Last week on Christmas Eve (I'm behind on my posts), the weather was warm and the bees were out, it was a great day to get the Candy Boards onto the hive. I used 10 pounds of sugar and water to make the recipe. The water had to come to a boil and then add the sugar. The temperature has to get to 242 degrees to get to the candy stage. Then once it has reached the temp you must let it cool off to 180 degrees. Once it gets there you throw it into the blender until it gets opaque and "ribbons" when you take the spoon and run it over the top. If it stays in a ribbon on the top of the sugar mixture it is ready to go and be added to the Candy Board.
You have to be quick in spooning it onto the candy board. It's still hot but sets quickly.
The girls were out, more than likely doing "cleansing flights" which means they were going to the bathroom! They will hold it for a while, in their winter cluster but once they can get out on a nice day and if there is snow, you will see yellow dots in the snow, that's the bees waste! It gets a bit annoying when they do it on your car!
So now that the sugar is spread, it has to be inverted onto the top of the hive.
The Candy Boards are quickly inverted onto the top of the hives. They will come up and feed from them as they begin to run out of food stores.
It appeared the girls had done some house keeping during the nice weather. Some of the older bees die off and have to be removed from the hive. Fingers crossed that they make it through the winter and we can have a better year than last.
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