Not So Wet North of Divide

My post two days ago about the high rainfall this year was accurate for Victoria south of the dividing range but I read in the Weekly Times that northern Victoria has been well under its average rainfall figures this year with some areas is serious trouble due to insufficient rain for the grain and cereal crops. I had been aware of this in May but with the deluge here since then I assumed they too would have had good rain, so I was surprised to learn of it.

The weather is fine for the next few days so I hope to get a few jobs done including getting some feed into the bees. I have fed them twice so far using a mixture or half candied honey mixed with dry white sugar, spreading it in trays under the lids. Tecnically it's a no no to feed bees honey but I have some which I couldn't sell or eat a couple of years ago when a rat ate its way through a straining cloth and drowned itself in the foot or so of honey left in the tank. Big bugger too. So I put it in jars intending to experiment with a foliar honey spray on plants but didn't get around to it.
You would not feed bees honey from an unknown source because of the risk of introducing disease but as this is my honey that doesn't concern me. The other reason not to feed bees honey not in sealed combs is that it can cause hives to rob others in a frenzy, fighting and killing each other and wiping out weak hives. This hasn't happened so far, the days are so short and temperature so cold I've got away with it. It was a risk worth taking as they would have died of freezing by now. Without honey they can't keep warm in their cluster.