Feeding Fumagilin-B

Today the bees woke up with their HTFs filled with Fumagilin-B 2:1 syrup.  They will all get 2 gallons each.  I checked them today at lunch.  All three seemed to be flying about in the typical sugar shock way.  I could see Myrina's girls were drinking it up after i opened her cover.  I didn't open up Mary or Duchess because the bees started to dive bomb me.  I'll check on then tonight after work.

The problem I had last night when I put the syrup out was the bees had propolised the inside of the HTF closed.  I didn't see it at first and had to fix it after the syrup had been poured in.  The HTF had been without syrup in it for a few days and I guess the bees did their thing.  Another lesson there.

Sugar issues.  It's too expensive to feed the girls constantly.  They've been getting a gallon a week so far.  Their stores are OK in all the hives; I'll check Duchess this weekend.  The less I feed the better.  The problem is the impurities in the sugar.  Some liquid had gotten into the sugar and made dried globs.  These globs didn't dissolved like regular sugar.  Even after 6 hours it hadn't all melted.  There were still chunks when i put it in the HTF.  When I checked today they were finally gone.  I'm buying the cheapest sugar I can find ($0.57/lb).  These off brands apparently have their own hidden cost!

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