Cooler weather and alternately very dry, very wet and unseasonably warm weather have created some new challenges for our Apiary. On sum, our bees have not brought back much resources and have been eating through the honey we have left for them, leaving them vulnerable to starvation this winter. To counteract this threat, we have been feeding heavily. Earlier, in late summer, we were feeding light sugar syrup to the bees to encourage a slow build up of resources and to stimulate colony growth in our smaller colonies. This has been effective in helping with the strength of our colonies but has not helped our bees increase their stores. On the contrary, our bees started October with less honey in their hives than they did in August. For the past three weeks we have been adding thicker syrup to help then increase stores. In September, we treated our hives at the Walker Road yard with oxalic acid vapor to reduce the number of varroa mites. Prior to three rounds of oxalic vapor treatment, we found mite counts of 3 – 5 per 300 bee sample. We have also reconfigured all our hives for winter. This year, we are going to over winter with either two deep hive bodies, or 1 deep and two medium bodies. Our goal is to have the hives filled out with honey, “bee bread” and brood starting November 1. At this point, we will be largely hands off the bees for the winter, except for weekly walk by inspections, and an oxalic acid treatment in early January to help ensure that we start the new season in March 2025 with low varroa mite counts
Below are two pictures of the bees at Walker Road, in the early evening.
