Smashing bee team today... our experienced children and 'new-bees' working together in the apiary. One group learning about where bees live... hands on practicals with the hives and equipment we use as bee keepers. The experienced children & some 'new-bees' working together in the apiary 'hefting' the hives to check the weight, to ensure they have enough stores of honey to see them through the hard Cumbrian Winter, (difficult to imagine on a sunny day!) They children supported the new-bees wonderfully, helping them fill the feeders with sugar syrup.
Soon syrup feeding will be finished, as the weather needs to be warm enough for the bees to have time to reduce the syrup's water content, to ensure it stores well over winter.
One of our hives is very light on stores... a bit of a worry at this time, we don't know why, but they 'refuse' to take any syrup at all, ignoring it for the last month... so we decided to give them some fondant, (solid food) and a pollen substitute, to help the winter bees be fit enough to get through until spring.... Amazingly, they have eaten the lot in less than a week!! Maybe they don't like syrup?! We will keep a close eye on this little colony to make sure they are ok.
Soon syrup feeding will be finished, as the weather needs to be warm enough for the bees to have time to reduce the syrup's water content, to ensure it stores well over winter.
One of our hives is very light on stores... a bit of a worry at this time, we don't know why, but they 'refuse' to take any syrup at all, ignoring it for the last month... so we decided to give them some fondant, (solid food) and a pollen substitute, to help the winter bees be fit enough to get through until spring.... Amazingly, they have eaten the lot in less than a week!! Maybe they don't like syrup?! We will keep a close eye on this little colony to make sure they are ok.
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