January 9, 2017 – This coming Tuesday it is supposed to get up to 30 plus degrees!! I will be lifting the tops of my hives just to be sure the bees have enough food!! Lift your hives or tip them to see if they feel like there is food in the hive yet. If not buy or make some hard sugar bars to put on top of the frames or put on a queen excluder and lay the sugar chunks on top of that. What I mix for the hard candy is 8 lbs of sugar, 2 cups of water, 1.5 lbs of caro syrup and ¼ tsp cream of tarter. bring to a boil until it reaches a temp of 252 degrees F. Pour into a cookie sheet let cool, break up and put on hives that are low on food. Good Luck!!