Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: lee on April 22, 2005, 08:53:21 pm

Title: bees are in but
Post by: lee on April 22, 2005, 08:53:21 pm

hey i got my bees.  :D  but  we are going to get up to 10'' of snow sat.. night. can u belive that it was 82 the other day. now 10 '' of snow  it is going to be about 50 wed. can i keep the bees in the house . untill it warms up some :(  i just got back from chattanooga,tn it was in the 80s down there then come back to this.snow

Title: bees are in but
Post by: Michael Bush on April 22, 2005, 10:07:34 pm

The feeder cans on mine that I picked up tonight were empty.  They are the kind with a plastic ring holding a small piece of cloth in the hole.  I refilled them all.  I had some cans left from last year so I filled the cans, slammed the package down to knock the bees down and did a quick swap.  That should hold them for a few more days.  The main thing to do is make sure they don't starve.  You can feed by putting syrup on the screen wire.  But it's messier in the long run.

Title: bees are in but
Post by: lee on April 23, 2005, 09:41:10 pm

i don't know if the feeder can's are empty. but when i put on some old honey on the screen they ate it up so fast. so to bee safe i'll keep puting it on the screen.  :)

Title: bees are in but
Post by: Michael Bush on April 24, 2005, 10:11:53 am

The honey is a good start.  I'd water it down 50/50 with some hot tap water so they don't dehydrate.

But you can also spray some water on the side of the cage.

Title: bees are in but
Post by: BigRog on April 24, 2005, 11:20:43 am

unless you know the source of the honey and know that the bees it came from are healthy, just give them sugar water.

You could pick something up

Title: bees are in but
Post by: pardee on April 24, 2005, 04:31:19 pm

You can also turn the cage on it’s side and set a feeding jar on the screen so the girls can get to it don’t be afraid to install them if the weather is not perfect. I have install bees on days that were cloudy and in the mid forties. And have not lost a package yet. The sooner you can get them into a hive the better as long as they can cluster they will keep warm

Title: bees are in but
Post by: Michael Bush on April 24, 2005, 10:27:51 pm

Quote from: pardee

You can also turn the cage on it’s side and set a feeding jar on the screen so the girls can get to it don’t be afraid to install them if the weather is not perfect. I have install bees on days that were cloudy and in the mid forties. And have not lost a package yet. The sooner you can get them into a hive the better as long as they can cluster they will keep warm

Probably not a bad idea IF the feeder can is empty.  If it's not empty it may cause the syrup to run out all over the bees.  I lost several packages when the post office layed them on their sides and the syrup all ran out on the bees.

Title: bees are in but
Post by: lee on April 24, 2005, 11:11:47 pm

how do u know when the feeder can is empty.  i just put some sugar water on to see what they would do . and they ate it like crazy.

Title: bees are in but
Post by: Michael Bush on April 25, 2005, 09:30:15 am

With practice you can kind of feel the weight and balance of it.  But I just pull the can out and shake it.  Some bees will get out, but if you keep the hole covered and knock them down not many will.