This morning before I went to bed I popped out to the backyard to check on the hive. I cleared out a bunch of dead bees from the entrance (that was expected; rearing drops to almost nothing, but they keep dying on schedule) and then lifted the hive to get a feel for how much honey was left. That hive was damned light – so much so I was starting to think they’d already starved out – but no, when I gave the hive a sharp rap on the side I got an irritated buzz in return, so they aren’t dead yet. And it still smelled good in there (if it was empty it probably wouldn’t) so I ran back in the house and made some bee candy out of sugar and corn syrup to start emergency feeding with. Hopefully they’ll make it as long as I keep feeding. I know I can start over if I need to with another package, but I’d rather keep running the ones I’ve got; I like them and I’d like to keep them.
27 Jan 12.
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