# what school ???



## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

what school do you recommend to send the girls to ???? they were smart enough to make it through the winter ,, but other then that , they have to be the dumbest girls around .. I put a top feeder on you know the one they have to come up the middle then down the side to the feed .. I had it on for two days and few made it to the feed . before I put this feeder on I used the zip lock bag.. they took it all from the bag in less then 7 hours ,three days three bags , then I put the top feeder on few made it to the feed ,,, now I put the bag back on 4 hours ,over half gone . anyway guess the baggie is what they want to use ... and they are packing in the pollen .. now I won't feel so bad stealing a frame each of honey an pollen , for the 2 packages we get on the 23rd ...
and theres 2 of the girls that must be in love with me , as soon as I step outside theres 2 bees flying around me,, they fly around me and follow me til I go back in the house .. they been doing this all day .. never had this happen before . and they say that we are enslaving bees , yea well they call the shots ,, who's the slave to who ?????


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Tom I would be intrested in what your hive tom feeder is made out of ?

Remember the ones I made with the slats? I painted the insides with bees wax, made sure the seams were sealed. Yet the bees will gather on the sunny side and hang there around the seams like they are able to get some thing. I think today I am going to take my maginfying glass to see if they are really trying or it just appears that way.

I also read that bees can reconize people. Now if they have figuredout you have the feed bag(s) I can see why they hang with you.


 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

the feeder is a mann lake 10 frame feeder a FD110 ... 
but the funny thing is I used it for three years and they were fine with it ,, last year I didn't use it at all ,, now they don't want to use it ... I don't know if theres a smell in it that they refuse to use it . or what ..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Ok I see it is a plastic tray in a wood hive body. My guess is it was stored some place that it picked up some sort of smell they don't care for. I would give it a good scrubbing with soap like pine sol with a dap of bleach mixed in. Air it out for a couple of days before trying again.
Hope your buying the baggies at the dollar store.

OH! you might try putting the baggies in the feeder till they get used to it again.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I'll have to scrub it this weekend ,, never thought about putting a baggie in to draw them back in .. just kind of messes with my mind when they do things like this , makes them sound messed up just like us humans ..
was to cold to open it to day , want to look to see how she done after I had it open last Tuesday .


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Has been cold here to. Mostly the wind chill is what is bad, On our second round of syrup should finish it all up by Sunday if it doesn't rain to much.
Still have not seen them bring in natural pollen yet. Noticed the Maple trees are real close to blooming though.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

cold here again ,, 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight ,,, high of 47 today , low 31,, wind 30 mph ,, few drops of water coming down ... 
the girls have been bringing in pollen ,, most are loaded with bright yellow pollen , 
not this weekend but next we get our bees :dance::dance::happy::happy::bouncy::bouncy::kiss: ...


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## Sunmo (Dec 29, 2004)

Rather than top feeders and baggies, why not use candy boards? You should be able to get more sugar and less water to your bees. For the cost of one mann lake top feeder you could make 5 candy boards.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

While I like and use candy boards they do have disadvantages. Takes longer to make than syrup. Have to pull the intercover releaseing heat to place them. Chunks can fall between the frames and knock the queen from the cluster.

Syrup is faster and easier to make, proper ratio sugar to water to stimulate the queen into laying in the spring, make thicker in the fall to fill cells keeping the girls down at the bottom of the hives longer to work their way up.

Our weather today & tonght.
9:34 AM
49F, feels like 42F, humidity 90%, wind 18 gusting to 27 MPH, misty rain with ocational down pours 4 tenths of an inch since 5:00 AM

To night
Windy. Rain showers early becoming less often overnight. Low near 35F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain mixed with snow 50%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

 Al


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

got a question for tom and al (cuz you live in the same enviro as me). how cold can it get outside before the syrup freezes, in baggies or in gallon jars?


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

the freezing part , I do not know .. but when the syrup temp get below ,I think 40 , the girls stop taking it . and until the syrup get to like 45 50 again they take very little .. this is one reason I started with the baggies ,, I put the syrup in baggies , if its cool out then before I put it in the hive , I warm it in the microwave til it feels fairly warm , then put it on the hive ,, the bees take it better warm because it helps warm them up a little to with the warm syrup .. with the jars and feeder ,, if it got cool over night it takes a long time for the syrup to get warm again ,, I started with a feeder then went to the jars , then went to the baggies ..
the way you use baggies is ,,,, take a gal zip lock bag ,, put about half gal syrup in and zip .. take the inner cover off ,, now slowly lay the bag on the frames ,, ( I set it on the frames and lay it down about a inch then lift it up and lay it down pick it up lay it down an inch or so at a time ,, I do it this way because its faster ,, and the girls move out from under the bag as I lay it down and pick it up ) after you have it all laying down ,, take a utility knife and CAREFULLY put one to three cuts a few inches long in the bag ,, before you try this in the hive do it with water away from the hive on a board , so you know how and don't give the girls a bath .. I do not try to reuse the baggies , some say you can ,, but thats them .. 
the last time I looked ,, the girls will be here on the last dates Jim gave ..
CAN"T WAIT ,, CAN"T WAIT,, CAN"T WAIT :happy::happy::kiss::kiss:


