The Beeyard Report
It's the middle of November and I'm still feeding syrup. Some
yards are taking it well and some aren't. I don't like to feed
this late in the year. When we get into colder weather with a
lot of temperature fluctuation, the buckets tend to leak. I used
to stack the lids up in the yards and set the buckets on top of
the insulation boards(a lot of my inner covers are junk and won't
support the weight). Syrup always leaked out into the filling
of the boards. The bees would chew out the filling to get at the
syrup. After a couple of years, I would have a six inch hole in
the middle of the insulation boards. That was when I decided to
drill holes in the lids. When we are done with syrup, we have
a push-in plastic plug to fill the hole. They had some plugs in
the Betterbee catalog but they were over $1 each. I found some
on the internet for a nickel.
One thing I did differently this fall was to feed pollen supplement
when we gave syrup to the colonies that had been singles. In the
past, we have only given supplement in the spring. Quite often,
the singles store a lot of pollen in the first honey super. They
lose that when the honey is harvested. My winter loss last year
was very low. One of the things I noticed was that we had pollen
coming in until the middle of November. Whether this had anything
to do with the survival rate is unknown but, in my own mind, it
did. I mixed BeePro with corn syrup until it was loose enough
to flow slowly off the scoop. I dumped it onto the top bars and
the bees would clean it up in a few days. I hope they have it
mixed in with the syrup. In the past we have made patties. We
had to put those in sandwich bags to keep them from drying out.
We cut the bags when we put them in the hives and then the bees
would chew through to the supplement.
At the AHPA meeting last year, Brett Adee showed slides of their
operation. They mix their pollen supplement in a cement mixer.
Then they take it through the yards in a wheelbarrow and scoop
it into the colonies. It looked like a lot better deal that making
patties. I only need a five gallon bucket to make mine.
The colonies that I had designated as super colonies have a mark
on the back. It says "04 Super". After I had wrapped
up five or six yards, I realized I was covering up the mark. As
we sometimes don't get the wraps off until May, this could be
a problem. I was planning to get these colonies moved home in
April to set up my mating yards. Oh, well. I hope everyone is
ready for winter. I look forward to it. It provides time for thought
and reflection.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!
Submitted by Phil Ebert
Anise Honey Bites
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Honey
1 Egg
1 3/4 – 2 1/4 Cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. Anise seed
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/8 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Powdered sugar
In a large bowl combine sugar, honey, and egg.
Blend well. Add the remaining ingredients except the powdered
sugar. Stir until soft dough is formed. Flour hands and shape
dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie
sheet. Bake 4 to 8 minutes, or until light golden brown on bottom,
in a 350o oven. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Cool 15
minutes and sprinkle with the powdered sugar.
Recipe by Bev Powell
