Bees & Beekeeping

Received 10 hive top feeders from betterbee today and fed the hives 100lbs of sugar to give them a boost at the start of the season. They'll eat part of the sugar directly, make new comb with it, and store some of it. Giving them a source of food means that they won't rob from other hives as much and that the queen gets the signal that "spring is here". It usually takes 2-3 months for a hive to get to full capacity (and start thinking about swarming) so providing easy food here gets the laying started.





Plus the hivetop feeders are better for the beekeeper (me). The russian bees really are little bastards, and this type of feeder allows me to pop the top off the hive without opening it.

There's a little plastic guard on each end of the feeder that allows the bee to climb up and over the lip of the feeder, but not escape. So I don't get stung when I'm refilling it. I like this approach a LOT better than the mason jar feeder or front of hive feeder, both of which I've gotten stung multiple times using.

If you are considering having bees this year you MUST FIND YOUR PACKAGE SUPPLIER NOW or you'll miss the window of package bees being available. Packages are 3 or 4 lbs of bees plus a young queen. If you get them now, and feed the hive, it has enough time to bulk up before the primary nectar flow.