Feed Bees with a Pail / Bucket Feeder (+ How I Mix Syrup)
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- New and Future Beekeepers: I didn't know anything about feeders a few months ago before I got my bees. Here's everything I learned!
I use a bucket or pail style vacuum feeder to feed my bees in my hive. I explain a few of the reasons why I chose a bucket feeder and how I mix my sugar syrup. I also give a few tips on how to use the bucket feeder in the hive.
Here is a great article comparing different kinds of bee feeders:
beevac.com/fee...
This is where I bought my feeders:
www.betterbee.c...
Haha, I was the one that told you to flip it away from your hive, so it won't attract ants to your bees. I'm glad I was able to help in a teeny way! Really awesome to see how the feeder works! I kept thinking it had a tube going up the center, so that it had an internal 'lake' of syrup, but this way is so much safer for your bees.
Can't wait for the next video!
Thanks for the tip!!! You get 100 internet points. I remember it was you now. I've learned more about beekeeping from UA-cam comments than I have from any other source of information. Love this place.
In my area, Beekeepers make a triangle of popsicle sticks stacked 3 high without the corners touching to allow for air flow through the hive.
Such an interesting video - you explain and speak very well and have the ability to involve us in what you are doing.
Well, I'm just babbling at the camera. The editing makes it coherent. I hope it gets better over time. Thanks for watching!
Those type of feeders may not be the safest to use.
For example...
If you use colder water/syrup than the hive temperature is, the water/syrup will warm up. When the water/syrup warms up, the mix will also expand. When it expand it will drip down into hive. If it is cold enough you will add moisture into the hive and the mix can drip directly to bees and may kill bees. If your ventilation is not good, even in the summer it could increase moisture which can support all kinds of deceases and not to forget the honey may never get below the 18% mark to consider it save to eat.
With temperature swings outside the hive, you have temperature swings inside the hive which will shrink your mix when colder and then will expand the mix when warmer even if it is just a few degrees and this will make it leak syrup into the hive.
Spring time and fall time is worse since the temperature swings are more, also for a new hive the internal temperature will swing a lot since the population of bees is smaller that can not regulate the internal temperature.
I made a funnel feeder that almost looks like this, but mine can ventilate the moister.www.ebay.com/itm/Beekeeper-Beekeeping-4-Pint-2L-Rapid-Bee-Hive-Feeder-Keeping-Equipment-Tool/283026100727?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D48c2d2ec3a794119bacafe728c7e91e7%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D283026100727%26itm%3D283026100727&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A3cae0a2d-92d8-11e8-9c0e-74dbd180aa85%7Cparentrq%3Ae3e533611640a9cc1a26914cffeff7cc%7Ciid%3A1
All you have to do with this one is set it on top of your inner cover and fill it and put the inner cup/cover on it and put the lid on it.
Thanks for this. I am a brand new beekeeper and wondered how this works. Really appreciate the step by step process. Keep up the great work.
The only other suggestion I would make for easier placement on the top board, is to take an empty bucket and mark out a 4 pt or full outline with a felt tip marker, for sure center placement of the screen over the hole in the top board.
Interesting! Glad you did this, I was wondering how that one worked. I use the internal trough feeders on my hives. Have had hardly any drownings, but I have seen other hives where that does happen. I think some bees are just not as savvy as others. (I like to think I have "smart" bees, hahaha.)
Thank you for such wonderful tips! Also for sharing the wonderful tips you have gotten!
I would also trace the bucket exactly where it needs to be for the screen circle to be exactly over the hole
Cheesus Good Idea!
Because of the lip on the bucket lid It doesn’t have to go exactly over the hole. ❤
Vino, i have been watching your videos ,they are pretty good , and i like your patience thank you,
Glad you like them!
your video is wonderful and so helpful. One question. how can I make sure the buckets opening is directly over the hives hole? to make sure bees can get the sugar water out. Thanks.
Did you have any problems with your syrup mix going sour between refills? I make a sugar/water mix for humming birds but I have to change it out every few days or it goes sour.
I use the same mix for hummingbirds. My hummingbird feeders seem to go bad (cloudy/moldy) after less than a week, but I think that's because they are in the full sun and constantly being bombarded by dirty bird tongues and bugs. My bee syrup is never in the sun and is closed off to everything but the bees. I changed it every week and almost every time, it was pretty much empty. I did see some mold on the insides of the empty containers a couple times. I think I would have had more problems with a larger 2 or 5 gallon container but the one gallon was just enough for my bees for a week.
