I understand that many beekeepers in Alberta feed in the fall using open drums filled with straw to prevent drowning. I'd like to try this method this year since I have one large wintering yard that is relatively isolated from other yards (3 miles minimum distance). This would eliminate the cost of buying an extra 100 feeder pails plus the time to fill and place on the hives. What I need to know is how much straw to use and if oat straw is OK.

BTW, thanks for posting honey price trends. The short honey crop certainly does apply around here. I have about 1/3 less total crop than last season with 25% more colonies. The good thing is that colour is very white. Any offer less than $1.50 C /lb is opportunity buying on behalf of the packers. Beekeepers must hold on. With several years of good prices, there shouldn't be a huge need for cash, plus like you stated, beekeepers can take advantage of the cash advance program through the provincial associations.

Gilles

I checked my selected topics and see that drum feeding is not on the list.  Spring feeding is and I'll do a site search and add drum feeding now. Here are some links: (1), (2), (3)

I should also describe the straw and the arrangement here, since I could not find a good description in the diary:

The straw we use is whole straw, not crushed.  The stems should be round and not flattened, and the straw should not be rotten or water-soaked.  We use wheat straw where we can find it. Grass can work well, too.

We take the straw from the bale and sprinkle it into the drum -- either full of syrup or not -- in a circular motion, so that it does not all line up one way.  We want a criss-cross, porous mat about four inches thick.  The idea is that the bees can crawl up and down through it easily, and that it will cover the surface entirely, but not make finding and reaching the syrup surface difficult.  We sometimes throw some old comb scrapings or a broken frame onto the to of the straw to act as a notice to the bees that syrup is there, since otherwise they may not recognize it, especially if they have never had syrup before.

Experimentation is the key.  Too much straw, or too dense a mat, and the bees will not be able to feed.  Too little straw or too loose, and they will drown.  In Fall, if it rains a lot, water may sit on the surface of open drums and prevent the bees from recognizing the syrup.  Water may need to be removed.  Moreover, open drums may attract livestock or wildlife, and syrup will kill them if they drink much, so many of us use some sort of lid arrangement to protect the syrup and the animals.  See the links.

The syrup we feed is 67% sugar/water, as it comes, delivered from the sugar factory.  At this thickness, any bees that fall into the syrup tend to float to the edge and emerge dry, if there is a good spot to climb out.

A good yard of hungry bees will empty a drum or more in a day. 

If there is a limited surface area for feeding, such as where only one drum is open, and many bees competing for syrup, there can be a tendency for bees to fight, and a lot of bees can be killed in the drum.  For that reason, we often use several drums in a yard, and partially fill them.  Done right, we often see less than a handful of bees left behind when a drum is empty.

We often see that the closer to the hives, the faster the drums empty.  Any hives that we see robbed out are ones that are too weak to winter and usually drone layers or otherwise impaired.

We seldom see any robbing of hives as a result of open feeding, and I really do not know how much of a beekeeper's syrup would be taken by a neighbour's yard a mile distant, if the home bees are strong and they are aware.  I doubt it would be much.

If bees are not familiar with syrup in drums and are reasonably well fed in Fall, when the weather gets cooler, they may ignore syrup brought to them for days, even if there is good flying weather.  The bees can be alerted to the feed by either pouring a little on each cluster or by squirting some into all entrances in a yard.

We feed in relays.  We start with a drum or two as soon as we pull honey to prevent any starvation, and to give the bees a start.  Then we wait a week or two and feed again.  This time, the bees that are well fed will show less interest, and the lighter colonies will fill.  We do this again later, after the bees have settled down, and often feed into late October

We feed pretty much all the bees will take, but staging the feedings reduces the risk that some hives will pig out and cram their hives to the point where they are forced down too far and cannot consume enough of the feed to get back to the top during winter in time for brood rearing.