2011-03-05: Hungy Mandibles to Feed

On Saturday I visited my parents and paid a visit to the hive to see if they might benefit from some food. I could not hear anything when I knocked on the side, though I often have trouble hearing the bees over the sounds of my parents retriever bounding through the snow looking for a stick. Being concerned about them, I undid the ropes and took off the top. I moved aside the wool that I had placed on top of the inner cover to provide insulation and to stop condensation from dripping back into the hive. I found the hole in the inner cover and could see some live bees looking back. While seeing live bees was definitely a good thing, I have read that when the bees are right at the top they are probably nearly at the end of their food.

I closed the hive again and went inside to get some food ready. This consisted of a pie pan filled with sugar that I had spritzed a slightly diluted solution of Honey-Bee-Healthy to both get the sugar wet so the bees will perceive it as food rather than dirt to be removed and to also act as a lure to them I cut out a section on the side of the pie plate to act as a ramp and then placed another plate over the top to act as a roof. A rubber band held the contraption together. I then worried about feeding the bees that much Honey-Bee-Healthy since it is normally much more diluted. But I decided ot go ahead and give it to them. I went out and opened the top of the hive again. I placed the plate next to the inner cover's hole and sprinkled some sugar into the hole. The bees started to poke their heads out to investigate as I was putting things back into place so I am pretty sure they will enter to get the sugar.

I put a super over the top to make enough space for the feeder and placed the wool back in around it. The extra super raised the outer cover 6 inches higher so that it no longer provided any cover for the entrance in the inner cover's edge. I stuffed some wool into it to reduce the entrance to try to keep the weather out. After I did so some bees came out of it to see what was going on.

Days later the region was hit with heavy snow and wind. My parents got around 30 inches and I do worry that too much snow might have gotten into the exposed entrance. The wind was from the North so I hope the hive will be okay until I check on them this Saturday.