This last weekend I went up to my parents to check on some supplies that had been delivered and to see how my mentor extracts honey.
I had purchase anti-mite medication, but since the weather has cooled below 60F I will not be able to use it (the medication needs warm temperatures for the active ingredient to vaporize and saturate the hive) but I wanted it to have it on hand for next year. I had also purchased Fumigilin® B and Honey Bee Healthy. Both are added to sugar syrup and fed to the bees. The former prevents Nosema (bee diarrhea) which is fatal to bees when they are trying to keep a tight cluster during the winter to conserve heat, running to the outhouse in January is bad for us but even worse for little bees who will chill below the ability to fly within seconds. The later is a combination of several herbal oil extracts that promote bee health. I calculated the dosages needed (since we will be feeding one quart at a time not gallons as in a large bee yard) and discussed it with my mother who would be doing the actual feeding in the coming days.
We both then went to my mentor's house where he was doing the extracting. The process consisted of using a electrically heated knife to slice off the wax caps off the top of the honey comb frames. The frames are then attached to a holding armature that will then spin inside a cylinder, looks similar to a washing machine. The centrifugal force causes the honey to fly out of the combs and to hit the walls of the extractor, where it then runs down to the bottom and flows out of a spigot at the bottom.
Since then my mother has reported that she has started feeding the bees and saw over a hundred bees at the feeder, some actually feeding, the others waiting their turn not too patiently. We decided to use both feeders each day instead of alternating. Next year I may purchase or make a larger feeder. Their fondness for the feeding syrup is good since we want to get about 2 gallons of the medicated syrup into them before winter.
Here is an article that was forwarded to me that I thought I would share.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28scibks.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y
