Thursday, December 20, 2012

Just Add Sugar

The temperatures have been in the 60s for a while now and the bees are still flying.  The trouble is there's nothing for the bees to gather this time of year.  When it's cold, the bees cluster and they require much less food.  When it's warm, they're more active and they eat up their stores.  So, just as a precaution, I put a sheet of newspaper on the top of the frames, and poured sugar on the paper.  I misted the sugar with water and Honey B Healthy to help the sugar clump and to keep it from sliding down into the hive.  I placed a hive box around the sugar and the inner cover and telescoping top on top of the box.  This is called the mountain camp type of feeding.  Some call it emergency feeding.  But it seems to me that if they need it, it's there, and if they don't need it, I'll make it into syrup next spring.  I put sugar in both hives, so hopefully they'll all make it into next spring.

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