BigDaddyDS
02-21-2008, 04:19 PM
I have an out yard that is located several hours away from me, which is good for both me and the bees. I can conduct long term experiments without being tempted to check on the results every day, and they can be busy being bees and doing their thing without someone constantly meddling.
I employed Mountaincamp's Winter Sugar Method this year. (He's really got to come up with a snazzier name, don't you think?) As it's been described SEVERAL times on this forum, I'll just hit the highlights for those readers who have been living in a cave: The method uses dry, white granulated sugar, poured on top of newspaper, which is located on the top of the frames of stored honey. The benefits are multifold. If the bees run out of winter stores and make it up to the top, they still have the sugar to eat as emergency rations. Second, it absorbs moisture within the hive that'd otherwise rain down on top of the wintering cluster. Lastly, the moisture that collects and runs down the inner walls of the hive is used to moisten the hardened sugar for them to eat. And if I did my homework correctly, the bees will have enough honey and won't make it up to the top to take the sugar. So, come springtime, I'll remove the hardened sugar "block", and make a light 1:1 ratio sugar syrup with the leftovers! No more time consuming and messy to make candy boards for me!
On December 15th, I placed a single sheet of newspaper atop my 70# pounds of honey, and held it down with an upper entrance Imirie shim (also known as a drilled medication shim). I positioned the newspaper so that there was a bit of "bee space" in the front and back of the hive, so that bees at the ends of the frames could have direct access to the sugar, but put the newspaper right to the edges of the hive on the sides. To accomodate a bucket feeder filled with heavy 2:1 ratio syrup, two stick spacers were placed near the front of the hive, and the newspaper was torn to allow bees direct access to the feeder. Next, plain white, dry granulated sugar (beet sugar, if you must know) was liberally poured on top of the newspaper, taking care not to let too much sift down through the open spaces and the hole in the newspaper. About 7-pounds of sugar was placed on each hive. Lastly, to accomodate the sugar pile and the bucket feeder, an empty deep box was placed on the shim, followed by the inner hive cover and the top telescoping cover. (Other wintering methods, such as tar paper wrapping, were also employed, but will be detailed elsewhere at a later time.)
On February 18th, I went to check on the status of the bees in this out yard. Because of the cold temperatures and fairly strong wind, an in-depth study of the bees could not be performed.
In one hive, the bees were clustered right up at the top and working the sugar. But, because of the inclimate weather, honey stores could not be checked. A half-gallon of frozen sugar syrup remained, in addition to approximately 2-3 lbs. of granulated sugar, which had absorbed moisture and formed a hardened "crust" of sugar. Beneath the crust, the sugar was still dry. This leads me to believe that my ventilation is correct within the hive, and only moderate moisture is present. Because of the "working" of the sugar, it is suspected that honey stores may be light. Next inspection, I'll lift the corner of the hive to get a ballpark "feel" of it's heft, but honestly, I was cold and didn't think to do it at the time! 5 more pounds of white granulated beet sugar was added to the hive and it was closed back up. Both entrances, the traditional bottom entrance and the top entrance, were clear and some evidence of past clensing flights was noted.
In another hive (in what was planned to be my breeding stock for this upcoming year, of course!), an accident with the bucket feeder somehow occurred. Top entrance was semi-plugged with dead bees, and a number of dead bees littered the ground. Bottom entrance, fitted with a medium entrance reducer, was plugged solid with dead, decaying, wet bees. A quick taste of this moist bee "slurry" (yeah, I know I'm gross...) found it to be heavy sugar syrup, meaning that my bucket feeder leaked and drowned a bunch of bees, which then totally plugged the bottom entrance. Opening the top and looking in, there was a huge mass of wet sticky bees that appeared to have frozen to death in the top box, atop the sugar. It appeared that there was approximately 3 lbs. of sugar remaining in this hive, but it was hardened through and through, meaning that it had been saturated with moisture, most likely from the bucket feeder accident. While lamenting the bees (and cursing the feeder), two live bees made their way up to the top box to see what was going on! The leaky, empty, 1 gallon feeder was removed and 5 lbs. of dry sugar were placed atop the hardened sugar and dead bees. The hive was then sealed up and the bottom entrance was unclogged with a stick to hopefully promote ventilation and to dry out the hive. Hopefully, this all-star hive from last year will survive and become my breeding stock yet!
A change I'll make next year is that, by December 15th, when I closed up the hives for the winter, I'm going to go ahead and take the heavy syrup feeders off. While there *may* have been some residual heat from the cluster to warm the feeder bucket, by December 15th, it's too cold for them to take syrup. By removing the frozen sugar syrup bucket, I suspect that the cluster will have an easier time keeping warm, rather than having an "ice box" effect created by a block of frozen syrup. Regardless, it'll also remove the "accident factor" that may have done in my prized hive.
So far, Mountaincamp's Sugar Technique is working as advertised! Moisture levels are low and the bees are working it, even in 20-degree weather.
