Well, all the bottoms are cleaned and I have my 3rd round of patties on and my 2nd round of syrup complete. I have been surprised at the rate of pollen consumption so far. The last couple days I threw 2 patties on everything that had totally finished off their last feed. I am curious to see now if they will consume those 2 patties by my next visit (roughly 10 days). My patties are over 1 lb each so that would mean about 5 lbs of pollen patties eaten by April 15th?? I think that's a lot!
My higher elevation yards are having trouble taking down syrup, probably due to the cooler temperatures, lot's of dead bees in the frame feeders. The first round I fed patties I didn't feed syrup but used honey. I almost wish I had more honey to put on them. Feeding syrup sucks! I don't really frame feeders, hive-top feeders I don't like, I don't like buckets.... There must be a better way! One thing I may try is using fondant in the spring. Could I get a sufficient amount of feed if I cut the fondant into strips and put it in the frame feeder? I'd then avoid drowning bees. Mind you I'd avoid drowning bees by using ladders in the feeders. If that was the way I went I would just need to rig up a pump to my syrup tank and pump it into the frame feeders with ladders.... Yeah that's the way to go!
My higher elevation yards are having trouble taking down syrup, probably due to the cooler temperatures, lot's of dead bees in the frame feeders. The first round I fed patties I didn't feed syrup but used honey. I almost wish I had more honey to put on them. Feeding syrup sucks! I don't really frame feeders, hive-top feeders I don't like, I don't like buckets.... There must be a better way! One thing I may try is using fondant in the spring. Could I get a sufficient amount of feed if I cut the fondant into strips and put it in the frame feeder? I'd then avoid drowning bees. Mind you I'd avoid drowning bees by using ladders in the feeders. If that was the way I went I would just need to rig up a pump to my syrup tank and pump it into the frame feeders with ladders.... Yeah that's the way to go!
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