I made a quick trip out to the hive yesterday to check on progress and to redo the feeder. Mrs. Beekeeper took some great photos too this time – I’ve added one of them below.
I was surprised to see that the frames weren’t being filled up to the degree that I would expect – though, perhaps some of that is my own impatience. 🙂
I did some research on the topic however and came up with a few consistent ideas regarding feeding a new colony – particularly regarding what was being fed to the colony. After seeing this, I went back out to the hive and retrieved the top feeder and scrubbed it down with a good brush and hot water. I brewed up a full batch of the recipe for ‘stimulus feeding’ and returned the top feeder with a full gallon of feed. This mix is supposed to provide what a new hive needs in order to build out foundation quickly – which is what a new colony needs to do the first year.
Stimulus Feed – For new hives to promote foundation buildout
1.5 lbs sugar (just under 3/4th kilogram) / 1 gallon (3.5 litres) of water
Take a gallon (3.5 litres) of water, brought it to a rolling boil and removed it from heat. Stir in the 1.5lbs (just under 3/4th kg) of sugar well. Let cool fully before feeding bees.
Things here over the last week have been a good bit cold, so I’m willing to also chalk some of the lack of build out by the hive to that. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the feed level on Wednesday – as well as the frame build-out progress. Look for a new video then as well.
Have you voted for the queen’s name? I’ll be using it on Wednesday’s video, so if you haven’t yet voted – use the voting booth on the right hand side to have your voice heard!
An exciting photo:we caught the queen laying an egg! Remember – this is linked to the full size.
Regards,
Will
Leave a Reply