The Bees Are Hungry!

Its that time of year. The last honey has been harvested and what is left (uncapped) has been left for the bees for winter. However, this isn't enough to keep them going all winter, so its sugar syrup time!

With a 2:1 ratio, the girls have been mixing it up, and, combined with our new Abelo poly feeders (best invention ever!), feeding the colonies.

These bees are pretty hungry. We've got through 15kg of sugar already across three hives and had to purchase another 25kg bag. They won't continue consuming it at this rate, they're just stocking up and filling the empty comb while they can, but they are moving it extremely quickly from feeder to comb.

At some point we'll switch to using fondant.

Happy bees........

Sugar already starting to crystallise on the top as it cools.......

This is the new feeder. It is clearly for syrup, but can be turned upside down when its time for fondant, its well insulated and can even be used as a floor, not to mention no longer needing a crown board!

A beast of a bag of sugar........

Here is Laurence Edwards at Black Mountain Honey explaining these feeders. Expensive, but the hardest part of bee keeping is getting them through the winter, and if they fail, the cost is so much higher to buy a new colony. We've filled ours 50% for each hive and it was gone within 2 days!