Explanation and pics

Ok, so maybe I didn't explain a couple things well in my earlier post since I was trying to get so much backlog done at once. Ziplocs - There are several different methods to feed bees when they need help. There are outside feeders that sit on or near the entrance to the hive. There are top feeders that sit between one of the hive bodies and the top cover. And there is the cheap way we learned in class that works pretty well. The biggest problem I have run into with this method is that with the 8 frame equipment that I am using it is hard to fit 2 - gallon sized bags and still have ventilation space. In this method you take a gallon sized Ziploc bag, put a half gallon of sugar syrup in it, cut a small slit at the top, and lay it in the hive across the frames. One thing you need to be careful of is to not squish all the syrup out. Use a shim or put an extra hive body on top. This unfortunately is a big open space that if you read the early post you may remember anything bigger than 3/8 of an inch the bees want to build comb. That is how the extra comb I had to scrape off came about. My first year experience has shown that given a hive body they will definitely build comb. With my 3 inch shim they didn't. Maybe it was too late in the summer to want to build more there or maybe it is just a smaller space so they didn't have quite as much interest in building comb there. I don't know. The second thing to be careful of is that the bees will propolize the bag to the top bars. When you pull it off to refill, make sure and put a little syrup in and check for leaks before filling it and putting it back in the hive. I found this out the hard way when I put it in, closed the hive and then heard the syrup running out the front.


Above is a picture of several of the things I had mentioned earlier. This is a page of one of the books my wife puts together. There is an arrow pointing to an egg, so it is easier to see in this picture than the one posted earlier. Notice the honey is capped with nice white wax while the brood cappings tend to be darker with pollen and other impurities mixed in. Also, it is amazing how many different colors of pollen they find. Who would have thought?