The End of C&H
Over the weekend I put three more 4 pound bags of sugar on three hives that seemed completely barren. Its not a great system- not quantifiable- I don't know if the hives I am feeding have nothing- or are just really efficient at converting what I put there. My guess, in part due to the strength of these hives, is that they really are eating through what I put there, and storing little. I still don't get how they convert the white sugar- if they are packing it away or not- the one hive I looked through looked empty.
Its crazy, as if this is true, they all would have starved in December. And although I can't testify that I left enough in Fall, I think I left more than I usually do, maybe fifty pounds a hive. But although I haven't looked through the hives completely- they all seem light- and I think they are empty.
But now I have artificially sustained them, and even now there is very little food out there. Dandelion has just flowered in the neighborhood up the hill (but not in my yard), and Pireus, and willow. But I see little else, though they are bringing back lots of different colored pollens. I have no idea if that means there is enough nectar yet- I'm a bit confused about the biology. And I am not sure this is different than years past, but I think it is. Having this many bees to sustain at this time of year. Or is it normal?
I moved my centerline of hives on my roof to give more room to the north hives- three in a row. I wonder if drift is happening not only east to west, but north to south- as the weakest hive seems always to be the NE one, against the house, and most shaded.
I have the prototype weighting machine worked out, but its in need of a second generation. Though I should just use it. I weighed an empty hive and all its constituent parts, but have not followed though to find out how close I am to "half" when I weigh the hole thing with the tool.
Here is my tin foil "feeder" on top of one of the hive- i pour out a bag then spray it with a house (on mist- a spray bottle takes way too long).
Some hives on the roof, my strongest hive is the one on the right (just two westerns tall)....
Its crazy, as if this is true, they all would have starved in December. And although I can't testify that I left enough in Fall, I think I left more than I usually do, maybe fifty pounds a hive. But although I haven't looked through the hives completely- they all seem light- and I think they are empty.
But now I have artificially sustained them, and even now there is very little food out there. Dandelion has just flowered in the neighborhood up the hill (but not in my yard), and Pireus, and willow. But I see little else, though they are bringing back lots of different colored pollens. I have no idea if that means there is enough nectar yet- I'm a bit confused about the biology. And I am not sure this is different than years past, but I think it is. Having this many bees to sustain at this time of year. Or is it normal?
I moved my centerline of hives on my roof to give more room to the north hives- three in a row. I wonder if drift is happening not only east to west, but north to south- as the weakest hive seems always to be the NE one, against the house, and most shaded.
I have the prototype weighting machine worked out, but its in need of a second generation. Though I should just use it. I weighed an empty hive and all its constituent parts, but have not followed though to find out how close I am to "half" when I weigh the hole thing with the tool.
Here is my tin foil "feeder" on top of one of the hive- i pour out a bag then spray it with a house (on mist- a spray bottle takes way too long).
Some hives on the roof, my strongest hive is the one on the right (just two westerns tall)....
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