Food & Drink

We made it to the bee yard just in time yesterday to get our work done before the weather was expected to turn.  It was humid at sunrise and 70 degrees.   We had to race against time.  Heavy rain, high winds and a cold front were on the way.   Mark and I were there to feed the bees and to make sure the sugar water was replaced for both hives 02 and 04. 

 

We ordered a new sugar water feeder and were eager to give it a try.  It is called a top hive feeder and holds up to two gallons of water.  We also ordered and received beetle jails.  Because we are feeding the bees food supplement patties through winter, the beetle population has increased as we are also inadvertently feeding the beetles.  The Beetle Bee Gone sheets seem to work okay, but we were eager to see if the beetle jails will also help.  (Click on photos to enlarge).
 

These are our new beetle jails filled with bait and oil.  They attach to the top of the frames
allowing beetles to fall through the small openings along the top and into the oil where they drown.

First, we opened hive 04 and filled the bone-dry frame feeder with sugar water.  The bees took to the water immediately. 
 

Hive 04 bees raced to the sugar water we had just poured into the frame feeder.
Sticks float to help the bees swim to safety, should they fall into the water.

We positioned four beetle jails on the top of a couple of frames.  The small hive beetles typically traffic along the tops of the frames and edges of the hive box, so the idea is that the beetles will easily fall into the openings along the top and into the vegetable oil in the bottom of the jails.  This trap seems like a long shot to me, but for $3.50 we thought it was worth the try.  After our work was done, we closed up hive 04.

Mark and I moved down to hive 02 and repeated this same process. The population in hive 02 is fine, but is a much smaller population than hive 04.  Originally, our plan was to place the top hive feeder on hive 02, but we realized that these bees seem to use much less sugar water than hive 04. They still had plenty left from our last visit, so we gave them fresh sugar water this trip.  We closed up hive 02, happy with its condition.
 

Hive 02 with new food supplement patties, four beetle jails,
and fresh sugar water.  We used Styrofoam strips for the bees
to float upon to help them avoid drowning.

We moved back to hive 04 and opened it up again.  Mark removed the frame feeder (which we had just filled with sugar water) and placed a new empty frame in it's place.  We then put the new feeder directly atop the deep hive.  Once it was filled with sugar water, we immediately noticed benefits that the frame feeders do not offer.  This feeder makes it impossible for the bees to drown and it does not take up any additional space in the hive, like the frame feeders do.  It also doubles the amount of sugar water available to the hive 04 bees.  This new set up will work very well. 
 

Hive 04 with the new top hive feeder positioned on the
deep hive.  One gallon of sugar water fits in each side while plastic
grills float to prevent the bees from drowning. 

Hive 04 bees eating and drinking.

Hive 04 with the top hive feeder in place.

We closed up the hive and headed back to the truck and just like last time, the bees followed us like stray cats.  They weren’t aggressive; they were just chasing the residual scent of the sugar water and food patties on us.  Several of them stayed with us until the end, when we were in the truck and driving away with the windows down for the bees to escape to return to their hives. 

It started to rain a couple of hours later and today it is much cooler outside, in the low 50s.  We were happy the bees were situated before the weather turned.