The Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum

Author:Kim Flottum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Published: 2017-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

The best reason I can think for having two hive tools is that you can clean a messy tool of chunks of propolis and wax easily. Get the big stuff off, first, then finish with soap and water using a steel wool pad.

A package colony, especially if it starts out on foundation, starts out under a cloud. You are providing them with the carbohydrates they need, but everything they eat they turn into beeswax to get the home started, food for themselves, or food for baby bees once the queen starts to lay eggs. Feeding baby bees requires a lot of protein—don’t ever, ever forget that.

One solution: Feed, feed, feed sugar syrup (not high-fructose corn syrup) as a carbohydrate source as long as they will eat it. Feed pollen substitute patties for a protein source. (Over time, sugar syrup that sits on a colony will ferment, and the bees will not eat it, so monitor the feed source. And, another problem needing monitoring is that protein patties are a draw for small hive beetles and need to be watched. If they become infected with lots of small hive beetle larvae, discard and rid the colony of a host of problems.) Another rule of thumb is to feed sugar syrup until they don’t take it three times. Provide a pail of food, if they don’t take it and it ferments, provide another, and then another. After the third, you can figure they have enough. The same with the protein patty: If it dries out, provide another, then another.

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