Fall Feeding and new acquistions

Hive A is getting stronger

Hive B is also doing well

Frame Feeder 10/19

Checking out the hive before helping me feed

A quick photo after the work is done.

So this week, I made another visit to hives at the Woodland Garden to feed the bees in preparation for the winter.  Until the weather turns, I will be going every 7-10 days to feed them. This time, I was joined by a fellow Urban Gardner Floyd who recently completed the beekeeping class in Baltimore County but, does not have any hives of his own. He was eager to see the bees up close and he was helpful in the quick feeding process. Since, I have extra suits in my car and I am helping others so, I thought it was fun to play teacher a bit.

Good news! the possibly queenless hive that I mentioned in a previous post has recovered and has crowned a queen. Thus, they seem to be building up the second box. Moreover, these bees are no longer directionless which is a good thing.

I still need to decide whether or not to combine the hives. So, I fed both hives some 2:1 feed with essential oils. I know that I going to have to a treatment in the next week so, I will post that information as well.

Below is a hive I recently acquired at the main park heights site so, I started to feed these guys on Wednesday.

While inspecting the hive, I noticed that the hive has wax moths so, I don’t know how long it’s going last.  The wax moth can be highly destructive and it may be affecting the brood box.

But, I got a great deal on the equipment and the hive. I will be online looking at ways to save these bees and helping them through the winter. I will also do some posting on the cleaning and preparation of the hive equipment for next year. There is some debate on whether or not to use old equipment but, these hives were neglected and recently inspected by the state so I think the equipment is worth the time and effort.

There will be posting on the cleaning and preparation of the hive equipment for next year as related to the new acquisitions. There is some debate on whether or not to use old equipment but, these hives were neglected and recently inspected by the state so I think the equipment is worth the time and effort.

Moreover, I will do a deeper dive and share more photos in the next few weeks. As for this post, I thought I would share what I have now to keep the blog up to date on the October actions and to share some new photos.

Michelle