This afternoon, I put a hive-top feeder
filled with straw on both hives. It was cold and blustery, so the
bees weren’t flying, which made the procedure a bit easier.
I filled each feeder with 2:1 sugar
syrup, allowing 6 cups of sugar per hive (a little more than 6 cups
liquid when dissolved in water – preparation 6 c boiling water, 12
c sugar, stir until dissolved. Let cool briefly before pouring into
feeder).
Above each feeder, I replaced the inner
cover, then topped it off with a honey super filled with insulation
to help keep the heat in. Over that went the outer cover.
Time to get bees ready for winter! |
If the bees are anything like mine at
home, they should take all of the syrup down by tomorrow, when they
will be fed again.
I explained the process of daily
feeding to Judi, as I cannot be there each day to do it. I will check
when I can. Although the bees have been fed using jars, they have
been consuming all of the syrup until now. Hopefully, the process of
feeding large quantities of syrup will let them store some honey for
winter.
Oh yes, the electric fence is working
quite well even though there wasn’t much sun today. My dog, Kiili,
found out the hard way! I think her first visit to the Willow Springs
beeyard did not favourably impress her! She opted to spend the
rest of the visit in the car!
~JoAnne