Feeding The Bees In Winter With This Novel Little Device!

Hey everyone, last year we thought we were extremely 'clever' not feeding our bees. Some areas in Pretoria South Africa have flowering plants, shrubs etc all year round, we assumed we had sufficient, but alas, we were mistaken and as a result ended up with around 7 absconding swarms. This year we will not make that same error.

My landlord and partner Wynand recently popped in to the local bee supplies retailer and purchased this novel little device. Simply make a mixture of 1:1 Sugar and water, cook for ten minutes, put in a 2l coke bottle, attach device, invert and insert into hive door.... Simple right? We thought so too....

These 'made in China' devices were not all they are cracked up to be, leak like a sieve they do, we had to modify them slightly and try again. Problem as you invert the device half the liquid inside escapes and 'pollutes' the surrounding area which for bee-keeping a rather bad idea as it attracts ants...

We first inserted the unit in an empty hive box to test the fit, it seemed snug and secure enough...

We then filled up the bottles with our magic mix of sugar and water, attached the device to where the lid of the Coke bottle used to be and inverted...

It looks rather swell and the bees love the mixture. The problem with this particular unit is there is a crucial design flaw. The bees in the surrounding area are attracted to this food source too, which causes major conflict for the resident bees, which results in 'warfare' and many dead bees, this needs to be avoided at all costs.

Taking this into consideration we formulated another plan, instead of using each unit in each hive independantly, rather make a communal feeding station away from all the hives, so that all the bees in the area can feed, without drama and warfare, we did just that and here is the setup!

We installed this last night and are awaiting action. So far no bees have started foraging, it is a rather cold morning and in inclement weather bees also like to 'sleep in' until it warms up. If by around mid-day still no activity I will put a little honey on the bottle to attract them.

Bees are incredibly smart little creatures with great memories and a keen navigation system, once they know this area is where their food is to be foraged, they will return regularly to feed as well as invite the other foraging workers in the swarm to tag along!

Nature the incredible.

I trust you have an awesome weekend.

Love and light, be blessed.
Cheer$;)