This is what he got out.
This is a one gallon Folgers coffee container, now keep in mind this. A pint sized canning jar only 1 inch filled with dead bees is roughly 100 bees. How many do you think is in that red can?
We're guessing somewhere around 10,000. Yikes. Since this is our first year beekeeping, we don't have a reference. Is this normal? No clue, trial by fire.
In other bee news, I made some bee patties today. This is extra food as a "just incase" they don't have enough honey.
For one patty the recipe is:
2 c. Drivert Sugar or Bakers sugar the names are interchangeable (white sugar will do, but drivert is closer to honey chemically... so they say?)
1/2 c. honey (melted so it's runny... it incorporates with the sugar better)
2 T. Mega Bee or other pollen substitute (bee's need protein too... not just sugar)
5-7 drops of peppermint oil (this helps with winter trachea mites)
Jacob put two of these patties on the bees on November 27th. He checked the bees today because the weather is warmer and less likely to shock the hive. They have plenty of patty left and seem to be doing well.
I store the patties in a long container with Drivert sugar inside it. The patties are really sticky so I store them in the sugar. This way sugar will stick to the patty and help dry it out and harden it up so it's easier to handle. When the patties are fresh they are like wet sticky play-dough. After about 1-2 weeks in the sugar they firm up and look like sugar frisbees.
With luck we'll be able to pull them through the winter and expand our hive to two. We also need to find someone willing to let us put a hive on there land. I would love it if we could get someone in town, since bee's do better in city (more variety and all.)
Very interesting information on the bees, I had no idea that so very many died off during the winter months. I once found this extremely detailed document on keeping bees during the late 1800's. If you are ever desperate for reading materials perhaps you will find it to be of interest. http://chla.library.cornell.edu/c/chla/browse/title/6366245.html#1867
ReplyDeleteJennifer and Jacob, Im not sure what the distance requirement is, but you can always put a hive up here! Let us know. We don't know much about bees
ReplyDeleteMr.H- Wow! I can not believe all that info is just up on the web. I didn't know that was there so THANK YOU!! It's fun to go back through and look at the way beekeeping was done before a bunch of pharmaceuticals jumped in.
ReplyDeleteMike- That is a bit too far of a drive for general up keep. But if you guys wanted to bee keep the beginning beekeepers class is coming up! I can get you the dates if you're interested. It's tons of fun... and if you are handy building things ( I know you are with that green house and all..) You could build your own Top Bar Hives and its MUCH cheaper!
Cheering the little hive on to make it through the winter! Had no idea so many bees died, but they're not working so imagine it ups the chances of a strong core living until spring. (That and honey cakes!)
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