Bee winter food is essential to keeping colonies alive during the harsher winter months and can mean the difference between survival and loss.
Beekeepers must ensure they begin feeding their colonies weeks prior to winter’s arrival in order to preserve colonies that could have otherwise been preserved. Otherwise, colonies that could have been saved are often lost as a result.
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Pollen Patties
Pollen patties are an effective bee winter food designed to boost brood production while simultaneously helping create stronger, healthier hives.
Bees need both protein and carbohydrates in order to produce larvae and grow their population to make honey. Colonies will strive during late winter and early spring seasons to maximize their population size so as to produce as much honey as possible.
Pollinators who rent out hives for pollination can benefit from pollen patties as supplemental feed supplements to support colony growth and raise brood counts, but not every beekeeper needs these protein-rich foods as supplements for their colonies.
No matter your beekeeping goals, always monitor their food consumption closely. Overfeeding can cause too many bees to produce too much brood which in turn could lead to starvation if overproduction occurs.
Sugar Cakes
A healthy bee colony should have enough food stores to see them through the harsh winter months, while those living in regions with plentiful plant nectar sources should be able to store this nectar and convert it to honey for winter use.
Weather forecasts often predict record cold and that may put their bee colonies that aren’t as hardy at risk.
Beekeepers utilize sugar in their hives in order to assist bees during winter by placing pollen patties, sugar cakes or directly pouring granulated sugar onto the top bars using what’s known as the mountain camp method.
Sugar cakes are an easy and cost-effective way to provide bees with winter food sources. Made of hard candy, sugar cakes can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to meet bees’ nutritional requirements during their hibernation season.
Sugar Syrup
Sugar syrup provides bees with an artificial food source in times of nectar scarcity and helps them survive winter with depleted stores of honey, encouraging wax comb formation.
Bees do not need syrup in summer when flowers are fully mature and pollen is abundant, but it may come in handy in autumn when nectar runs low or when honey cannot be obtained.
Some beekeepers favor a 1:1 syrup (one part sugar to two parts water) while others opt for a 3:1 mixture. Although ratio does not matter much, thicker solutions with more concentrated sugar content will make it easier for bees to dehydrate their food to the appropriate moisture content.
To create syrup, simply combine water and sugar in a pan until all the crystals of sugar have dissolved, being careful not to let the mixture boil! After it cools off completely, pour into glass or plastic containers for storage.
Bee Feeders
Bee winter food consists of carbohydrates and proteins to aid the bees during their survival during cold months. Granulated sugar mixed with water in syrup forms an ideal bee winter food source.
Beekeepers use this strategy during late summer dearth to provide their bees with winter food in a cost-effective and simple manner. By feeding this mixture to their bees, this provides essential nourishment during their journey into winter.
External hive-top feeders and entrance feeders are two basic kinds of bee feeders. Entrance feeders feature a feeding tray inserted into the entrance of a hive as well as an inverted syrup container which fits securely inside it.
Entrance feeders have many advantages over internal hive-top feeders; one being they can easily be checked and replenished without opening the hive. Unfortunately, however, they do not hold as much syrup and can become frozen during cold spells, being stolen away by nearby colonies or turning into sticky mess when moved off of their place of attachment.
