Happy New Year! My husband and I did some quick hive checks and feedings for the bees today. Yes, today, January 1st, the bees were out and about. They were also out on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday as well this week and everyday that I see bees out makes me happy.
On Sunday, I did have some concerns with hive #3, I noticed that there were a lot of bees around the base of the hive, as they didn’t know the where the entrances were and trying to find their way in. It appeared to me that other bees were robbing the hive. My concern, was distracted by more bees going in and out of entrances, in later days, as if they knew where to go, my belief turned to that hive must still be alive. Unfortunately, that theory was incorrect. Upon our inspection to feed the bees, we found a small colony that subsided to the colder temperatures in the earlier weeks. Not an outcome I wanted I wanted to see, but that is a part of beekeeping.
The remaining 3 hives have a good number of bees in them, which I am happy with. This year has had cooler/cold/freezing days compared to last year and I am wintering my bees a little bit differently compared to last year which seems to be working out well for these three hives. I am hopeful that they will make it through the winter. We made sure that they were full of sugar blocks that I made from white sugar, apple cider vinegar, and a little bit of citrus acid. Which seems to fill our home with a very strong apple cider vinegar smell, which I love, though, my family does not love that aroma as much as I.
I have been told and read that apple cider vinegar is beneficial to bees. It definitely doesn’t seem to harm them and they don’t avoid sugar blocks that are made for them. They seem to be drawn to them during the winter months, but that is when their food is scarce. Food is food. I will need to do more research on the apple cider subject and the benefits for bees and the hive.
I will leave you with a few pictures from the past couple of days. Thank you for reading and be kind.
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