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Friday, January 8, 2016

Winter bee feeding with new theories!

The unusually warm winter here in Connecticut has enabled me to procrastinate in feeding the honeybees. Winter is beginning to set in so today I got to it! I pulled out the candy boards and got to work...
I scooped out just enough for 15 pounds of sugar to make three candy boards.

Then added 48 ounces of water to the big pot and brought it to a boil.

This year I tacked this flexible card board material to the board to allow the "candy" to cling to it.

Once the sugar and water came to the sugar stage after much beating, I poured it into the boards and took them outside to quickly cool.

My friend Kisha and I have talked a lot about how to better winterize the bees and reduced moisture in the hive. We saw a man selling a system and he used pine shavings to help collect the moisture.

We are both going about our theories in different ways. Mine is keeping my feeders on top of the hive, filling the feeders with shavings...

then inverting the candy board on top of that. My theory hopes the bees go up between the feeder, eat the "candy" and stay free of moisture. I allowed a couple of venting spaces and am hoping for the best. As I was installing this I discovered that my weaker hive had already died so fingers crossed for the two plus Kisha's hive that we hope to bring through winter!

So, tops are on, secured with heavy rocks, vented and fingers crossed until Spring, rest well girls!

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