To Have a Willing Helper

The management  of bee colonies is entirely seasonal.  Thus I was doing today the sort of work that would have been done at a similar time last year, weather permitting.

The inverted white container simply  contains candy.  The bees are able to crawl up from the cluster beneath and help themselves.  They are not short of feed but this small amount of nourishment gives them some stimulus and encourages the queen to lay eggs.

The purpose of this is to get the maximum number of bees ready for the spring flow of nectar in early May.

You will have noticed Chirpy, my helper.  He comes down and cleans up the odd grub that has got in to the inside of the roof of the hive.