January Feeding
Winter seems mild this year- and today I looked out and nearly every hive had bees pouring out of it. I keep them mostly on the roof, so its a lot of bees in one place.
At harvest time, I did my best to ensure 50 pounds in each hive. I dont even know where I got that number. But I tried to stick to it.
Mid December, a hive that had been brutally picked on by Yellow Jackets all fall, died out, I think of starvation. I couldnt find the queen, thought it was like the Andromeda Strain, with the dead bees in a cluster like they had not even tried, and were asleep. Pretty awful, especially as I should have know better.
So I made a 2 1/2" spacer for the rest of the hives (there are only 10) and put down newsprint and dumped 3 or 4 pounds of white C&H sugar into each one.
The tricky part is that I thought it was working pretty well. Earlier this year, for the first time, I had made these vented top boxes, that breathed through filter fabric, into a bed of cedar shavings, and sucked out the total wetness I had every year. Worked great I think. But it turns out, I think, that the bees really like the filter fabric, moreso than just a damp cold inner cover, and they cluster on it. And then, when I added the spacer below it for the sugar, it made even more room.
So its super hard to take off and add more sugar!
Bees are hanging off it in big groups- I can't just take it off and set it down, and I cant hold on to it while I am doing the sugar thing. So maybe its a two person thing. Still, it seems like a good combo, and I should be able to come up with a variation that allows for the venting, and the feeding, and not make it a hassle to do.
At harvest time, I did my best to ensure 50 pounds in each hive. I dont even know where I got that number. But I tried to stick to it.
Mid December, a hive that had been brutally picked on by Yellow Jackets all fall, died out, I think of starvation. I couldnt find the queen, thought it was like the Andromeda Strain, with the dead bees in a cluster like they had not even tried, and were asleep. Pretty awful, especially as I should have know better.
So I made a 2 1/2" spacer for the rest of the hives (there are only 10) and put down newsprint and dumped 3 or 4 pounds of white C&H sugar into each one.
The tricky part is that I thought it was working pretty well. Earlier this year, for the first time, I had made these vented top boxes, that breathed through filter fabric, into a bed of cedar shavings, and sucked out the total wetness I had every year. Worked great I think. But it turns out, I think, that the bees really like the filter fabric, moreso than just a damp cold inner cover, and they cluster on it. And then, when I added the spacer below it for the sugar, it made even more room.
So its super hard to take off and add more sugar!
Bees are hanging off it in big groups- I can't just take it off and set it down, and I cant hold on to it while I am doing the sugar thing. So maybe its a two person thing. Still, it seems like a good combo, and I should be able to come up with a variation that allows for the venting, and the feeding, and not make it a hassle to do.
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