Here is a quick reminder about the amount of food a winter colony can burn through. Contrary to logic, your colony will eat more during a warm, balmy winter than it will during a colder one. On warm days, honey bees will leave the hive and fly around looking for food, but flying is extremely […] Read more
You recently fed sugar to your bees, either to supplement their winter stores or to cover an emergency shortage of honey. You figure the extra calories will see them through the cold months. But as you watch them come and go on a warmish day, you see them carry the crystals in their mandibles and […] Read more
The photo below was sent to me by Erik Brown in Virginia. Eric wrote, “I was inspired to make your no-cook candy boards for my three Langstroth hives this year, but I was dismayed to find that Brushy Mountain doesn’t carry 8-frame ekes. I was on the way to my father’s, who is a woodworker, […] Read more
Overwintered colonies that starve usually do so in early spring, just before the first nectar flows. In the northern climates, colonies may starve as late as April, even though everything appears green and lush. Part of the reason is that many pollen plants bloom before nectar plants. Here in the Pacific Northwest, red alders flower […] Read more
For several years I’ve been looking for a way to combine a moisture quilt with a candy board. I wrote a post about this a while back, but the board in that example contained cooked candy. I wanted a no-cook candy board for several reasons. The first reason is that cooking sugar syrup is both […] Read more
This week I want to share some more variations of the moisture quilt that were sent in by readers. Each of them has been customized for local conditions or unique problems. Today’s rendition was sent to me by Herb Lester in Tennessee. Herb starts by making a candy board with a hole in the center. […] Read more
I really don’t want to write another post about cooking with sugar, mostly because all my carefully honed and lovingly nurtured communication skills fall to ruin after I type the word “sugar.” For some reason, people don’t understand what I’m saying and there’s only one person to blame. But after a bunch of recent requests […] Read more