Early January Hive Inspection
This weekend I took the opportunity to check on the hive
in my yard and see how the bees were doing.
This first week of January has had 3 days above 50*F, two of which were in the upper 60*F!
I placed my camera under the hive, and took a picture looking up through the bottom of the hive. From this vantage point, the bottom brood box looks empty...or at least the frames I could see straight up into were empty.
I was excited to see that the inner cover showed no signs of moisture, condensation or wet wood anywhere. This is good as moisture present in the hive can weaken and even cause the death of a hive during the winter.
Turning towards the top of the hive, lifing the cover I was surprised to see so many bees walking around on top of the frames, and in such a large pattern occupying so many frames.
I looked down through frames 1-8 and there were bees heavily covering both sides of those frames.
I had wondered if they were eating their way though their second box of winter reserves, so I lifted the back of the hive, as the old beekeepers in the club suggest doing to see if it felt heavy or not. A bit of unscientific approach to determine how much food reserves they had left I though, but did it anyway. It was still very heavy. Not as heavy as it was back in the first part of December, but still plenty heavy.
Wondering how they would react to the sugar candy I made two weeks ago, I broke a piece up and set it on top of the frames.
It only took a brief moment for a couple of them to find it, climb on it and start eating it.
I didn't really intend to feed them any sugar candy, nor do I think they need it since I can still see capped honey in the frames, but I figured since I already had some on hand, and they took interest to it, I would leave them a few chunks and see how much (if any) they consume in another week or two.
How has the weather been where you are? Have you lifted the cover of your hives recently? With these warm (but brief) days of January, I just couldn't resist the urge to put on my veil and go have a look!
This first week of January has had 3 days above 50*F, two of which were in the upper 60*F!
I placed my camera under the hive, and took a picture looking up through the bottom of the hive. From this vantage point, the bottom brood box looks empty...or at least the frames I could see straight up into were empty.
I was excited to see that the inner cover showed no signs of moisture, condensation or wet wood anywhere. This is good as moisture present in the hive can weaken and even cause the death of a hive during the winter.
Turning towards the top of the hive, lifing the cover I was surprised to see so many bees walking around on top of the frames, and in such a large pattern occupying so many frames.
I looked down through frames 1-8 and there were bees heavily covering both sides of those frames.
I had wondered if they were eating their way though their second box of winter reserves, so I lifted the back of the hive, as the old beekeepers in the club suggest doing to see if it felt heavy or not. A bit of unscientific approach to determine how much food reserves they had left I though, but did it anyway. It was still very heavy. Not as heavy as it was back in the first part of December, but still plenty heavy.
Wondering how they would react to the sugar candy I made two weeks ago, I broke a piece up and set it on top of the frames.
It only took a brief moment for a couple of them to find it, climb on it and start eating it.
I didn't really intend to feed them any sugar candy, nor do I think they need it since I can still see capped honey in the frames, but I figured since I already had some on hand, and they took interest to it, I would leave them a few chunks and see how much (if any) they consume in another week or two.
How has the weather been where you are? Have you lifted the cover of your hives recently? With these warm (but brief) days of January, I just couldn't resist the urge to put on my veil and go have a look!
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