Cold as hell today, but it’s only going to get colder the rest of the week so it was either today or wait till next week to get pollen patties on the hives. I made a few yesterday from 2:1 syrup and megabee. Each of the hives got one except for the one in PTC. That one got two since it’s more of a drive for me, but also it’s still looking pretty strong as well. I also got the last two hives wrapped in 30# felt paper as well – so that’s all good.

All in all the hives looked pretty healthy. The cluster was a pretty good size and they seemed pretty defensive when I opened the top ( I guess I would be too!). But that’s a good sign. I didn’t want to linger with it being so cold out, but it looked like all the hives still had what looked like plenty of capped stores. It’s too early to say of course, but I’m hoping that I can come out in the spring without any losses. (fingers, toes, and elbows crossed!)

Honey Run Apiaries has some good reading on how to make pollen patties in case you’re curious.

till next time…

The first log of the year and it couldn’t bee (wink) better timing. Today is pollin patty day. It’s supposed to be be seriously cold over the next few days. I swapped out the bee-koozies for 30lb roofing paper and the hive temp seems to get higher during the sunny times of the day. Syrup consumption seems higher as well. Today I used the last of my megabee pollen substitute to make up some pollin patties which I’m going to get on the hives this afternoon. Megabee is far and away the best pollen substitute on the market in my opinion. I have some family coming over for dinner so I probably won’t be able to get over to the other hives this afternoon, but that’s on the list for tomorrow.