tkwinston4
Field Bee
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2009
- Messages
- 535
- Reaction score
- 1
- Hive Type
- Smith
- Number of Hives
- 7
I got the following email from a fellow beekeeper this morning and just had to share it with you all........................................
"Just to tell you that on Saturday I took the other two Feeders off the last two hives. Hive 2 had syrup still in it, with a group of Bees still in the funnel to the feeder. - I rested it on the side of the hive for them to clear, while I was blocking the top of the hive. - The bees were flying about a bit and I was in a bit of a hurry.
Eventually I stacked the second feeder on top of the first in the bowl and took it down the garden and indoors. - I spent lots of time trying to clean up the Rappid feeder from hive 1, which was covered with propolis. Eventually later in the evening I was going to dunk the feeders in the water and found that the top feeder with the syrup in it, still had the bees in it!!! Ops! - I thought it was too cold to put them out in the dark that night so allowed them to stay on the kitchen table and be blasted out by X Factor!!! - well they had no choice!
Next day I was still in bed at ... O'Clock and I asked my daughter to let them out in the garden.... she said something about where - I said oh anywhere! - she told me she propped the feeder up with bits of tile to allow them to escape.
When I went downstairs and out to the garden I lifted the feeder only to find the poor bees upside down and all under the feeder on the table and tile dead - they were chilled by frost on the table - I did not think about frost neither did she.
I swept them into my hands and carried them back to the house and kept huffing on them - no sign of life. I huffed and huffed on them and after 10 minutes warming in my hand one moved!!!! I huffed and huffed on them until a miracle ..... I had 10 live bees in my hand.. They were lovely - they cleaned and cleaned themselves of syrup, and I must have stood there 25 minutes (No wonder I never get anything done!) and then they started testing their wings - it was wonderful - one flew off and then another - I wondered about the chill in the air and took the remainder up the garden and popped them into the top of hive 2 they came from, onto the sacking. - Later I checked and they had either gone down the sides or out through the Bee escape! - I was so pleased they were o.k. - but just shows that bees lying on the ground are not always dead as we may think.....
Obviously I don't have time to save them all, but it is so nice when they do revive!! I wonder what they told the others - probably a Bee Waggle saying keep away from the other end of the garden and house!!... and her!"
A happy tale to cheer you all up on this gloomy wet day
"Just to tell you that on Saturday I took the other two Feeders off the last two hives. Hive 2 had syrup still in it, with a group of Bees still in the funnel to the feeder. - I rested it on the side of the hive for them to clear, while I was blocking the top of the hive. - The bees were flying about a bit and I was in a bit of a hurry.
Eventually I stacked the second feeder on top of the first in the bowl and took it down the garden and indoors. - I spent lots of time trying to clean up the Rappid feeder from hive 1, which was covered with propolis. Eventually later in the evening I was going to dunk the feeders in the water and found that the top feeder with the syrup in it, still had the bees in it!!! Ops! - I thought it was too cold to put them out in the dark that night so allowed them to stay on the kitchen table and be blasted out by X Factor!!! - well they had no choice!
Next day I was still in bed at ... O'Clock and I asked my daughter to let them out in the garden.... she said something about where - I said oh anywhere! - she told me she propped the feeder up with bits of tile to allow them to escape.
When I went downstairs and out to the garden I lifted the feeder only to find the poor bees upside down and all under the feeder on the table and tile dead - they were chilled by frost on the table - I did not think about frost neither did she.
I swept them into my hands and carried them back to the house and kept huffing on them - no sign of life. I huffed and huffed on them and after 10 minutes warming in my hand one moved!!!! I huffed and huffed on them until a miracle ..... I had 10 live bees in my hand.. They were lovely - they cleaned and cleaned themselves of syrup, and I must have stood there 25 minutes (No wonder I never get anything done!) and then they started testing their wings - it was wonderful - one flew off and then another - I wondered about the chill in the air and took the remainder up the garden and popped them into the top of hive 2 they came from, onto the sacking. - Later I checked and they had either gone down the sides or out through the Bee escape! - I was so pleased they were o.k. - but just shows that bees lying on the ground are not always dead as we may think.....
Obviously I don't have time to save them all, but it is so nice when they do revive!! I wonder what they told the others - probably a Bee Waggle saying keep away from the other end of the garden and house!!... and her!"
A happy tale to cheer you all up on this gloomy wet day
