Feeding Hives and a New Top Design
After lots years of trying to figure out how to keep bees alive through the winter- I figured I was getting closer- with my Trademarked (not really) feeder-venter-top winter box. Here- in the PNW (the P is for Precipitation)- it is wet- and that includes the inside of a hive. Unless you have a vented top.
It has cedar shavings on top- and fiberglass weed fabric- and a special feeder tray- and weatherstripping- and I used a version of it last year and the bees all survived, so this year I stuck to it, with some improvements.
Below- here is is. Opened in winter. You'll see the sugar I just poured in (this hive ate their first batch), in an aluminum tray that is built in, and the bees massed on top, hanging to the weed fabric that breathes through 4 inches of cedar shavings, and the weatherstripping, and latch, so it's not blowing in cold air when I close it. Mostly, when I open these, they are like this- and the bees just sit there awhile and don't fly out, I feed them,and close up. Quick and easy, without much exposure. The tops are hinged to the lower spacer.
You'll also see in this hive some burr comb- which they made in November. Its not a good thing- but only a few hives do it.
But the item that is important in this picture are my Sugar Muffins.
I make them in muffins tins, and drop them in like, well, muffins, that you'd be feeding bees, if you fed them muffins. Made out of cane sugar. I had one, to test it out- pretty darn good.
It has cedar shavings on top- and fiberglass weed fabric- and a special feeder tray- and weatherstripping- and I used a version of it last year and the bees all survived, so this year I stuck to it, with some improvements.
Below- here is is. Opened in winter. You'll see the sugar I just poured in (this hive ate their first batch), in an aluminum tray that is built in, and the bees massed on top, hanging to the weed fabric that breathes through 4 inches of cedar shavings, and the weatherstripping, and latch, so it's not blowing in cold air when I close it. Mostly, when I open these, they are like this- and the bees just sit there awhile and don't fly out, I feed them,and close up. Quick and easy, without much exposure. The tops are hinged to the lower spacer.
You'll also see in this hive some burr comb- which they made in November. Its not a good thing- but only a few hives do it.
But the item that is important in this picture are my Sugar Muffins.
I make them in muffins tins, and drop them in like, well, muffins, that you'd be feeding bees, if you fed them muffins. Made out of cane sugar. I had one, to test it out- pretty darn good.
The thing about these muffins- is that they are cooked. With vinegar. And apparently, if you cook sugar, at 240 degrees, with a little vinegar- it switches from sucrose, to some other sugars. Which I can't recall the name of, and I doubt very much that the bees know the name of . But apparently, its easier to digest.
Here is a reflector that i have over each entry, and the reduced entry, which I screw to the super. The color is to try to prevent drifting- but I don't know that it helps- they still seem way stronger at the ends of the rows I have.
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