Bee Funeral

Mom said that I should go clean up the bees so I don't freak out her gardeners, so we had a bee funeral. There was no activity near the entrance of the hive, but it was about 9pm when we were cleaning up the bees, and it was about 50 degrees out so there would not be any activity anyway.

When Brandon and I peaked into the hive from the entrance there were dead bees all over the bottom board of the hive, no bees were moving. Usually bees are much cleaner than this, when a bee dies, the body is removed. Though if I listened really carefully at the hive entrance I could hear the bees walking around inside (probably all up in the top deep since it was so much colder than it has been recently). During the winter the brood moves upstairs to keep warm.

I mixed up a 2:1 sugar water mix and quickly threw it in the hive top feeder. I didn't want the bees to get too cold, but I'd also like to make sure they are getting plenty of food.

Here is our bee funeral: