Author Topic: Feeding Bees Bananas  (Read 9234 times)

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Offline Jen

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Feeding Bees Bananas
« on: August 14, 2018, 01:18:32 pm »
Our Siskiyou County and the county next to us Klamath County are spreading the news that feeding bees bananas, and better if the banana is just a little over ripe, is a good and natural food source for bees.

It's said that the bananas are a great carbohydrate, packed with minerals, and a more natural sugar source than cane sugar.

It is also said that the banana's play a positive part in the bees 'dopamine' in their brain making them happier and work harder.
 
I've done some online research and find more info on how banana's make bees more aggressive. But there is also info on how the bees just love their bananas.

Input?


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Offline Lburou

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2018, 01:39:50 pm »
That is the first I've heard of it.  I wouldn't go out there with bananas on my breath.  ;)
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Offline ihor

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2018, 01:51:22 pm »
I used bananas to correct the bees' gut biome:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx7DrOGMiXtlbzlqbjkzMnJKZ1k/view


Offline Jen

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2018, 03:00:48 pm »
Hello ihor  :) How did your bees behave when you gave them bananas?. There is so much input on the bee becoming aggressive with bananas, but more and more info on the bees having no reaction at all, and they like the bananas.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2018, 11:31:11 am »
Welcome ihor!   :welcome:

If I want to give my bees some vitamins, I buy the electrolyte mix for cattle from the feed store and put tiny amounts in my sugar syrups.  HERE & HERE are links to the type of supplement I use occasionally. One of these products contains probiotics.  It doesn't seem to have harmed my bees. 

I've read that some entomologists caution that probiotics functioning in one species do not necessarily function as a probiotic for another; so there is some grey area, possibly even some error, in the idea of feeding probiotics to bees.  I don't know where bananas fit in the grand scheme of things.  I've seen all manner of insects feasting on ripe fruit, bananas fit in that group.

Your results may vary.  :)

I'd like to hear what Chip Euless, Tec or Apis thinks about this subject.
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Offline ihor

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2018, 05:39:32 pm »
Its been about 10 days since I placed the sliced banana on the Top Bar hive floor. There has been a significant reduction in the number of 'mummies' on the landing board. Will wait and few more days and see if banana is gone and if fewer dried up larvae.

Offline riverbee

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2018, 11:36:33 pm »
jen, i have no experience with feeding bees bananas, so really can't answer your question, but a good question.

ihor......welcome to the forum and thanks for posting!

the link you posted to the australian governments article on treating chalkbrood does not mention using bananas.  this is a good article and i have seen it before.  it does give a good description of how bees suffer and bee gut bacteria.

throughout the article, multiple times:

"This work also showed that feeding sugar solution led to a
faster recovery from Chalkbrood symptoms in bee colonies."


"The feeding of sugar solution seems to be the only artificial way to improve recovery from
Chalkbrood disease currently. The increase in gut microflora with this method again suggests this
to be a beneficial method for increasing gut bacterial populations. Therefore feeding of sugar
solution can also be recommended in relation to gut microflora maintenance."


also in the article:
"Feeding sugar syrup will promote hygienic behaviour within a colony and reduce or eliminate the
symptoms of Chalkbrood (Somerville, 2005)"

so my question ihor.......how does feeding honey bees bananas help them recover from chalkbrood?

besides what is mentioned in this article, there are other methods to help honeybees recover from chalkbrood, and reasons why chalkbrood may have started to begin with. i have no experience ihor, with top bar hives, but i do have experience with chalkbrood, and not sure feeding honeybees a banana is going to resolve a chalkbrood issue? 

not sure this goes to jen's question. she is not treating chalkbrood, but asks if banana's are a good natural food source. i can't answer that question.

i am sort of a traditionalist when it comes to honey bees and what i feed them or don't feed them, as well as treatments and antibiotics. with that said, i am always open to learning what works and what doesn't.  :)













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Offline Jen

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2018, 02:51:01 pm »
Nice reply Riverbee. Getting back to the original question... I was told that feeding bananas adds necessary minerals for the bees, as well as bananas help the bees with domamine in their brains, in turn making them work harder.

Frankly, I find this a bit far fetched, but wanted to see if anyone else has heard this.

I asked the bee group president this.."The bees already work hard! Why would I want them to work harder? If the bees work harder it would make sense that that could shorten their lives?"





 
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Offline ihor

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2018, 03:40:00 pm »
Yes the article recommends sugar syrup.
The bees have consumed the entire banana and there has been little change since the last check.
I will not experiment haphazardly any more.
Silly me.

