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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I know nothing about keeping bees. It never occurred to me that you had to make sure they had food in case the honey ran out. Thank goodness for these last few weeks…though a cold spell seems to be on its way today. I hope you do more posts I can’t wait to learn more.
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Most intersting! Seems to me they will be the most well-fed bees in Wyoming!
So very interesting to see what treats they like… you do a great job caring for them…