It was gorgeous in Rabun County this weekend, but very cold. The leaves were past their peak but still really lovely and a great depiction of fall.
Lark (my granddaughter) , my two dogs and I went to visit the bees and feed them. They were still and silent - not a bee to be seen.
We put food in the empty rapid feeders on both hives and left them. The temperature all weekend never went above 53. I checked again on Saturday afternoon and not a drop had been touched.
I hope they are cold and OK instead of dead inside the hive. This was the first time Lark has been into bee hives with me. I took a veil for her but she wouldn't put it on. It was a good first visit because there were no bees present!
Linda,
ReplyDeleteThe bees are waiting for better weather that is all. Never saw mine on Saturday either, yet Sunday they came out it made it up to 59 degrees.
Linda, I've been following your blog for about 2 years now. It seems like you feed your bees so much and feed DURING the Winter months. Is it warm enough for you to feed in your location during Winter?
ReplyDeleteJack
http://losaltoshoneybees.wordpress.com/
Hi Jack, In six years of beekeeping, I've only fed my bees going into winter in the last two years. It is warm enough to feed the bees here up until about December. I am only feeding the hives this year because we had a long-lasting dearth during the second half of the summer and the bees consumed their winter stores - my choices are then either to let the bees die or to feed them and I have chosen to feed them. I do post recently a lot about feeding the bees because I want to help people know how to do it and because it's what I'm doing with the bees right now. In general I feel pretty conservative about it and if you read the archives of the blog before the recent two years, you'll see that I never feed in the spring except when starting a package and I rarely feed going into fall.
ReplyDeleteWe are about at the same place with the leave changes. Still so pretty. Such sweet photos.
ReplyDeleteAh yeah, I'll need to dig back way further. :) I would also feed a hive this late in the season if it was between keeping them alive or dying.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy some of your blog posts like the tutorials you have on crush and strain, melting wax, and others. Keep up the good work! :)
I think the bees do not come out when its too cold. They huddle together to keep warm. Am also sure feeding them at this time is a very good idea, now that they don't go out foraging.
ReplyDelete