December 11, 2015

On November 7th, we had the candy party (details and pictures to come in a post from someone else — hint, hint Todd).  I used about 100 lbs of sugar to make candy for 4 full colonies, 1  2-medium-box colony and 1 nuc.  I filled 1/2 of a hive top feeder for each colony in full size boxes and filled both sides of the hive top feeder for the nuc.

Today I checked the food status of each colony:

Orange – full size – bees were covering the candy, had consumed about 20-25%.

Muddy Pink – full size – The bees have consumed all but about a fist sized chunk!

Yellow-Green – full size – No bees on candy.  Candy virtually untouched.  I looked between the top two boxes and there are definitely bees there, they just aren’t yet interested in the candy.

Green – full size – Bees on the candy, have consumed about 75%.

Pink – at the Farm, 2-medium boxes – Nearly all the candy consumed.

Nuc – at the Farm – Nearly all the candy consumed.

As 4 of the six colonies have consumed nearly all their candy, I’m planning on making more candy (potentially on Dec 19).  The bees are really going through the candy with all this warm weather.  Hopefully the cold will set in a some point!

At the farm the bees were bringing in a lot of pollen — pale yellow (almost tan), golden orange and red.