The weather guy predicted a high of 40 today! The reality was more like 33, but that’s close enough, and besides that, the only moderatly-viable time in the foreseeable future to feed the bees. So, Robin was flying solo and figured she could knock this task out in 45 minutes. Phhbbbbbbbbbt.
The path to the bee yard wasn’t as bad as I imagined, but 4WD was very handy.
[reevvvvvvv] Let’s do this!
We’re still standing!
Uh yahhh, suit up, even in the winter, because I’m a sting magnet. And true to form, Lena was a royal nag and the net was a good thing.
Safety first, safety always … or a shot in da butt.
All five colonies were looking good! Didn’t want to leave top off for more than a few seconds, to conserve heat, but here was a quick photo of calm bees after I threw a few winter patties on the dinner table.
Dinner is served.
And then there is Lena. Lena is grumpy even when I bust my tail to tromp out in the snow and feed her troops.
“WE SHALL BOIL OUT OF THIS WARM HIVE, TO CERTAIN DEATH, TO ATTACK YOUR GLOVED HANDS! ARRRGGGGG!”
And here is one of the ~20 bees from Lena that decided by gloved hands MUST DIE.
“TAKE THAT YOUR CRUMMY POLARTEC GLOVE … OVER TOP OF A LEATHER GLOVE!!”
Yep, the mice are still enjoying the insulated confines of the winter hive set-up.
Rodents.
It’s always good to see live bees guarding the breathing tubes.
Bees in da tube.
So there I was, only about 30 minutes into my task, feeling good about seeing many bees in healthy-looking clusters. Time to pack up and go home! But wait, my spider senses tell me that something is amiss here…
[insert profanity here]
My hero! Brent Smith gets free honey! (Assuming the bees decide to make honey in 2015…)
Here ends the story of winter feeding. And everyone lived happily ever after – including the tire-fixit guys at Trickles. *sigh*
Idiots Keeping Bees 