🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[Apis mellifera]

My son and I had drone brood for lunch on Father's Day. Taste pretty good.

 

[Sally PB]

Wait a minute... you ate them?

 

[drstratton]

Today's beekeeping chores are not over. Now that we are in a dearth, we are feeding all of the hives weekly. We want the girls to continue building comb and we want the queen to continue laying. So, I thought I would share the equipment we use and the why and how. There are many ways to do different things in beekeeping. I'm sharing our methods and want to make note that those methods can change as we learn.

We feed inside the top of our hives. You never want to feed outside your hives as that can encourage robbing.

My husband built our feeder frames.
The screened portions in front are for ventilation. The middle is for pollen patties(from my understanding this encourages the queen to lay, pollen is used to feed the larvae). The back is for the syrup jar. We place a deep box around it and then the inner cover and top cover.

This shows how we first thought we would use it, but found the method I shared above works really well.

We are currently feeding sugar syrup with a ratio of 5 cups water to 3 cups sugar. That ratio will change depending on the season. From what I've learned you don't want to use boiling water as it will change the chemical compound of the sugar and can upset the bees digestion. My water temp is about 120°, I've found that dissolves the sugar fairly quick.
We use 2quart jars.

Later in the fall and early in spring when the supers are off and before the nectar flow starts, I will add pollen powder, Honey B Healthy and Honey B Healthy Amino Booster to the syrup. We will stop all feeding when we add the first super.

During the winter months, once nighttime temps drop below 50°, we will feed the bees using a candy board. I will share how, when we do it. If you want the information earlier look up David Burns, he is who we are modeling our feeding boards as well as the candy board after and he shares how to make the sugar candy and the syrup with the above supplements.

My jar lids. I drill 2 holes using a 5/64 bit and a dremel grinding stone to grind away any sharp edges. Mine is a variable speed and I set it to 15.

When the jar is full and you turn it upside down, it will drip for a moment and then a vacuum is created and that will stop. It's amazing how fast the bees can empty a bottle with those 2 holes.


I'm always open to any questions or suggestions.

 

[drstratton]

My son and I had drone brood for lunch on Father's Day. Taste pretty good.

No, really?... I'm not sure...lol

 

[Sally PB]

I've learned you don't want to use boiling water as it will change the chemical compound of the sugar and can upset the bees digestion. My water temp is about 120°, I've found that dissolves the sugar fairly quick.

Ah! I didn't know that boiling water would cause a problem! I haven't used boiling water, but I wasn't mindful of the exact temp. Now I will be.

It absolutely blew my mind the first time I made 2:1 sugar syrup. That's right, 8 QUARTS of sugar to 4 quarts of water (one gallon). It just looked like... so. much. sugar!

 

[drstratton]

Ah! I didn't know that boiling water would cause a problem! I haven't used boiling water, but I wasn't mindful of the exact temp. Now I will be.

It absolutely blew my mind the first time I made 2:1 sugar syrup. That's right, 8 QUARTS of sugar to 4 quarts of water (one gallon). It just looked like... so. much. sugar!

I know right!
We've gone through so much sugar this year. It will be less next year, since we will hopefully have drawn comb. Barring anything unforseen happening.

 

[Sally PB]

After we watched bees draw comb on empty frames, we understood what they said at our bee club: The Queen is the queen, but comb is king.

 

[Sally PB]

We've gone through so much sugar this year.

Yeah, I've bought a couple of 25 pound bags of sugar at Costco. I have most of one left, but still, wow! that is a LOT of sugar!

 

[drstratton]

After we watched bees draw comb on empty frames, we understood what they said at our bee club: The Queen is the queen, but comb is king.

Yep, it's so true!

Yeah, I've bought a couple of 25 pound bags of sugar at Costco. I have most of one left, but still, wow! that is a LOT of sugar!

I'm on my 4th! 4 hives takes a lot. I was probably refilling too many times in the beginning. Now it's just once a week. Don't want them to become honey bound, which almost happened to us. Can't remember if I shared that. I'll check, if not I'll make a post about it later.

 

[Sally PB]

Please tell us about that! I *think* that may have been why one of our hives swarmed....?