 | Beforehand - Prepare to Visit the Apiary
Before you go to open the hives and feed your bees, get completely prepared first. In addition to the common preparation procedures, prepare the sugar syrup, pollen supplements, and grease patties that are needed for your visit to the apiary. In addition, you may need to take a watering can and extra jugs of water for the bees if they have no other water source. |
 | Step 1 - Smoke the hive
You must always send a few puffs of smoke into the hive when you are opening it. Failure to do this will give you a quick lesson in bee stings, and will leave on you the lasting impression that you will always smoke your hive before opening it in the future. |
 | Step 2 - Remove the top cover
First blow a few puffs of smoke under the top cover to calm the bees that are loitering around inside on the inner cover. Then lift off the top cover and set it down on the ground upside-down, allowing any bees on the cover to fly off and giving you something to set things on if you need. |
 | Step 3 - Remove the inner cover
Blow a few puffs of smoke under the inner cover to calm the bees that are on the frame top bars in the hive box. Remove the inner cover and blow a few puffs of smoke on it to encourage the bees crawling on it to fly. Then, lean it against the hive, near the entrance, so the the remaining bees can fly off and reenter the hive. |
 | Step 4 - Inspect the entrance of the hive
Take a quick opportunity to inspect the entrance of the hive, using a flashlight. You should be looking for wax moth webs, larvae or pupae, dead bees, beetles, or ants. |
 | Step 5 - Apply the grease patty
If you are applying a grease patty, place it directly on the top frame bars, above the brood cluster. Press it down as flat as possible without causing it to crumble. This will later allow you to install the hive-top feeder flush against the top of the hive box. |
 | Step 6 - Apply the pollen supplement
If you are applying a pollen supplement patty, place it directly on the top frame bars, close to the grease patty, above the brood cluster. Place the side of the patty in which the slits have been cut in the wax paper down against the frame bars, with the uncut side toward the top. Press the patty down as flat as possible without the edges crumbling off and falling into the hive. This will later allow you to install the hive-top feeder flush against the top of the hive box. |
 | Step 7 - Smoke the bees off the top of the hive
In preparation for placing the hive-top feeder on top of the hive box, blow a few puffs of smoke across the tops of the frames and hive box to shoo the bees away. This will minimize the chance that you will crush bees when you place the hive-top feeder. |
 | Step 8 - Place the hive-top feeder
Place the empty hive-top feeder on top of the hive box, with the grated feeding area toward the entrance of the hive. Watch carefully, trying not to crush any bees when placing the feeder onto the hive. Press the feeder down securely so it is flush against the walls of the hive box, with no significant gaps around the edges. |
 | Step 9 - Fill the feeder with syrup
Fill the empty hive-top feeder with one gallon of sugar syrup. If bees are already crawling up into the grated feeding area at the front, pour slowly so you ensure that the bees are not covered with syrup and drowned. Carefully monitor the syrup level to make sure it doesn't flow over the lip in the grated feeding area. A feeder mounted on a properly-positioned hive, with only a slight downhill pitch, should hold a gallon of syrup. But be careful each time you fill the feeder. If much syrup runs over the feeder lip, it will run down into the hive, onto the bottom board and out the entrance, encouraging honeybee robbing and ant invasions. |
 | Step 10 - Replace and secure the top cover
Place the top cover onto the top of the hive-top feeder, optionally replacing the inner cover. Secure the top cover with rocks or bricks. |
You may need to open up the hive to feed the colony at certain times. During a period of nectar dearth in the normal foraging season, you need to supplement the colony with pollen supplement and syrup. Early spring, late fall and during a prolonged drought are periods in which this may be necessary. You may also need to administer medication, either through medicated patties, pollen supplements, or medicated syrup. These are also occasions in which it may be necessary to open the hive for feeding. And if you need to add a hive-top feeder to the hive to feed syrup, you will need to open the hive.