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

thanks Tom i am gonna try the bags then. your getting yours may 7th too? i am trying to not get to excited but i kinda feel like a little kid. i cant wait either.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I'm one of the lucky/unlucky ones ,, mine come 4/23 next Saturday ,, just looked at the ten day weather ,, cold and rain ,,but that forecast will change 2 or 3 times a day ,before the 23rd comes .. A friend asked if the wife gets jealous about spending so much time with the bees ,, I said no , even with 30,000 girls to a hive in the summer , and each one has 6 legs , that makes 1,800,000 legs , but she knows that I'm not a leg man.. 
Yes I joke a lot ,, because ,, I love life and joking and kidding around just makes life more fun ,, but yes I do know when put kidding away ,, most of the time


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I my self have never seen syrup freeze. But I am not one to be opening a hive when it is freezing cold out. Lady I tought doesn't have the same feelings even though I taught her. she has installed syrp feeders in December and told me she has never seen the syrup froze.
*
Snowing here this morning.* Kare was looking at pictures we took last year on tax day. Our Quince, Chantclear Pear and The Forcithys were in full bloom.

With the rain and cold we never finished the feeding yesterday.

 Al


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

thanks for the input Al.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

mare ,, one thing I forgot to say about useing baggies ,, get a firring strip ( it a piece of wood or cut a piece thats 3/4 inch by 1 1/2 inch ,) and make a spacer to go on the box so theres a space for the baggie ,, I just cut it the same sise as the box , so i could nail it together and put it under the inner cover .. this way the bees have room to get on the bag and the inner cover doesn't lay on the bag ..


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

tom j said:


> mare ,, one thing I forgot to say about useing baggies ,, get a firring strip ( it a piece of wood or cut a piece thats 3/4 inch by 1 1/2 inch ,) and make a spacer to go on the box so theres a space for the baggie ,, I just cut it the same sise as the box , so i could nail it together and put it under the inner cover .. this way the bees have room to get on the bag and the inner cover doesn't lay on the bag ..


do i want it to be3/4 wide or 3/4 high?


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

the 3/4 will be on the box and 1 1/2 up , so you have the 1 1/2 inch spacer
it may work eather way but I went for the bigger spacer ,just for safety .. on the two packages when I hive them I'm going to put a real small pollen patty in just to give them it if they want to take some ..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Crazy weather here this week end.

8:49 AM 4-18-11

29F, feels like 29F, humidity 96%, wind calm, *snowing*.

Yesterdays high 43F. Snow off an on all day but didn't stick.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

yea ,, I don't think spring has come yet ,, the weather is a mess ,, cold wet ,,cold ,, good thing the temp goes up for a few hours so we can get a bag on ,, the bag I put on saturday morn must have been cooler then I thought ,they just are letting it set ,, oh well there taking some but just a little , .. 
back to the weather ,, have to really watch my propane tank as I only have 7% in it ,, want to wait and see if the price will drop some more ,,, one place I get propane from is still high , the other has came down some but I am hoping it will drop some more .. the other 2 are all ways high so I seldom call them ... but with the cool weather I'm thinking its not going to drop much til june .. I'm looking for another tank but none to be found ..


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

good luck with the propane thing--i dont think its gonna go down but it would be great if it did--yes this weather BITES. i start plants in the house for my garden and i really dont want a late spring. i have a hard time motivating in this weather--but i am thinking that i need to lock up my ducks and chickens cuz i have a sneaky feeling they will eat all my bees. they keep getting out so i have to figure out how they are doing it. i have awhile to get it done though, but i need to get my plastic up on the greenhouse too, its never ending but i cant wait for the bees to arrive--i keep watching videos on pkg installs, this should be interesting.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

the way I understand ducks and chickens and bees get along good . infact they help bees ,, they pick and eat the bugs ( shb and wax moth ) and any other bug that gets around the hive . so they do the hive good and do not eat the bees .. from the ones that have ducks and chickens all say they don't eat the bees,, so don't worry about them


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

thanks for that bit of info Tom


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:44 AM 4-19-11

33F, feels like 24F, humidity 76%, wind ENE @ 12 MPH, partly sunny.

Yesterdays high 38F, *3 inches of snow.*

 Al


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