Almost February, and both hives are still alive

I have never felt less confident with my outlook for bee hives going into winter than I was a few months ago, as we were tucking them in with fingers crossed. Neither hive seemed particularly well-stocked or strong. But at that late time, there is literally nothing you can do except ensure proper ventillation and hope for the best.

But I noticed there were bees buzzing around both hives yesterday, and sure enough, Steve noticed the same thing today. The weather has been well above zero (even at night) for the past week and fairly sunny, too.

So Steve suggested we put out a few external liquid feeders while it is still above freezing. We typically do not use external feeders at any time of the year because they tend to attract wasps, which stresses out the female guard bees because they have to attack constantly. Instead we tend to use internal feeders that are enclosed within an empty box on each hive. And once it is freezing you can’t use any kind of liquid food, only solid. This means the honey they have stored away inside the hive as well as a few solid patties we put in there during fall close-out.

But this seemed like a wonderful suggestion to try today, because we have no idea what is going on inside of hives at this time of year. We hope they have enough food, but we can’t be sure. And we cannot open them (yet), because we don’t want to upset their internal clusters or self-generated warmth. It is a common scenario for hives to make it through the winter but then starve before flowers and trees start budding.

So I made up two pint-size external feeders with 2:1 sugar:water. We will see if they drink any of it!