Today (day 2) I will take the hive apart, super by super, and clean it all up and check it all frame by frame....but yesterday I just wanted to leave the bees in peace as quickly as possible and let them fly free and cleanse themselves of a winters worth of poop and yuck and being locked up.......
I did need to clear out the entrance for them though, so I used a stick and unblocked the bottom entrance of dead bees - and there were a LOT of dead bees - this is normal of course as bees don't live very long! But wow it's a lot huh???? YUCK!!!! Once they were all out I scooped them up and got rid of them all so they wouldn't atract skunks or other creatures to the hive more than normal. I'm already worried that Charlie (our pot bellied pig) will be over to steal the syrup I'm feeding the bees!!
Once this entrance was cleared and I put on the lid, it didn't take long for the bees to learn to use the bottom entrance to come and go instead of the top!!! Now the syrup feeder is on and they can build up the hive again before the flowers are out and they can make real honey!
1 comment:
Despite everything, they did really well over the winter! Well done, Jane!
How many more hive are you adding this year?
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