This past week I took a look into hives #2 and 3. There was a good brood pattern, but no honey! I recall that there had been a few frames with capped honey in the deep boxes but the bees must have eaten it all.
It has been a poor summer for honey production because of the drought. I heard a report from the Beekeepers Guild that no one is getting honey this fall. I thought the girls would do okay if I took only the honey in the supers, but I guess I was mistaken. So the poor bees must be hungry.
I made up some 1:1 sugar syrup and put the top feeders into 2&3. Since I only have 2 top feeders, I put the entrance feeder in #1. The bees emptied both top feeders, a half-gallon, in less than one day and I have been filling them daily for the past 3 days and the entrance feeder twice a day. Today, it looks like they may have slowed down a bit.
I also put the entrance reducers in to help control robbing. In the next days I will make a sugar cake to feed the top bar hive, assuming that it too has a honey shortage even though I did not take any from it. Time to go to Costco for a 50-pound sack of sugar.
The bees are going regularly to the dish I have for water supply. I put sand in it over the rocks and pebbles. I have to keep an eye on it and keep it moist.
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