Recipes for Bee Snacks and Dog Stings

It's April! (gasp!) The bees are coming, the bees are coming! We both feel excited and nervous and are thinking about some of the final details. We email with Ron almost daily--he continues to help guide and support us--and we are so relieved and grateful that he's offered to come help us install the bees into their new homes!

For our dogs, our friend Joan has researched the proper dosage of Benedryl according to their weights, in case of reaction to a bee sting. The way we figure it, we will watch the dog/bee interaction very closely. We've already put up small wire fencing around the hives to discourage dog curiosity....we don't plan on leaving the dogs in the backyard without checking on them frequently....and we have already decided not to EVER have the dogs outside while we are actively working with the bees, their feeders, etc. Anyway, we need to think about preparing sugar syrup and protein patties for the bees since there isn't enough available food for them to forage yet.

Here are the recipes:

SUGAR SYRUP

• In a very large cooking pot, bring 10 cups of water to a boil.
• Turn off heat. (boiling will spoil the sugar/water mix)
• Add 5 lbs sugar while constantly stirring.
• Allow to cool before adding to containers.
  

PROTEIN PATTIES

Dry ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups soy flour
• 1/2 cup brewer's yeast (or nutritional yeast in bulk from co-op)

Sugar syrup:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup hot water

Mix dry ingredients and sugar syrup separately. Slowly add dry ingredients to sugar syrup until mixture is like stiff bread dough. Press patties between wax paper. These patties can be stored in freezer until needed.

When feeding bees, use a knife to make cuttings into wax paper, allowing bees access to patties. Place one patty on top of frames. You will need to put inner cover on upside-down to accomodate the patty. The outer cover should fit on normally.


BENEDRYL DOSING FOR OUR DOGS

NOTE: This is from our friend Joan's vet...but check with your own vet if you have any questions or concerns! Our dogs both weigh about 55 lbs and are mixed hearty breeds.

Our friend's vet said, "50mg for your guys. If you don't see any results after a half hour, you can give them another 25mg. Two teaspoons equal 25mg. It will make them sleepy...."