Proof is in the Fondant

Posted by on Apr 27, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments Back in an earlier post Gord talked about adding some fondant to the hives to help them get through the early spring until nature took over. We weren’t sure how successful this would be. We also tried a different way of presenting the fondant to the bees. In a typical Lang hive (the white stacked boxes you usually see about), the fondant is placed above the comb at the top of the hive and...
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Passing It On

Posted by on Apr 27, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments Well lots of things have been going on in the beeyards and with the bees. The early spring here in in Eastern Ontario has meant the bees are building up about 6 weeks ahead of the past two years. We started to bucket feed our few remaining hives on March 31. After some research both anecdotally and in various journal papers, we are trying a little essential oil mixed in with our sping syrup feed...
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Off to an early start!

Posted by on Apr 11, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments We checked the hives today and things are looking great. It was a bit breezy at times, but when it was still, they were flying like mad and bringing in loads of bright yellow pollen: This lady landed on Greg’s head for a few minutes on her way home. We’re trying to figure out what the pollen’s from. The mainland hive foragers were also bringing in a creamy white pollen that...
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Expansion is under way

Posted by on Apr 10, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments It doesn’t look like it, but I have a pile of hives in my garage: Top-bar hives are, generally, a build-it-yourself affair. There’s no standard size or shape, so after some experimentation, we’ve settled on our own. That stack of pine should yield about a dozen 10-bar nucleus hives and their bars. Once I get it all trued, cut, glued, screwed together, cut and rout the bars....
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Using fondant as hive insurance

Posted by on Apr 10, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments I promised Gerry Gomez Pearlberg an update on the fondant experiment, so here it is. We started with a recipe that Greg found here and adapted it to the size of cakes that we needed: 1.7kg white cane sugar 425mL water ½ teaspoon vinegar It’s dead-simple to make, too: Put the sugar in a large pot and add the water and vinegar. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Insert a candy...
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