This poor hive

[Colleen O.]

I can't believe it won't get warm enough for you to get in your hives until May or June!! Today the temp got into the mid 60s so I took advantage of the nice weather to take a quick look in my two hives and take some pictures of the candy bar and hardware cloth feeder bar for you. My hives have "honey" because I fed them in the fall but they have almost no pollen so as you can see I went ahead and put some protein in the candy I made for them after all. The clusters are fairly small so if they brood up a bit it might help them. They should have enough food based on what I've read they need.

The "candy bar". I used non-stick foil under and up the sides of the mold but not the top because I wanted it to adhere to the bar. The hardware cloth fits down in a slot I cut as a supporting armature and then I bent it over the top of the bar. I was going to screw it down but decided I didn't need to. I couldn't find anything better to cover the slot so I threw some painters tape on it as a temporary fix.
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The feeder bar with harware cloth pouch filled with "bee fudge". (I have the other half in the freezer.)
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as a bonus I spotted the NWC queen. (And maybe some larvae in those cells? Like I said, I was trying to be quick so I didn't look too close.)
NWC Queen Dec 2012.jpg

The Buckfast queen isn't marked and is smaller so I rarely pick her out but I also don't tend to move the main brood bar in that hive because it is still a bar from the chop and crop. It is the only one and I hope I can take it out in spring after the cluster has moved away from it.

[brianbonner]

Hehe well, I live in Montana Colleen, on top of that at 7000ft in the rockies. i have stayed in MO for a while so I know your climate, very different.

FYI NWC queens will stop raising brood and kick out the drones to shrink the colony for winter. I know it is mo but I am not sure it is a good idea to stimulate the queen yet. PPL?

[brianbonner]

Thank you for all the Pics! I am too knew to know about the brood cells, I can't see anything.

What recipe did u use for the "fudge"?

[Colleen O.]

Hehe well, I live in Montana Colleen, on top of that at 7000ft in the rockies. i have stayed in MO for a while so I know your climate, very different.

FYI NWC queens will stop raising brood and kick out the drones to shrink the colony for winter. I know it is mo but I am not sure it is a good idea to stimulate the queen yet. PPL?

I used to live in Michigan but usually by April the weather was breaking into spring. I'm guessing for you the elevation plays a role as well as the Jet Stream. Here usually we get the odd warm day or two in February and then late March it starts to warm a bit more reliably but the last frost date is in the third week of April. Then when July and August hit it is miserable hot and humid.

I thought the bees reduced the brood nest but some raised a few through the winter. I do realize my decision might have been a mistake, we'll see. (I went with my intuition but since this is my first year my bee intuition may be flawed.) I didn't put the bars in the middle of where they cluster, but where I anticipate the cluster will move to as they work through their honey bars over the winter. Unless it is a warm day they won't be able to get to the candy until February.

I was suprised to see some drones in my pictures, at least in the Buckfast hive. I expected them to be kicked out but it hasn't gotten dependably cold yet so that may be why they are still there.

[Colleen O.]

Thank you for all the Pics! I am too knew to know about the brood cells, I can't see anything.

What recipe did u use for the "fudge"?

I used the one from Megabee that is on that honeybeesuite link I posted on here before. I made the 4% candy but used all sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) like Megabee says you can (here is the megabee candy recipe link). I will not make it like that next time, it was so thick with all that sugar and so little fluid. If I make it again I will make some 2:1 syrup up and use that for the HFCS. I also added 2T vinegar for the PH. I am hoping to leave enough stores on them in the future, this year was just a bad year for it with getting them so late, the drought, etc...

I called it "bee fudge" because I used to make 'Old Time Fudge" and it seemed VERY similar. Smelled pretty much the same until I added vinegar instead of cocoa . I almost had to make some just to be fair to my stomach.

You are welcome for the pics, my pleasure.

[brianbonner]

Don't listen to me, that is why I asked for people to chime in. I am all theory no practical eexperience

[Kelbor]

I think they call that Burlap. get them from the local coffee shop (that roasts their own beans) for $.50.

[beeman2009]

Colleen O,

What is the consistency of the "bee fudge" and do you mind sharing the recipe? Also, great idea. I think this could be used on langs as well.

Thanks

[Colleen O.]

Colleen O,

What is the consistency of the "bee fudge" and do you mind sharing the recipe? Also, great idea. I think this could be used on langs as well.

Thanks

I linked the recipe from Megabee in post 25 of this thread but I found that from what honeybeesuite had on their site (link post 6 of this thread). I like the megabee one a bit better because it explains more.

My deviations from their recipe : I added 2T cider vinegar and used all sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup (but as I state above next time I will use 2:1 syrup instead of the HFCS) I added 1lb pollen at the end and not the megabee powder (that was what I had). The pollen mixed in really well (I was surprised) but it was fresh frozen. The consistency was almost exactly that of old time fudge. It feels hard to the touch but soft/melts in your mouth (yes, I tried it...tastes better than a spoonful of pollen but not good like fudge). I let it cool withou stirring to 180 (from 265) before I stirred in the pollen. I poured it immediately into the molds, bar one first. (It was starting to thicken before I finished cleaning it all out if the pot so you want to fill the mold quickly so that it flows through the hardware cloth.)

The form idea came from Megabee's candy board form. (Not my original idea, just my spin on it.) The hardware cloth pouch idea was from someone else on the forum. I used both because I made only one form but knew I would have more candy than the form would take. I just poured what wouldn't fit in the form into a foiled pie tin and scored it in half after it had started to set up but was still warm (like you do with old time fudge). I put the other half from the pie tin in the freezer for spring use.

I had problems with SHB and have been working on how to feed but get it in the nest where the bees can "own" it. I hope this does it.

Oh, I also put spacers on both sides of the bars to give them beespace.

[Colleen O.]

We had a really warm few days with the temperature today in the mid sixties. I suspected my hives were light where the cluster was so I took a quick look at how they are doing with the feeder bars. In the Buckfast hive I moved the empty combs out of the way and put the feeder bar right next to where they are clustering. (The bees were all over the side of the feeder bar closest to the cluster.) In the NWC hive, the cluster had moved to adjacent the pouch feeder bar so other than moving some empty combs to the other side of the follower board I didn't need to do anything. It looks like they are clustering on the candy. Feeder Bar.jpg

[brianbonner]

That is awesome! Thanks for sharing!