Sunday, April 17, 2011

Day two...the facination continues

I looked first thing this morning and the feeder was nearly empty. My feeder is a quart size liquid feeder that I put a sugar water solution in. This gives the bees something to eat until they start foraging for nectar. I said "I thought they were supposed to be asleep at night, not drinking." Mom said "It was Saturday night. They spent the night drinking." So anyway, I poured in what syrup I had mixed which was about a half quart. A little after noon I refilled it again. I've read that it's a good idea to put some sort of weight on top of the hive to keep the wind from blowing it off. I have a nice English garden hive with a copper top. I didn't want some tacky looking brick on top so I came up with another idea. I tied a brick to each end of a cord then draped it over the top. I let the bricks hang just off the ground. My hive is on cinder blocks to get it up off the ground so the bricks are hardly noticeable. Tonight I put on my long sleeve white t-shirt and veil, lit the smoker and went out to open the hive. I took the top super off which had some bees in it. This is where they will store the extra honey. In the bottom super where they will raise brood was full of bees. The guy I got them from told me he gave me the second swarm he caught because the first one wasn't as big as he wanted to give me. I thought that was very nice of him. :) I need to order a few things to make the job easier. One being a frame perch so I can hang a frame or two and not have to set them on the ground. You just can't help but look at the hive even from the window. :)

1 comment:

  1. Have you posted pics anywhere, Jimmy? I would love to have a visual :)

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