OK thanks for the info. My hummingbird feeders are in the shade, but it seemed that the ambient heat of a hot summer day was still enough to turn the sugar/water mix sour after only 2-3 days. I assumed a hot beehive might have the same effect on the syrup.
rcgrabbag would a bit of lemon juice help?
The typical ration of syrup for hummingbirds is 1 part sugar to 4 parts water, so is definitely more likely to sour more quickly.
Go to the fat bee man see his method of mixing. won't go bad. good for humming birds also
Something to make measuring the water out ahead of time a little easier is knowing one fluid ounce of water weighs one ounce. So two cups or one pint of water(16oz fl) equals one pound. 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups. Five pounds of water is (80oz) five pints or half a gallon plus two cups.
On a side note. When you switch to a 2:1 ratio the bucket won't be as full when you mix 6.66 lbs of sugar with 53 oz of water. Though I'd suggest just going with 9 total pounds (6lbs sugar/quart+pint water) to make it easier on yourself and the hive won't need at much food when the population drops off for the winter.
Where do I get it? You only have one hive? How much it cost? I'm starting next spring as a new beekeeper.
Hey! I remember watching this vid years ago. Do these fit inside medium boxes on the inner cover or do these require the use of a deep?
One gallon bucket is just barely too tall to fit in a medium super, but with a 3/4" shim, I can make it fit.
Vino Farm that’s my plan now. I ordered the 1 gallon buckets and am making the Vivaldi but instead of the whole board but basically as shins and will be able to make a 3/4 shim with the scraps.
u should do some vids on your kitchen lol looks awesome very custom modern and country type thing going on love it
What is the screen made from or does Better Bee have them? Thanks
Love your kitchen sink!
Nature's Cadence Farm hell yes is awesome
What is the size of the mesh in the screen - how many holes per inch? I'm a DIY person, so I want to make this at home.
www.betterbee.com/feeders/fsp1-feeder-screen-plug.asp
Interesting! Enjoyed your video, nicely done. Mick
Another great video. How do you get that screen secured to the cover? Also liked the how to mix recipe. Thanks for the help
Dan H It comes embedded in the lid. The basic process is to drill a hole a bit smaller than the screen, heat up the plastic with a torch and then press the screen into the hot plastic. It’s easier to just buy them, though.
@@vinofarm Thanks for the help ...Keep up the great video's and tips I really enjoy them
Did you buy the lid with the screen in it? Or did you cut the hole and put the screen in? If the latter, how did you melt the screen into the plastic?
Bought it. Link in description.
Cool video! I was also wondering how that white bucket worked :-)
Thanks! This definitely helped me make a decision on the type of feeder to use. Great advice and video.
specify what the grid should be, please? 0,045mm?
I would have thought that as the level of the syrup goes down, more gas is drawn in. What happens when the vacuum is no longer strong enough to hold the liquid in? Or does it create small splashes throughout the feeding as the pressure rebalances?
I go check the pail and sometimes there's only an inch of syrup left in the bottom and the vacuum still holds. I'm not a scientist, but I'm sure there's an explanation. All I know is that it works.
Vino Farm cool, that's surprising
yakyakyak69 interesting, I completely dismissed the screen as having much of an influence
Could you use a small animal water bottle as a feeder?
Like a guinea pig bottle?
Sooooo, what seals the lid? Is there an O ring that seals it?
There is an o ring in there. Kind of the same thing as on a regular 5 gallon bucket.
To avoid getting syrup out when you flip the bucket, put a small piece of paper on the screen hold it with your hand and flip the bucket. Then you can remove the paper (sliding it to the side) and the vacuum should hold all the syrup in.
Something like that
ua-cam.com/video/yUQHyhYCuwI/v-deo.html
Good tip. Thanks.
Does the pail need to be full in order to create the suction?
Nope!
is that a granite sink, counter top?
Soapstone.
The hive top feeder that you described as only thing that happens is drowning bees is the best feeder to use to get syrup to the bees in a hurry. And no, the bees don't drown like you claim. Used these and cans for years. It works best when a colony is established and it's easily taken.
If the weather is cold just get a paint can from the hardware store. Punch a few holes in the lid and feed away. It's reusable. Or use a jar.
