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January In the Apiary
Our January meeting will feature an in-depth talk on winter feeding. We highly suggest attending!
Deciding if emergency feeding is necessary consists primarily of two parts. Remembering how much stores were there during your last inspection and hefting, with your hand, one end of the hive. If it’s significantly heavy, compared to an empty hive, they’re probably alright. If not, they likely need emergency feeding. If you have a warmer day (45 degrees or so) and your hives seem light, you can pop the cover off and peer down between the frames to verify how much stores are still available. You do want to avoid removing the cover when colder (30 degrees or less) unless absolutely necessary, as the bees may break their cluster and may not reform soon enough to keep warm and alive. Remember, winter has just started, and there won’t be any natural food until March or so. Big thanks to Kate Riding for writing our January Notes below! -Allen Engle
Emergency Feeding
Dry sugar and fondant, the two holy grails of winter feeding, are most commonly used as emergency feeding.
You could just pour dry sugar in the inner cover, but this requires the outer lid to be removed so we use a variation of that method. My mom found the idea of dry sugar cakes over a year ago and it’s not precise but it’s easy and effective.
Dry Sugar Cakes - it’s just sugar and water.
Serves: 1 pan = 2 servings Active Time: 10min
We like this method because it’s simple, stores indefinitely, and we can carry the pan out to the apiary, break it into large chunks, and just slide it into the inner cover by lifting the outer lid only an inch, minimizing invasion into the hive.
I haven’t used fondant, though I’ve heard that it is a life saver. The bees eat it up and thrive on it. My bees have reacted well to the dry sugar, but yours might do well on fondant.
You’ll need:
10# granulated sugar
1 quart water
1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
5-8 drops of essential oil (optional)
Directions:
Serves: 4-5 hives Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Credit: Rusty Burlew, Honeybee Suite
But, why feed? When your girls are hungry and have run out of honey stores, they need to be fed. If bees run out of food, they starve, so it's just a matter of your bees being dependant on you till March, and wanting to keep them alive through the winter. Once you start feeding, you can’t stop feeding. There is nothing in bloom, and consequently nothing to eat. But feeding isn’t the only reason to be worried in the winter. There is also blown off covers and freezing bees.
Checking Covers
I’ve learned from other's experience that outer covers can be blown off by hard winds and wind tunnels. Placing a good size rock on the top of the hive lid is an easy and simple way to prevent this problem. In high wind areas a tie down strap can be used to keep the hive boxes secure.
Although keeping the covers on is one thing, checking the covers is another. When covers come off, the bees freeze from the wind, rain and snow that is whipped into the hive. The chance of being in the apiary when a lid blows off is next to zero. This means damage to the affected hive has already happened upon discovery of a displaced lid. You race against the clock, throw the covers back on, run to get a strap or rock, and hope for the best. OR, you could go out to the apiary, and find your covers on nice and tight, because you prepared for the oncoming battle with the winter wind.
Ratchet down the hatch, keep warm and stay fed this winter.
Resources:
A big Thanks to Kate Riding for writing this month's notes!