I still have them! It's been 6 months and I still have 2 hives of honey bees. I don't think they are as strong as they were during summer. I have seen LOTS of dead bees. I am assuming they are drones. But we have had some nights in the low 20's. And snow Monday. But they are doing pretty good so far. I've been feeding them sugar water with honey in it. And when I find time, I'll make a "sugar cake" to put on the top of the cover.
This is the Outback Hive. I had a small box on top, but they never did anything in it. So I took it off a few days ago. I had read they don't need the extra room to have to heat during winter. I think they are much better right now with it off.
This is the Garden Hive. They are much stronger. More bees here and not so many dead ones laying around.
They go through a quart of sugar water a day and would take 2 if I gave it to them. I was going to take this top box of yesterday, but when I lifted it up, there were bees and wax toward the bottom. So I left it on for them.
I just hope they make it through the winter. I'll take these jars off when I get the cakes in and then put the entrance reducers in.
What about you other bee keepers? How are your bees doing so far? Would love to hear about them.
3 comments:
I just started learning beekeeping here. I'm so fortunate to have a successful local beekeeper to be learning from. We don't have cold winters so I don't have to learn about winterizing hives. But we did need to requeen them since they are going into a slow period now. The old queens had slowed down on egg laying so it was a perfect time to requeen.
You are lucky to not have such cold temps there. We've already had several freezing nights and some snow. I love bees and hope all mine make it through the winter.
I'm so glad your hives are doing well!
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