How to Eat?

There are many was to feed your bees sugar water.  The most common is a entrance feeder.  This feeder rest on the bottom board and has a plate that is inserted into the hive.  On the plate there is for jar filled with sugar water.  Another method of feeding is called the baggie.  The way this works is you place a zip lock baggie on top of your frames and poke some holes in the bag so the bees can feed.  Then you put another box with your inner cover and top cover so no other bees can rob it.  Another way is to have a feeder that is in a shape of a frame.  This is filled and inserted into the brood box so there is no robbing.
The way I am going to feed is a called a top feeder.  This is a box that sits on top of the hive that has 2 compartments that you fill your food with and then you put your top on to of the feeder. 

Pro and Cons

Entrance Feeder
pro:
Easy to install and remove
Cons:
Lots of robbing, doesn't hold a lot sugar water

Zip Lock Baggie
Pros:
Easy to install, Cheap to replace, no robbing
Cons:
Doesn't hold a lot of sugar water if using smaller bags

Frame Feeder
Pros:
No robbing, Easy access to bees
Cons:
Not easy to install or fill.

Top Feeder
Pros:
Easy to install, Easy access to bees, easy to fill, holds a lot of sugar water.
Cons:
Have to open hive when filling feeder.

I'm going with the Top Feeder cause its easy to use holds a lot of food and no robbing.

Already wanting spring to be here!

Yes its true, I want spring to be here.  This time of year is the gloomiest time of the year, and not to mention the coldest.  I just got my Park Seed catalog in!  Just looking at all the flowers makes me so excited about this coming year!
I already have a few things to plant for my bees.  This year we had some left over perennial wild flower mix that didn't sell, so I got it at a good deal.  Each package does a little over 1000 square feet and I got 5 or 6 bags.  We also will have our gardens this year so we have all kinds of vegetables and fruit.

So I got all my new toys except for my hive tool and my smoker.  My smoker is on back order and I just plain forgot my hive tool.  I knew that I would forget something, and I sure did.  Oh well.  I got pretty much everything but the bees now.  I am working on some top hive feeders, and should be done with those in the next couple weeks.  Once I have those done I will post some pics of those.   After that I'm pretty much done getting everything ready and will make some time to read some more forums and blogs to help educate myself and better prepare myself for the spring to come.

Excited about new toys

So I'm getting a few things to get me more ready for spring by the end of the week.

Here is a list of thing I will be getting.

1. Hat and Vail
2. Frames and Foundation for my supers
3. Hive Tool and Smoker
4. Bee Brush
5. Gloves
6. Terramycin

I also got confirmation that Brushy Mountain Bee Farm will be taking orders starting Feb. 1st for their packaged bees.
You know I will be sick that day for work!  cough cough I'm calling in scared! I'm AFRAID I wont be to come in today. 

Oh and I did get some good pics of my hives but forgot to upload them on my computer.