The Healthy Honeybee

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200 pounds of honey in a house. My guess is, there were probably about 100,000 bees there too. If you have 2 minutes:

Video Link

Yikes.
Thanks to my friend Carolyn who sent me the link.
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On Saturday the 3rd, I went to the beeyard to feed one of my hives sugar syrup. They hadn't filled out the frames as well as they could have, and it's important for winter survival that they are full to maximum capacity. So, despite not wanting refined sugar in my life anymore, back in it came. In the top picture you see the hive with a honey super on top - I had to leave a space for the ziplock bag of sugar syrup between the frames and the lid. After Ken's comment on a previous post, I thought I better follow his recommendations, so I built myself a rim. I went to the beeyard today to feed them again, and switch over to the rim. That's the next pic, showing the rim I made, and the inner cover on top:


It makes more sense to have the least amount of empty space possible, because the bees have to heat up all the space in their hive. More space to heat means more energy expended by the bees, so they'll be eating more honey, and as a result they'll have less honey for the winter. The less honey they have for the winter, the more likely they are to die before the nectar flow in the spring.
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Yes, I tucked my pant legs into my socks, geek that I am. I was not interested in bees flying up my pants. This was my first visit out to the bees after being stung 9 times at once, so you can understand that I was taking every precaution. Including wearing my husband's winter gloves. Yes, now I have to wash them because they're sticky. It was worth it. I think I would have been stung otherwise, judging by the number of stingers I saw ready to strike, and the bees that were crawling on the gloves.

I opened the lid, and there were about 20 bees there with their stingers in the air, just daring me to come any closer. There were others around too, but they weren't as protective. Most of them were moving very very slowly, due to the cold I imagine. There was no activity at the hive entrances when I got there. But when I left - the one hive had bees around the entrance, so I must have stirred them up enough to take a look around outside for a bit.


Here's the end frame of one of the hives. The other side is mostly filled with capped honey. The other end frame is fuller on both sides, so I was happy about that! I want them to be all filled before winter. When I looked down into the bottom brood box, it looked like one end frame didn't have anything on the outside yet. I couldn't do anything about it, though, because I couldn't lift the top brood chambers off the bottom ones! Even with trying to pry with my hive tool, I couldn't budge them. I'm considering using single brood chambers only next year, for ease of use. And because I'm a weakling....

Anyway, the other hive was chock-full, so I was happy with those girls. They turned out alright after all. I was worried initially because they were populating the colony really well, but didn't seem to be making honey. Now, it looks like it's mostly honey they've got going on, so they're taking care of themselves. Of course this is all judging by what I could see just taking off the covers. I tried and tried and tried to pull out some frames, but only succeeded in breaking a frame. And even that one wouldn't come out.

So... I'm procrastinating. I will leave them be for the winter, and deal with it in the spring, when I want to split the chambers anyway. How's that for an executive decision?
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While I'm on the topic of this family, I have to thank Michelle for the winter onions (sometimes called egyptian onions) she gave me the last time we were there. I cooked some up with brown rice and finely diced veg, and a smidge of honey thrown in for good measure - since I was just back from the beeyard and thinking about it. Very tasty. The rest of the onions are planted in my garden - hopefully they'll get a good start on growing before winter!

Anybody want the recipe? No? Too bad, I'm posting it anyway. There's the small version and the big version, go with whatever suits.

Confetti Rice

1 cup dry brown rice

Step 1: Cook the rice. I put it in a casserole dish with 2 c water and put a lid on, then put the whole thing in the oven at 375 for an hour. Done. No fussing. Of course a rice cooker would probably work too, but I have too many appliances already, with more on the way. Generally I like to do this step in the morning when I have lots of energy, and put the rice in the fridge. Then at suppertime it goes faster, putting it all together.

1/2 -1 medium zucchinis
1-2 medium carrots
1/2 -1 red pepper
a bit of onion, to your taste
about a tsp-tbsp of honey or so - again, to your taste
salt and pepper

1/2 or all of the rice

Step 2: Get out a pan and put it on a burner on med-high. Watch it during the next step, and add some olive oil when it gets warm.
Step 3: Dice the veggies very finely. If you have or know kids, you know what I'm talking about here.
Step 4: When the olive oil is warm in the pan, thrown in the veg with about a tsp of honey. Give them a few shakes and stirs. Add salt and pepper if you like them.
Step 5: If the rice is in the fridge, throw it in now. If it's still warm from cooking, you can wait until the veg are cooked a bit more, then add it.
Step 6: Stir often, eat it when it's done.

We ate ours with meatballs that I made awhile back, defrosted and reheated in the microwave. Yum!

Thanks again Michelle!
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