feeding Bees

The first job of the bee keeping year is to walk amongst the hives on Ist January and wish the colonies a good new year.

Yes really...

The second job is to consider whether the colonies might be short of food at this time of year.  The queen bee in each colony will now have started laying eggs  which will become the new bees in the spring.  To do this the temperature in the hive has to be raised.  The bees do this by becoming active to create the heat.  This in turn requires food.

So at this time of year I give the bees some encouragement by feeding them with a small quantity of candy or fondant.

Here you see the white candy being placed over the feed hole of the hive.

A routine job for me as bee keeper but the first time I have done it in front of such a large audience.