Hello Everyone:
 
        Although it is somewhat moot this late in the season, a question has
cropped
        up in my mind.
 
        This year, for the first time, my girls were dis-interested in the
sugar syrup
        that I feed as soon as the temps go above 40deg. At first I offered
syrup
        left over from last fall...it was slightly fermented..but I heated
it to
        175deg and it seemed to regain some of the original sweet smell.
This syrup
        was turned down flat...I had it on for a week and none of the 4
hives took
        any measurable amounts. Reasoning that the fermentation was the
cause, I dumped
        all 5 gallons and mixed a fresh 2:1 batch. While small amounts were
taken, for
        the most part it to has gone ignored. What gives??
 
        I also feed pollen substitute, since the trees don't leaf until late
APR up here
        (NE VT). The girls were equally unimpressed with this. There were
two or three
        days where they did take up the pollen sub quickly.
 
        Although this spring has been just as terrible here as elsewhere the
amount
        of precip and the cool temps seemed to have provoked the trees to yield
        tremendous amounts of pollen and nectar (?). All four surviving
hives had
        some honey left from the winter. Could it be that the combination of
leftover
        honey and high natural pollen and nectar has made feeding unnecessary?
 
        All opinions appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Tim Peters, Kirby VT
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KirBee Apiary, Bear Bait Honey
I rather be flying!