Hive Alive 2L

01 · THE DOSE

10 ml per 3.8 litres, that is 2.6 ml per litre

The manufacturer's figure is 10 ml for every 3.8 litres of syrup, which in practice comes to 2.6 ml per litre. On that basis a 2-litre container covers around 770 litres of syrup: at four litres per hive in an autumn feed, something like 190 hives. That is where the label's «up to 200 colonies» comes from — it depends entirely on how much syrup you give.

02 · HOW IT GOES IN

Into the syrup, and stirred properly

Add it to the syrup once made up and stir until it is even; with cold or very thick syrups you have to work at it a little longer, because if it settles at the bottom of the tank the first hives get all of it and the last ones none. It can also go into candy or a pollen patty while you are mixing. The lemongrass is there for exactly that: to make the feed more appealing so it gets taken without dawdling.

03 · WHEN IT IS USED

Autumn and the spring start

The two moments it is used are the two that decide the season. In autumn, with the feed that sets up wintering, when the colony has to turn syrup into stores and into winter bees. And in spring, with the starter feed, when what matters is that intake does not stall if the weather lurches. Outside those windows, feeding for the sake of it adds nothing.

04 · WHAT IT IS NOT

A health product

Worth putting in writing: it is a nutritional supplement. It is not a veterinary medicine, it does not replace varroa treatment and it will not on its own put right a health or management problem. Stick to the dose — more is not better — and avoid spills and open feeding, which in a dry spell is the fastest way to start robbing in the apiary.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is feed, not medicine. A 2-litre container; the syrup itself, the feeder and the mixing tank are separate.