Today was another nice sunny one. The bees were out and about again. Early this morning, I got out before the bees were up, and cracked the lid. The baggie feeder I had put on top of the bars earlier was completely dry. They were obviously pretty hungry. I took that out and closed up the top of the hive to force them to use the feeder inside the hive. That feeder is an inverted jar with sugar syrup. It has holes in the lid and works like a humming bird feeder, dripping when they eat. I checked earlier this evening and the pint Mason jar was about gone.
After Easter dinner with Kara and Trevor, it had cooled down and the bees were quiet. We got Kara suited up, just in case, and we went to put in a new jar.
The feeder sits on one end of the hive in a rack. Kara had a few "hangers on" after we pulled out the old one. I put a full quart in this time, as we are expecting cooler weather and rain. In all the flying yesterday and today, I haven't seen the bees bring much in to the hive, so having food available will be a requirement for a while. I also left the heat tape and wrap off tonight. It is going to get cool, but not the "winter" type cold we've been having. I'll add back the thermal protection if it looks like it is going to get colder. Until then, I need to learn to trust in their abilities more :-) They've certainly proved themselves this last week.
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