So we are now well and truly into spring in Perth, though the weather has still been patchy. My bees have come through winter well (as essentially a 4 frame Nuc) and a couple of weeks ago when I checked they were drawing out the second to outer frames. I put the flow super on, mostly so they could get used to it but not expecting them to use it until their numbers boomed. Anyway, the weather has improved and the bees are bringing back heaps of pollen, yet I hadn’t seen a single bee in the super. I therefore thought I’d put a small bag of sugar syrup in the roof to draw the bees up through the flow so they can have a look and be aware of is there when they need more space.
However, when I went out to check the next day you can imagine my horror when I saw bees around the back of the hive climbing into the roof to get at the syrup! As I have said before, my bees are under a tree with a feral hive, so I had essentially created a robbing frenzy!!! I could see some jostling at the front of the hive, but as we still have an entrance reducer in place my bees seemed able to defend it.
Once hubby & I had suited up to have a closer look it was obvious that we hadn’t put the roof on properly so had left a bee sized gap giving them access to the roof from the outside. We put the roof on properly and the bees gave up within a few hours & I could see ones running up through the flow inside to get the syrup so I guess my plan was not a terrible one just terribly executed! Fingers crossed, my hive has not absconded and there are no dead bees swing dumped out of the front so I think disaster was averted. I just thought I’d share my experience, so others don’t make the same mistake! In retrospect I think I should have just left the bees to it! Hopefully this weekend will be nice enough to have a propper look inside to see how the girls are doing.
Cheers,
Julia