That bucket feeder you have isn't the best by far. Bees will propolize the screen making it useless. If the holes in the can or jar plug up with propolis then just clean them out with a nail
First time I formed a vacuum in my bottom was like magic, too.
hey you should try sugar water in a spray bottle instead of your smoker it will agitate the bees less. also come winter you are going to want a top entrance to your hive so the bees can get out easily
It would be my recommendation to not do this. But, again, I am not a beekeeper--I just watch a lot of youtube on people who are. Never heard of using sugar water to spray down bees before your comment right here. Although people have recommended it on some forums, I would be hesitant to try it.
The way I understand it, the smoke works on an instinctual level. It is a pretty simple fact that beehives burn easily. The wax melts/burns, the honey burns, and the bees themselves burn/die easily. So, millions of years of natural selection has put in some basic protocols for how Bees handle smoke/fire:
1. Suck up as much honey (and then nectar) as they can hold
2. Hang out and wait until the hive gets too hot
3. If the hive gets too hot, swarm to somewhere else
When they do consume all the honey/nectar they can, they are really docile and lethargic. I have heard the term "Honey Drunk" before. They are super heavy with honey, and they know the colony is in danger, so they need all their energy to be able to fly away--sometimes really far away--so they don't want to sting (much) and they are slow to move.
You really only need to do a quick blast or two up through the entrance of the hive, and then wait 10 seconds or so for it to propagate through the hive, before opening up the lid. Then, a few quick blasts over the tops of the bees to make them scoot back down on the comb and into the hive itself.
Bees don't like water because they are terrible swimmers, and it makes them not be able to fly until they clean themselves off. I would imagine that the sugar water would be super annoying for them, as it would make them sticky and/or want to clean it off more since it is sugar. I also read that people tried using it had bees sitting around on the hive and where the top bars go licking off the sugar water, so you had to either squish them or shove them around out of the way to get the lid back on. Of course, a few bees here and there are inevitable, but I wouldn't do something where more of them would get squished...
But, thankfully, we can choose whatever we want to do to our own hives! If you want to try it, or if you do it and it works great for you--fantastic! I would just be wary of it, for the reasons above.
+Alexander Borsi That's exactly as I've heard it explained. Everyone says, "smoke calms the bees" which is exactly what it does NOT do. It makes them run to the honey in case they need to GTFO. It works for the beekeeper, but it probably stresses them out a little. I have heard the sugar water suggestion, but I'm also hesitant to do that.
I've heard about a top entrance hole and will be looking into that come winter time. I'm not sure I will try the sugar water spray, but thanks for your comment and thanks for watching.
Vino Farm
Cody over on his channel "Cody's Lab" has a "Year of beekeeping" playlist which is pretty interesting. He uses spray to calm his more aggressive hives. He says it distracts them and prevents them from flying until they clean themselves off and it tells the bees he isn't there to hurt them.
Smoking bees does not calm them, it masks the pheromones that they release when they think the hive is under attack (when you open up, bang it around and maybe accidentally pinch or crush a few bees). When they release that alarm scent, it signals to the other bees to take a defensive stance and they start to swarm and sting. Sugar water just coats their wings so they temporarily can't fly. Smoke also apparently causes bees to retreat because they're genetically programmed to think there's a forest fire. Either way, beekeepers have been successfully puffing smoke at bees as long as humans have kept bees. That's millions of beekeepers for thousands of years all over the planet. You think you know better than all of them? You don't.
Why not pour it right above and onto the bees? They don't mind syrup poured on them. Sure, not so much to where you'll have it spilling out, but dribbling a little bit on bees isn't going to hurt them, if anything, it will get them searching for your syrup faster as they'll hone in on the smell.
very helpful thanks God bless
The feeder is not working due to a vacuum created. That is an easy misunderstanding of what is happening. It appears the same as a vacuum created during your demonstrated straw test shows (actual vacuum created). However, what you have is surface tension of the water on the screen doesn’t allow water to pour out when completely upside down. It does pour out when at an angle though as the tension is not uniform across the screen. You don’t have even surface tension across the screen.
See this link from awhile ago to show the principle.
m.ua-cam.com/video/u5AxlJSiEEs/v-deo.html
Pro-Tip:
"A Pint's a Pound the World Around..."
