Bee Food

With the warm weather, I’ve checked on my bees some more.  Funny how I think it is HOT, and I drive to the Bee Barn and the thermometer inside says it’s only in the high 40˚’s.  I think since it is inside and shaded, it takes a bit more to warm up.

Since the bees weren’t quite flying, I took advantage of it and cleaned out the Bee Barn.  It’s amazing how many dead bee parts littered the floor.  The girls are pretty good about cleaning their hive, and I swept up quite a pile.

I also had whipped them up a snack.  Although I can see them on occasion, and hear a quite hum when I stick my ear to the hives, I know winter isn’t over… Now is the critical time before anything starts to bloom and they are eating (perhaps) the last of their honey stores.

I gave them options.

First was a purchased item called Pollen Patties.

I put some out last year… but I think a raccoon got more of it than did the bees.  I probably should have only put out half…

Next I made some sugar patties myself which is just powdered sugar and corn syrup.  There’s enough powdered sugar that you can roll it into a ball and it doesn’t stick to you.  I then flattened it out into a pie pan and set it out about 10′ from the Pollen Patty.  I’m curious about which one they’ll like the most.

Finally, I shook out some unbleached flour with a smidge of white sugar, just to see if they’d go to it.  I saw this on the internet, and the bees loved the flour.

If tomorrow’s warm enough, I’ll check this again… although I think there’s a chance of rain, and I may have to pull them both until it’s sunny and warm again.

For now, it makes me feel better that if they *are* running out of honey, they will have something to eat.  It’s only March, but those April flowers need to get to blooming!!!

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