Are the hives strong?
No, not really. One hive is better than the other two,
one is so weak that we can't figure out what is happening.
It's almost like they don't know what to do. That one is
the combination of the two week hives from our original
shipment.
They were hungry though. There has been plenty for them to eat.
First the wild grapes bloomed, garden flowers, the elderberry fields
down the road and wildflowers. My daughter had left a
Mountain Dew on the porch table so I poured it out over
the rail which meant that some hit the bushes.
The bees flocked to it and suddenly we had hundreds
of bees licking the sugar off the leaves.
I gave them some sugar syrup in the same manner
and the flocked there. Lots and lots of bees.
So we filled their sugar feeders and the strong hive
ate it all immediately. The second hive about half of it
and the third hive had no clue.
I also saw some small beetles which may or may
not be a problem.
We'll go visit our beekeeper store this weekend and discuss it.
I don't think we'll get honey.
Our best hope is that the bees survive the winter!
12 comments:
Oh that doesn't sound very good... If they don't know what they're doing and not making honey. I hope you're able to get some assistance and figure out how to help them do what they need to do.
Hope you find the answer. I wish we could have hives, but I am allergic to bees.
Are you sure the queen is still living?
"...one is so weak that we can't figure out what is happening. It's almost like they don't know what to do."
Sounds like a clear case of a frigid queen. Find them a hardier queen maybe? Heck, I don't know nothing bout no bees.
Completely at a loss, but good luck!
Thanks. I hope we find the problem as well.
Oh I am keeping my fingers crossed for the bees! I am not sure what some of the problems the bees face during winter but I know that you are doing your best to help them thrive! Great post!
Are there any old beekeepers around you could go to for guidance? We had a bee keeper here, who sold honey and wax. I bought a lot of both. But he died, no one took over, and now there is no where in the county where you can buy raw honey.
My husband can contact the guy we got our newer bees from. He's been doing it since he was a kid so can be very helpful
Bee keeping is lots of work. I don't know much about bees, but we had fun making Mason Bee hotels this year. We were a bit late, next year we'll start earlier with our boxes and put out our old ones to hatch. - Margy
Do you guys have Hulu? I just saw an episode of Elementary called "Absconded" (season 3, episode 23) that was all about bees (you know Sherlock is a beekeeper) and "Colony Collapse Disorder." Lots of illogical stuff in the episode, but the bees were interesting.
We do have hulu, when it decides to work. We are farther out and have to get our signals via the air rather than cable or satellite, so it has trouble loading
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