2011-03-28: Big Feed

After having so much trouble with the feeder spilling syrup, I decided to try to make my own out of a pickle jar and some wood. I simply drilled some holes in the lid, and made a stand to hold it upside down with some bee space underneath. I filled it with syrup (with a little HbH) and brought it to the hive. When I opened the hive I could actually make out where the bees had been eating away at the fondant directly above the inner cover hole.. it looked a little like the effect of a squirt of spray paint on Styrofoam. I placed in the feeder and shuffled the various supers to make enough room to put the cover back on. I then tied it all down while hoping that it was not too top heavy.

 

 

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'.

2011-03-12: Bee Fudge

I had previously tried using dry table sugar (spiked with a little Honey-Bee-Healthy) to feed my bees. However, I was not convinced they would take it up. So I decided to make a fondant to feed to them. Fondant has the benefits of being solid and easy to handle as well as having some moisture so that the bees can lick it up easier. I followed a recipe I found online more or less. I dithered a bit over as to if I should acidify it with creme of tartar or vinegar (I went with the vinegar) in order to invert the sugar. I also decided to add some, but not a lot, of corn syrup to help keep it from crystallizing too strongly... I was hesitant about adding much since corn syrup has impurities than can give the bees the runs and the only corn syrup I could find had vanilla and salt in it. After boiling to the soft ball stage (around 236 if memory serves) then cooling before beating it to add air and to encourage small crystals, I poured it and let set over night. The resulting slabs were probably harder than ideal, but would still crumble when pinched. Next time I think I wont go as high as 236.

 

 

 

I visited the bees the next day. Taking the top off I found that they did not seem to have made use of much of the sugar in the pie pans.I dumped the sugar to one side of the inner cover to make room for the slab. I broke off several chunks and placed them above the inner cover hole. The bees were interested and I did see several of them starting to work them with their proboscises.

 

 

 

I closed up the top and left my parents. But while I was in the area I swung by one of my parent's neighbors to see if they had any maple cream. They were boiling, but no cream had been made yet. I will check again next time, assuming the roads are not impassable with the advent of mud season.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

2011-03-01: Bee Democracy

Bill Mares, the president of the VBA had a commentary on VPR today. It was titled 'Honeybee Democracy' and, on this Town Meeting Day here in Vermont, it discussed the similarities between how a swarm of honey bees decides on where to start their new home and the activities in a town meeting.

The transcript can be found here:
http://www.vpr.net/episode/50600/


And here is a picture of my favorite little bee showing her support for democracy:

2011-02-20: Beekeeping by Snowshoe

I visited the hive on Sunday in order to try to gauge how they are doing as we approach the critical period of time in late winter and early spring when many hives run out of food or succumb to disease. The weather had gotten into the 60's the previous Friday and I was hoping I would see yellow spots on the snow indicative of cleansing flights. The few inches of snow that had fallen since obscured any evidence. I noticed a few spots on the new snow... it was worryingly brown. I did try to hear what was going on inside the hive but it was hard to make out... though I think a bee took off while I was adhered to the side of the hive.

I did have my picture taken next to the hive, snowshoes and all.

 

I hope to be able to open the hive next month. I need to make some fondant to feed to them when I do so. Also, I have decided to order one more package or nuc of bees to install in a top bar hive that I am building. I hope to have some pictures of that someday soon.

2011-02-05: Bee Inspection in the Big Snow

Several weeks ago I managed to get out to the hive using snow shoes (much easier than digging a path through the two + feet of snow). The snow was so deep that it was covering up over half of the hive. Again I felt thankful that I had added a top entrance to the hive while winterizing.

 

While it was hovering around freezing, the sun was strong and it was warming the tar paper around the hive so that it was warm to the touch. This was apparently enough incentive to convince the hive it was worth sending out a few scouts on the off chance something somewhere was blooming. I found several of these scouts around the hive at the bottom of funnel shaped holes in the snow that they had made after they had fallen on the snow surface and their attempts at flying had pushed aside the very light snow and caused them to drill into the snow. I found one that was still alive and I removed her and placed her on the hive, while several of her sisters took off inches from my ear. She sat on the hive for a while before flying off again into the cold. While her actions might seem stupid (and certainly humans probably have more brain matter dedicated to telling us the current status of our big toes than bees have in total), her actions are the expression of the will of the hive rather than the individual. And in this case the hive thought it was worth the loss of a few individuals (out of tens of thousands) if there was the possibility, no matter how small, of securing an early food source.

 

 

I cleared out some snow from around the hive to aid air getting to the bottom. I thought I could hear the swarm as I put my ear to the side of the hive. One day I should get a stethoscope.