During inspection #1 and inspection #2 (at, roughly, one week and two week timepoints), neither Hive A nor Hive B had taken much 1:1 sugar syrup. At most, only about 1/4 gallon of the bucket was gone. For comparison, I know of other beekeepers who are seeing a full gallon be used in a matter of days. The good news is that the bees in each hive still seem to be drawing out comb and storing nectar. There were even several dozen cells of capped honey that I could see during inspection #2.
A podcast that I have been enjoying lately described this issue well... It seems as if the bees have a dance for "There are flowers 1/2 mile southeast of us." However, they lack a dance for "There is a huge bucket of pure sugar water right above our heads." (This makes sense, evolutionarily speaking.) So, apparently, any bee that finds the feeder pail of syrup is unable to tell the other bees. They have to find it on their own.
I'll continue to bring out syrup each week or so. Each time I check the hive, I half expect the pail to be empty. As soon as I bring out a new pail that is only 1/2-full, to save on sugar costs, that will be the week that they all find the pail and drain it in a day or two.
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