Emptied the wasp trap and refilled and re-primed it. As soon as I put it down, wasps already started flying in. Have decided to put up a second one. Not that I fear too much for my bees: the entrances to the hives are easy to defend and all food is internal now. But I'd rather not risk it.
Removed the emptied super and frames from the Star and noticed that wasps had been chewing the wax away. Hate wasps even more now. Some of the frames have holes in them. Live and learn, I guess. Next year the Star will start with a disadvantage again,a s the bees will have to build up comb first. Hmmm....
Filled both contact feeders full. Or relatively full. The way the contact feeder works is that you fill it full, then tip it upside down and the syrup doesn't flow out through the gauze, because of the partial vacuum that's created. So the theory goes. Of course, when I turned round the feeders, a huge flow gushed out over the bees, hive, crown board - everything. Same when I tried it for the Star, only this time I held it over the ground, not the hive. The feeder still dripped for quite some time, though. Sure that I had done something wrong, I looked it up and sure enough: I should have filled the contact feeders to the very brim and then turned them around over a bucket, before putting them on the hive.
But I love the idea of 'putting' things on the hive. As if that were so easy. With me there are always hundreds of bees in the way...
One day I may learn.
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| Try putting anything on that! |
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