Bee Emergency

 (Our bees. Pollen patty top left. Beetle trap top right)

What constitutes a bee emergency? Drowning.

We got our hives home on Friday and set them up. Two with a basin type feeders and one with a two hole canning jar thingy. The canning jar rig is about how you'd imagine. A piece of wood with two holes the size of canning jar rings. You poke holes in the lid of a canning jar and invert it on the top of the hive.  Holds two quarts of sugar water. Nothing hi-tech.

For the basin type feeder picture, if you will, a cleaning caddy with a handle in the middle. Cover the handle and the opening of the handle with hardware cloth. Now fill each side up with half a gallon of sugar water and basically you have a basin feeder. The idea being that the bees will crawl down the wire to sip the sugar water and then head downstairs to the hive to work, make honey etc. Holds two half gallons of sugar water.

We are giving our bee buddies sugar water in order to jump start them. It's barely spring here and we are a bit low on flowers at the moment. We pitched in a pollen paddy for extra protein. We also installed a beetle trap to catch any nasties that think they want to move in to the hive. We are trying to be good bee keepers.

So, imagine Kris' horror on Sunday when she lifts the lid on one of the hives and sees bee bodies "swimmin' with the fishes". She also notices more dead bees out in front of the two hives with the basins than the one with the canning jars (which happens to also be our Super Hive). What to do?

Call Lyle (this is Kris other bee boyfriend). He says we have to switch to canning jar feeders and we can come get the set up from him. So, Kris and I make a "haulin' ass" run down to Benedict; about an hour and a half round trip. We find out that the basin in this climate also cools down the hive because it can hold so much liquid. The bees try to warm up the hive. Their heat hits the bottom of the basin and causes moisture. This is no good. Bees do not like saunas.

Back home, Kris and I suit up. Kris suits up. I put on gloves and my bee veil. We replace the feeders. The sun comes out. Our bees look happy. We have all just survived our first "Bee Emergency". Kris and I go pour wine. Two bottles of wine.

Peace,
Karen