Honeybees

[featherfinder]

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I live in a suburban area to and the guy i get my honey from actually is right in the middle of a city with the hives on top of his house! I think he said he has 6 up there. I was pretty amazed but what ever works for you i guess lol.

Actually urban rooftop hives seem to be very active as there is usually a wide variety forage plants in those small city yards & trees.

I bought a duck from him and thats how i met him. He had grapes and all sorts of plants growing in his yard. It was actually pretty. Also had a pond in the front with tilapia that he raises for food. I just though it was pretty neat how self suficient he was and i never knew untill i met him that bees could be kept on a roof like that.

 

[sulco]

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When would it be too late to start feeding a sugar syrup? I'm pretty far north and I know their days are numbered for foraging. I have one large and one medium super on right now. I know it's not enough for the winter, so I plan to supplement, cross my fingers, and hope for a quick spring arrival!

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
When would it be too late to start feeding a sugar syrup? I'm pretty far north and I know their days are numbered for foraging. I have one large and one medium super on right now. I know it's not enough for the winter, so I plan to supplement, cross my fingers, and hope for a quick spring arrival!

Once the temps start dropping into the 50's during the day and the 40's at night we stop feeding fall syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water). The reason is that the syrup needs time to reduce the moisture content and be capped. Moisture in the hive is dangerous to bees over the winter. Like chickens they can take the cold as long as they don't have a lot of humidity in the hive.

We switch over to either fondant (pure sugar ~ no additives) or plain dry sugar for a winter supplement. Here is a link on how to feed plain sugar for winter ~ http://www.pennapic.org/feedingsugar.html

 

[sulco]

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Oh yeah, that's the ticket; I greatly appreciate the advice!!

 

[zzGypsy]

have for years, but we moved across country this summer so I sold my CA bees. we'll be getting new local bees in the spring.
miss them!