And, of course, a BIG THANK YOU goes out to Mountaincamp for making us aware of his methods!
Hope your bees are doing well, too.
BDDS
I employed Mountaincamp's Winter Sugar Method this year. (He's really got to come up with a snazzier name, don't you think?) As it's been described SEVERAL times on this forum, I'll just hit the highlights for those readers who have been living in a cave: The method uses dry, white granulated sugar, poured on top of newspaper, which is located on the top of the frames of stored honey. The benefits are multifold. If the bees run out of winter stores and make it up to the top, they still have the sugar to eat as emergency rations. Second, it absorbs moisture within the hive that'd otherwise rain down on top of the wintering cluster. Lastly, the moisture that collects and runs down the inner walls of the hive is used to moisten the hardened sugar for them to eat. And if I did my homework correctly, the bees will have enough honey and won't make it up to the top to take the sugar. So, come springtime, I'll remove the hardened sugar "block", and make a light 1:1 ratio sugar syrup with the leftovers! No more time consuming and messy to make candy boards for me!
On December 15th, I placed a single sheet of newspaper atop my 70# pounds of honey, and held it down with an upper entrance Imirie shim (also known as a drilled medication shim). I positioned the newspaper so that there was a bit of "bee space" in the front and back of the hive, so that bees at the ends of the frames could have direct access to the sugar, but put the newspaper right to the edges of the hive on the sides. To accomodate a bucket feeder filled with heavy 2:1 ratio syrup, two stick spacers were placed near the front of the hive, and the newspaper was torn to allow bees direct access to the feeder. Next, plain white, dry granulated sugar (beet sugar, if you must know) was liberally poured on top of the newspaper, taking care not to let too much sift down through the open spaces and the hole in the newspaper. About 7-pounds of sugar was placed on each hive. Lastly, to accomodate the sugar pile and the bucket feeder, an empty deep box was placed on the shim, followed by the inner hive cover and the top telescoping cover. (Other wintering methods, such as tar paper wrapping, were also employed, but will be detailed elsewhere at a later time.)
On February 18th, I went to check on the status of the bees in this out yard. Because of the cold temperatures and fairly strong wind, an in-depth study of the bees could not be performed.
In one hive, the bees were clustered right up at the top and working the sugar. But, because of the inclimate weather, honey stores could not be checked. A half-gallon of frozen sugar syrup remained, in addition to approximately 2-3 lbs. of granulated sugar, which had absorbed moisture and formed a hardened "crust" of sugar. Beneath the crust, the sugar was still dry. This leads me to believe that my ventilation is correct within the hive, and only moderate moisture is present. Because of the "working" of the sugar, it is suspected that honey stores may be light. Next inspection, I'll lift the corner of the hive to get a ballpark "feel" of it's heft, but honestly, I was cold and didn't think to do it at the time! 5 more pounds of white granulated beet sugar was added to the hive and it was closed back up. Both entrances, the traditional bottom entrance and the top entrance, were clear and some evidence of past clensing flights was noted.
In another hive (in what was planned to be my breeding stock for this upcoming year, of course!), an accident with the bucket feeder somehow occurred. Top entrance was semi-plugged with dead bees, and a number of dead bees littered the ground. Bottom entrance, fitted with a medium entrance reducer, was plugged solid with dead, decaying, wet bees. A quick taste of this moist bee "slurry" (yeah, I know I'm gross...) found it to be heavy sugar syrup, meaning that my bucket feeder leaked and drowned a bunch of bees, which then totally plugged the bottom entrance. Opening the top and looking in, there was a huge mass of wet sticky bees that appeared to have frozen to death in the top box, atop the sugar. It appeared that there was approximately 3 lbs. of sugar remaining in this hive, but it was hardened through and through, meaning that it had been saturated with moisture, most likely from the bucket feeder accident. While lamenting the bees (and cursing the feeder), two live bees made their way up to the top box to see what was going on! The leaky, empty, 1 gallon feeder was removed and 5 lbs. of dry sugar were placed atop the hardened sugar and dead bees. The hive was then sealed up and the bottom entrance was unclogged with a stick to hopefully promote ventilation and to dry out the hive. Hopefully, this all-star hive from last year will survive and become my breeding stock yet!
A change I'll make next year is that, by December 15th, when I closed up the hives for the winter, I'm going to go ahead and take the heavy syrup feeders off. While there *may* have been some residual heat from the cluster to warm the feeder bucket, by December 15th, it's too cold for them to take syrup. By removing the frozen sugar syrup bucket, I suspect that the cluster will have an easier time keeping warm, rather than having an "ice box" effect created by a block of frozen syrup. Regardless, it'll also remove the "accident factor" that may have done in my prized hive.
So far, Mountaincamp's Sugar Technique is working as advertised! Moisture levels are low and the bees are working it, even in 20-degree weather.
And, of course, a BIG THANK YOU goes out to Mountaincamp for making us aware of his methods!
Hope your bees are doing well, too.
BDDS