A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring
April 8, 2018
We went down to visit my father on Friday. Nice discussion about bees and beekeeping. He is reducing the PH level in his sugar syrup by using Ascorbic acid powder. I do not know the recipe, but he showed me his PH tester testing plain water at about 8.7 PH, and sugar water was 3.8 PH. Honey PH is roughly 4.0 on average. This is supposed to help them utilize the sugar water better. So, it is something that I am going to look at.
On the way home, we had to jump a little out of our way. We had to pick up our packages of bees at Nature’s Nectar in Stillwater, Minnesota. This was our third year picking up there, and I was surprised on how busy it was. They really have it organized well. You drive up, they direct you into 2 queue lines, get your name, then get you your bees! It was cold out, and we still had an hour to drive. So, the bees got to ride in the back seat of my truck.
In the past, I have always hived the bees as soon as I got home from picking them up. Yesterday, however, it was only 22° F, so I did not. I surrounded the packages loosely with a towl, and a mesh laundry bag. Going to have to spray them with some sugar syrup today. I had hoped that perhaps I could hive them today, but the weather is going to remain cold. I will hive them on Monday, however.
From what I have gathered, it is better in cold weather to hive them towards the evening. This will help with them not flying right away, and set up in a cluster to keep the queen warm.
So, tomorrow, with any luck and with blessings from God, I will give the bees their new home!
Thanks for reading along.
