Hello readers,
Temperatures today were up to 10°C shortly after midday, the clouds were pregnant with waterdroplets and showed signs of giving birth momentarily. As a result the activity near the hive was less than on a sunny day with the same temperatures. I did not see any pollen being brought in, but then again, I didn't hang around the hive very long.
Today I tested a method of melting foundation into frames. The garage across my place gave me an old car battery and I put it on a trickle charger last night. I have now tinkered a bit with electric wiring, clips and tape. Hooked up the clips to the battery on one end and a frame with foundation resting on top on the other end so the current passes through the foundation wiring and heats up.
It worked beautifully! As I was charging my phone I didn't take any pictures. Might do so in the future since I only used one sheet of foundation to complete my testrun. I cut it into 2 pieces for my first try and the remaining half got devided by 2 again for run 2 and 3. The result was good enough for me. We'll have to see if the bees like it or not. I did hang the 3 frames with starter strips in the brood box I'll be moving my bees in.
Bob Out
