black mold one sees in containers. For two years I used HiveAlive for no good reason except they had a good ad, and when I used it, it smelled nice. Well, its the same stuff, minus the magic seaweed, and infinitely cheaper. HiveAlive, I personally feel, is pretty much a scam and without any science at all- and enormously pricey. I like the Thymol, but have no idea what the bees think (its so powerful a smell they must think something!)...
I mix again to get the alchohol to mix with the syrup- I do this when the water is still hot...
Then I pour another gallon or so of water in, to get it to 25 pints. This makes pretty close to 5 gallons of syrup...
And then I use a wide funnel that I cut the tip off of and strung a thick wire to, so I could poke the funnel into the water jug (these are about 10 bucks) and tie it back to the handle. I like- but don't always use- the jugs. They are less leaky and more secure than buckets (unless you hammer down the bucket lids). In the winter I put a little bleach in each so they don't mold up. I use the funnel again to get the syrup into the feeders in each hive...
That's it. The above process goes quick, the syrup is clearish with minimum settlement, doesn't mold, and I can heat water while I am doing round one so I can do a lot of sets in a row if I need to.
Below is a view today of a queen in motion after I have just released her after marking her with this year's color. She immediately set out to lay- and seems strong and healthy (she's a daughter of a queen from my friend Denny's hive):
Comments
Post a Comment