After I reassured myself that Mellona had a functioning queen, I did a powdered sugar shake over the hive. I know I've posted lots of these types of pictures, but seeing the ghostly bees seems appropriate as Halloween approaches.
I also planned to add sugar syrup to both Mellona and Bermuda. It is so hard to get those screw tops off of the jars. When I finally got one of the tops off, the tiny holes were propolized. I took a toothpick and opened up the holes before refilling with sugar syrup.
I put a full quart of syrup in Mellona and about 3/4 quart in Bermuda (I ran out). I'll add more next weekend if need be.
In inspecting I pulled out a frame and it came apart on me. This is the third time this has happened during an inspection. I think the lesson for me is that I hammered my frames together but did NOT glue them. Probably had I glued the frames together as well as hammered them, then they would not be pulling apart.
Oh, well, live and learn.
Hi LÄ°nda, I am a beekeper from Turkey. I wonder did you take good results after powdered sugar fall down on bees. After shaking bees themselves, did you see increasing fell down varroas on the buttom board?
ReplyDeleteHave a nice keeping
Hayreddin Sakar Kirklareli Turkey
www.florabal.blogspot.com
Hi, a fellow beek hailing from NZ. I've enjoyed reading your blog for a while so thought I'd leave a comment :)
ReplyDeleteVarroa hasn't made it this far south here yet, but it's on it's way so it's always good to see what people are doing to control it without chemicals.
A tip on nailing your frames together - put the nails in at an angle like so - \ / ,instead of | | like you have them now - makes them a lot harder to pull apart. A quick dab of glue doesn't hurt either.
I wish I had taken shop in High School, but no, in my generation girls took Home Ec. It makes so much sense to nail at an angle. When I am lifting the frame with the nails pounded in straight, obviously (at least now it is) the pull is always in the direction of pulling the nails out. OK - frame repairs coming up! Thanks, Paul.
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