So, if you want 5 lbs of water, that's 5 pints. Or 10 cups.
No need to weigh.
Yup! I think I was trying to keep the video simple and consistent with the weighing. And of course, once you know your bucket, you can just fill it to the same spot each time. Thanks for watching!
So your pro tip is that you don't need to get and use a scale to weigh the water, but you do have to get and use a measuring cup to measure it? What's the functional difference? Either way you have to measure the quantity of water,(weight or volume), it requires time and effort to get and use the measuring tool (scale or cup).
Even better pro tip: Think things through.
If you're hung up on the difficulty and nuisance of having to measure, then mark the container with a line to indicate the 5# sugar line as he did in the video, then add 5# of water and stir to dissolve and add a second line to indicate that volume. Now you never need to measure again- fill the sugar to the first line, then fill the water (after stirring) to the second line.
wish I could feed my kids this easily!!!
lol
so can I you white sugar instead?Mr could you telll me?
4:42 I use white sugar. Yes.
Primo!
hi love you vids ☺
Love you watching!
I was thinking in Spanish. Primo means cousin but then I figured, ah. Italian ;)
Checkout my video for another option using about the same type of pail/bucket but without a screen. Mine doesn’t leak hardly any syrup when flipped over and the chances of the bees drowning is nearly zero: m.ua-cam.com/video/-rR5JQE1DgI/v-deo.html. Works great inside or outside of the hive.
Good Job, Very nice!
You never mentioned how big of a hole you cut in the lid...
The formula for mixing sugar water simply is not important enough to measure. Just mix it to the point that sugar will no longer dissolve.
Hint: Look at Randy Oliver's website (Scientific Beekeeping) where he shows via scientific tests that there is no difference between using 1:1 and 2:1 solutions.
I’ll admit that I have not read Randy Oliver’s site regarding syrup, but wouldn’t there be a difference between 1:1 syrup and 2:1 syrup when feeding in the fall? I’d think 2:1 would be much more valuable for the bees than 1:1 as they’d get a more concentrated syrup that would be easier to reduce in a limited time. To say that there’s no difference does not make sense to me.
Go to your wood store where they sell finishing supplys they have these same bucket already made up for $3.00 tO $5.00 DEPEND ON SIZE aND A BETTER BUCKET
With a screen in the top?
@@vinofarm Yes Be sure you have bucket leval
Yummm... slurp slurp!!!!
Never use tap water, it contains chlorine. Aot better off with distilled water. You can use filtered water if your filter takes out chlorine...
Our water comes from a 450’ deep artesian well in the backyard. There is no chlorine or any other impurities in the water.
I am a first year with two hives. My mentor, Master BK said to put 1/2 tsp. of bleach per gallon of water.
This is how I prepare 1:1 sugar water: I purchased food safe containers (with lids) at Sam's club in the kitchen supply area. Any Commercial Kitchen Supply should have these too. They come in a two pack and about $9 at Sam's.
I fill up to the 4qt line with sugar, weighs about 8lb, 6.4 oz . Then I fill same amount of 4qt mark (it measures about same 8lb, 6.4 oz) with very hot tap water into a stock pot and heat up so its just a wee hot but not boiling, slowly pour and stir in the sugar. After dissolved, I put in the 1/2 tsp of the bleach and stir well again. Bleach keeps the sugar from molding and fermenting as quick. Plus bees seem to be drawn to chlorinated water for drink. I buy the 25 lb bag of sugar at Costco/or Sams. 25lbs will serve 3 containers at the 4 qt mark, when it is mixed with water, it becomes approx a full gallon and a half of syrup.
Hmmm... I'm gotta say that putting bleach in my bees' food is not a thing I would do.
Jim, never use hot water otherwise the sugar-mixture will become toxic. (use lukewarm water)
thank youuuuu
In winter it's 2 to 1
Correct. I forgot to mention fall and winter.
Brasil 🖒🖒
"Little Bee Tongue" = my new name for an Apis mellifera proboscis.
2:38
The killer hornets are killing the bees.We humans must protect the bees. Check deseret Tavares prediction in you tube.
That is SO cool!
Shakira
???
i ask would you mark the flow the queen bee to save you looking for her
Marking the queen makes finding her easier, but sometimes you still have to look for her. After a year or so of looking at bees, queens become much easier to spot.
Thanks,very well explained,that answered all my questions