I have started feeding syrup.

regards

Offline Riverrat

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2018, 04:48:46 pm »
Nice reply Riverbee. Getting back to the original question... I was told that feeding bananas adds necessary minerals for the bees, as well as bananas help the bees with domamine in their brains, in turn making them work harder.

Frankly, I find this a bit far fetched, but wanted to see if anyone else has heard this.

I would ask for some scientific based data to back up the claims.  I have not seen any studies even remotely close to bananas and bees.  8)
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Offline Jen

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2018, 05:15:04 pm »
Hi Riverrat  ;) How is that beautiful Theo?

I have looked up bees and banana's on youtube, there is plenty there on beekeepers feeding banana, but no scientific info.

Really tho, I don't see any harm in bananas, good carbohydrate, sugar. Could be used in place of pollen patty's if your out of them. And I don't see how banana's will hurt the bees...shrug...





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Offline Riverrat

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2018, 06:46:29 pm »
Hi Riverrat  ;) How is that beautiful Theo?

Doing great being theo eating everything but bananas.  Hows phoebe
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2018, 08:06:17 pm »
Its been about 10 days since I placed the sliced banana on the Top Bar hive floor. There has been a significant reduction in the number of 'mummies' on the landing board. Will wait and few more days and see if banana is gone and if fewer dried up larvae.
First, welcome to the forum ihor!
Are the bees eating the banana or being hygienic and carrying it out the entrance?  A thymol based product is a good treatment for chalkbrood.  Ventilation helps too.

Offline Lburou

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #13 on: August 17, 2018, 09:26:41 pm »
Yes the article recommends sugar syrup.
The bees have consumed the entire banana and there has been little change since the last check.
I will not experiment haphazardly any more.
Silly me.

I have started feeding syrup.

regards

Ihor, I'd be embarrassed to share some of the things I've done to my bees...We live and learn.  Sounds like your bees are lucky to be in our care.  :)
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Offline Riverrat

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #14 on: August 18, 2018, 10:00:57 am »


[/quote]Ihor, I'd be embarrassed to share some of the things I've done to my bees...We live and learn.  Sounds like your bees are lucky to be in our care.  :)
[/quote]

Thats a fact on my end to.  I had 2 rules 1. you cant mess up a hive bad enough the bees cant fix it and 2.  We dont use langstroths because lorenzo was copying someone else back in the day
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Offline Mikey N.C.

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #15 on: August 18, 2018, 03:09:01 pm »
A beek friend about 4yrs. ago had a hive with CBrood. I did alot of reading.  Banana was one of the articles i read, tried it but didn't work. Ended up (pinching Q) and shaking bee's out of hive about 75 yards away. Also sprayed them with 2 to 1 sugar water beforehand.
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Offline riverbee

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #16 on: August 21, 2018, 11:56:50 pm »
"Yes the article recommends sugar syrup.
The bees have consumed the entire banana and there has been little change since the last check.
I will not experiment haphazardly any more.
Silly me.

I have started feeding syrup.

regards"


ihor,
experimenting is not a bad thing even if it's haphazard........ :D
if the bees have consumed the banana, there is a reason why they did. good info, i appreciate it and thank you!
as others have said. we have all, including me, subjected bees to a great deal of experiments, harebrained ideas, flying by the seat of our pants or whatever we want to call it..........
uhmmm we are all einsteins when it comes to our honeybees?........ :D :D :D.
it's how we learn and share our experiences with one another.

i think if we started a thread on what experiments we all did or what we have subjected our bees to, might be quite entertaining.

it is amazing to me how resilient honey bees are to my mistakes and mishaps or whatever, cuz there have been plenty for a number of years...... :D

jen i do not know about how bananas really work for the bees, but if bananas work as extra feed or supplement for you, great, although i wouldn't consider them a pollen replacement.

thanks ihor, and thanks jen!
 
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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #17 on: August 22, 2018, 08:58:34 am »
My only experience with Bananas goes back 30 years (Or more? Not going there!) My Mentor told me that rubbing a banana peel on a sting took the burn out of it...  Yeah, I got the poo stung out of me that day.
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Offline Riverrat

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #18 on: August 22, 2018, 12:13:42 pm »
My only experience with Bananas goes back 30 years (Or more? Not going there!) My Mentor told me that rubbing a banana peel on a sting took the burn out of it...  Yeah, I got the poo stung out of me that day.


 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:   classic
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Offline ihor

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Re: Feeding Bees Bananas
« Reply #19 on: August 22, 2018, 04:27:28 pm »
Mummified larvae have been reduced to about 2-3 per day. Sugar syrup to improve the bees' gut biome seems to be working. Will inspect in 10 days.