Doug left me with four and a half gallons of honey to feed his bees. I surely wasn't going to do it the first week they were here. They had been nasty animals when we were getting them moved. Then there were storms, busy Saturdays, and other excuses. But, I knew the plan was to feed the bees so that they would be ready for winter and winter was not yet. It has been getting a bit chillier lately, however, and so it was time Saturday to feed them.
My first task was to take off the covers and just inspect. Two of the three hives looked as if they had capped honey in the top supers. The photo below is from the nastiest of his hives. It came with two supers and it looks as if there is honey all the way up. The middle hive was the weakest coming in and looked to be the weakest still. The first hive was in between.
After pulling the tops and taking a look, I put an empty super on each with a top feeder following on top of that. I poured honey into each from the gallon containers Doug had left me. The weak hives got about two gallons each and the healthy hive got about one. We still have a bunch of yellow jackets and other invaders around, so I took the practically empty containers into the house and drained them off into my own stocks. It didn't amount to much, but thanks Doug for the small donation.
So now each of the hives has an extra super and a supply of honey to store. I won't be able to check back on the progress of the bees at storing the honey for over a week because I am traveling. My guess is that they will store it very quickly and that by the time I get home, there will be nothing left in the top feeders.
Just as a side note, Doug's bees are still pretty defensive. I was buzzed by all three hives as soon as they were opened. However, they left it at that and when I had walked away 20 feet, they didn't follow. I like bees to be a little protective. I think it makes them healthier. Just looking at the entrance during the day, they are still actively foraging.
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