Over the last couple of years experts have been telling us that bees are becoming extinct. That is why I decided to start paying a little more attention to them. In previous posts we have looked at the diy bee hive in a jar and also the diy ware beehive. Did you know you could also make a diy bucket feeder for the bees.
In the bee keeping world, they say that having this type of open feeder is important for the hive. Generally they have this station a little way from the hive. This would allow the bees to actually leave the hive, go feed and then return to the hive. Using this type of feeder has the advantage of being easy to make, affordable and also holds a lot more sugar syrup. However, they also say you run the risk of having a weaker hive, due to your bees being attacked by outside bees and wasps too.
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Here’s What You’ll Need:
- plastic bucket with lid
- pure cane sugar
- water
- honey B healthy (optional)
- handheld drill
Before feeding the bees make sure that the bucket you use is not only food grade, but has also been thoroughly cleaned. The bucket has to be inverted after you fill it up with the sugar syrup and this is how it automatically dispenses the liquid for the bees. You may have to experiment with the drill bits to find the perfect size for the ‘dispenser’ holes.
As for the sugar syrup, the recommended 1:1 ratio is idea. Just add as much sugar as the water that you use for the syrup. For now, I have not tried adding the suggested optional essential oils. I feel like the syrup alone works well for the intended purpose. We placed our feeder about a quarter mile away, on the other end of our homestead. The bees still found it! 🙂
You can get step by step instructions on the Carolina Honey Bees blog, here…
How To Make A
Bucket Feeder For Bees
You can watch the video below on How to make a communal feeder bucket for feeding lots of bees …
You can watch the video below on Honeybee 5 gal bucket water feeder…
You can watch the video below on Bucket Bee Feeder – Beekeeping 101 – GardenFork…
