| Bees are now producing around 250-500 eggs a day as the queen bee goes into autumn laying mode. If your bees have quality sources of nectar & pollen at this point they can be at honey production levels for one LAST harvest before winter off season sets in.
Ensure you have left some honey for the bees so they have food to sustain them through the colder nights and days that lie ahead.
Upcoming Crops
~ August Aloes ~ There are pretty much very small nectar flows over the next 2 months unless you are pollinating tunnel grown vegetables and berries... like blueberries.
~ Sunflower ~ If you are in the North West province or Limpopo province, the sunflower crops finish flowering over the next few days
Remember, there are different means of using bees and sunflowers together. Sunflower blossoms at different times in different provinces so ask a local farmer while planning this out.
~ Do Bees Take Long Weekends? ~
As far as Bee WARE is concerned... We do take public holidays...So we are closed Thursday and Monday. We are open on Friday and Saturday normal times as per our website.
Bees do take time out! Usually its during the off season. The queen lays a lot less eggs everyday. A decrease in egg production by over 50% takes place as winter hits.
Bees also struggle to fly when the temperature sinks below 13 degrees celsius as their wing muscles tend to cease up. This also hinders their already dwindled nectar and pollen sources for foraging in winter and pushes it into midday when the weather is warmest and can potentially break double figures in temperature.
They do need nectar and pollen to sustain themselves. So just like us on a long weekend... We braai or barbecue, we relax and revive the bees do similar. They fly a lot less and conserve their energy for collecting water and winter based nectar and pollen where available. They huddle close at night to ensure the colony warmth is sustained. All of this expends or uses energy. Energy which requires resources just like our braai needs chop and dop!
Feeding of bees is good practice over the winter. Ideally entrance feeding is best so not to disturb the colony and or break the propolis weather seals around the lid. Cold air will change the internal climate of the hive and use a lot of energy to reset to 36 degrees.
We have new bee tools called Entrance feeders which is a great little device you can insert up to 1L bottle but 500ml is probably better, of sugar water into the hive entrance of the bee hive. Use the formula provided below to make your mixture. Set up the entrance feeder and stick it into the hive. A small trick here is to use some masking tape or duct tape to cover the short 5cm strip that still is exposed to the outside to stop robbers from gaining access.
In essence, Bees do take long weekends. They need it after working sometimes 18 hour days - weather and light dependent - during the nectar flows. Make sure you follow the feeding programme below.
P.S. We also provide internal feeders which can be inserted into supers which you can block off with marine ply or back board. They take up space of 2 frames usually and hold over 2L of sugar water with a division if you want to feed both pollen substitute and sugar water at the same time. Place some twigs or pieces of cork that float so any bees that fall in can climb out. Contact details for Bee WARE
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