2011-03-17: Green Honey

On Saint Patrick's Day I took time off from work to drive to my parent's with BabyD in tow in order to take advantage of the projected warm temperatures to try to get feed the bees some syrup. I arrived and found that the temperature had actually managed to get into the 60's and my bees were having a good fly. I had thought I could just open the top without the suit like I have been doing this Spring so far, but the sight of the gals zipping about made me decide to get the suit on. Approaching the hive I noticed that there appeared to be various brown splats from bee voiding. They looked rather dark, making me concerned about the dreaded nosema. But, there is not much I can do about that at this point. I opened the top and moved the slab of fondant (still there, the bees did not actively consume it in the past week) to be directly over the inner cover hole. I then placed a feeder of 2:1 syrup off to one side. The feeder in question is a cheep thing I picked up at BetterBee clearance and it promptly spilled about half of its contents which then dribbled down the side of the hive. I placed the cover back on, spilling more syrup as I snugged it down.

 

 

 

All in all, not the most successful of visits. And BabyD screamed at my mother the whole time I was out with the bees. I think she might be jealous of my other 'daughters'.