Day #276 To Feed or Not to Feed - That is the Question

Here I go again, wondering whether I should give my girls some extra food.

I’ve cooked up a 1 to 1 sugar/water mixture by weight (boil a pint of water, add two cups of sugar – at least I hope those are the right measurements), and it’s cooling on the window sill as I write this.

I took an old goat-milk jug and added a stick (so the bees can walk down to the sugar mixture). I wrapped a loop of wire around the handle so I can hang it from a hook underneath the overhang (so it won’t get rained on and diluted).

Now, do I put it out there or not? Do I feed the girls or let them tough it out on their own?

Do I really believe in all this stuff I’ve been preaching about a totally natural approach to beekeeping? Mama Nature may provide, but when people clear-cut the land for subdivisions, Mama gets left out sometimes. You’d be surprised at how few of my neighbors have any flowers whatsoever in their yards. My yard looks like an OASIS (or a jungle if you’re feeling less open-minded) compared to theirs. But I fully understand that my yard alone can’t support 60,000 bees.

So, do I let Mama Nature thin their ranks? Or, once the sugar syrup has cooled enough, do I cave in and feed them?

Wish I knew the answer.

 

BEEattitude for Day # 276:

       Blessed are those who let people on crutches cut in front of them in line, for they shall (if they’re ever on crutches themselves) receive the same treatment. We are so glad we bees never need those things!

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