Lughnasa Full Back to School Moon
The fumagilin-B in heavy syrup, sugar 2:1 in a gallon water, rests now in the hive box wide feeder with the screen and two plastic reservoirs on each side of the screen. The bees can come up around the screen and reach the syrup. It will do two things for this colony, the package colony. First, it will feed them so they can shore up their stores for the winter months. Second, it will treat them for nosema, an infection that threatens their survival over the long winter. Nobody got riled up when I put the feeder on or when I poured the syrup into the troughs.
I also put the shims on the parent and divide to give the bees space where the apiguard goes in the hive. When I lifted the top hive box off to place the shim underneath it on the divide, I saw that the apiguard had reduced by half at least. The treatment has gotten to them. The shims went on, but propolis made getting the hive box squared away on top of the the shim difficult. The propolis allowed the heavy hive box to gain traction on the shim pushing it off center. Even so, I did, finally, get it on.
When I get back from Indiana, I’ll finish the apiguard treatment, then begin the fumagilin-b for the other two colonies.
Last night I passed out pints of honey to the Woollies. It tickled me, the satisfaction I got from seeing my friends heft the honey. Scott tasted it. They will take it home, put it on toast, use it in cereal, whatever they want. Each time they do, a bit of Artemis Hives transfers itself and its quite literal energy to them. In that way they become us and we become them.
because it’s six feet tall. Maybe I’ll have to do that. Geez.