TorontoBuilder
Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas
My friend Brian described his process for barrel feeding his bees...
Basically Brain made up two 19 liter batches of sucrose syrup and put the syrup in two feeders. The bees emptied the feeders in 3 hours.
A typical worker bee has a carrying capacity of 70 mg of nectar/syrup in its second stomach.*
The maximum solubility of sucrose in water is about 2:1 ratio at 20 deg C.
So 2000 grams of sugar dissolve into 1000 grams (1 liter) of water for a total mass of 3000 grams per liter. The sugar molecules dissolve into the spaces between the h2o molecules and volume remains the same.
Let's convert the liter of syrup into the tiny bee sized proportions of micrograms. There are 1000 mg in a gram, ergo 3000 grams x 1000 = 3,000,000 mg/liter
As previously mentioned the typical worker bee can carry a payload of 70 mg. So 3,000,000 mg / 70 mg per trip = 42,857 trips per liter of syrup
There are 18.927 liters in a 5 US gallon bucket.... let's say 19 liters per 5 gallons. So 42857 trips per liter x 19 liters = 814,283 trips per 5 gallon feeder or 1.62 million total trips. Divide by the time of 3 hours and you get 540,000 trips per hour.
This is where the expression busy as a bee comes from I guess.
Citation
Basically Brain made up two 19 liter batches of sucrose syrup and put the syrup in two feeders. The bees emptied the feeders in 3 hours.
A typical worker bee has a carrying capacity of 70 mg of nectar/syrup in its second stomach.*
The maximum solubility of sucrose in water is about 2:1 ratio at 20 deg C.
So 2000 grams of sugar dissolve into 1000 grams (1 liter) of water for a total mass of 3000 grams per liter. The sugar molecules dissolve into the spaces between the h2o molecules and volume remains the same.
Let's convert the liter of syrup into the tiny bee sized proportions of micrograms. There are 1000 mg in a gram, ergo 3000 grams x 1000 = 3,000,000 mg/liter
As previously mentioned the typical worker bee can carry a payload of 70 mg. So 3,000,000 mg / 70 mg per trip = 42,857 trips per liter of syrup
There are 18.927 liters in a 5 US gallon bucket.... let's say 19 liters per 5 gallons. So 42857 trips per liter x 19 liters = 814,283 trips per 5 gallon feeder or 1.62 million total trips. Divide by the time of 3 hours and you get 540,000 trips per hour.
This is where the expression busy as a bee comes from I guess.
Citation
How Bees Make Honey | Wisconsin Pollinators
Honey bees make honey as a way of storing food to eat over the cooler winter period.
wisconsinpollinators.com