Feeding your bees in the winter can be a challenge, but there are many ways to make it more convenient. Several people have found success with a candy board, which is a one by three box with a lid. They pour candy into the board and place it on top of the hive during the winter. This method is very popular and appears to be beneficial for the bees. Another option is to apply fondant to the top bars of the hive. Though this is more appropriate for an emergency feed, the end result is similar.
Mountain Camp method
Feeding your bees over the winter is a vital part of the beekeeping process, and the Mountain Camp method is a convenient and straightforward way to feed them. It involves laying a piece of newspaper over the frames and pouring sugar on top. You should never leave any newspaper outside the hive, however, as the moisture in the newspaper could make its way into the hive and become a major problem.
Dry sugar is a great choice for winter feeding because it can absorb moisture from the air. The moisture can turn into freezing water and drip down onto the clusters of bees, which cannot survive being wet in the cold. This method is best used as an emergency winter feeding solution, when other methods of feeding may not be practical or appropriate.
The Mountain Camp method was first popularized on beekeeping chat groups. The method was named after a user who shared it with others. Other people were using similar methods to place dry sugar on the top of their hives, but this method seems to be better.
Another alternative is to give the bees capped honey. If you don’t have enough honey for a full winter feeding, you can give it to the bees in need of it. This is known as “robinhooding,” and Jon Christie of Wild Mountain Bees calls this method “robinhooding.” To do this, you must use a warm day to remove the top frame of the hive and replace it with new frames.
Another method for feeding bees during the winter is to feed the bees with Grease Patty, which contains essential minerals and carbohydrates. Besides providing calories, it also helps control the Varroa and Tracheal mite population. It is possible to enhance the benefits of Grease Patty by adding essential oils, but you must be careful to avoid adding them to the super.
Bee candy
There are several methods to feed dry sugar to your bees during the winter. Some people simply dump it down the back of the hive. Others place it on the inner cover of their top bars. Still others use a box or frame feeder. Another method is to remove two frames from an eight-frame box and place one on top of the other. In this way, the bees can easily access the sugar and use it to build new comb.
When you feed dry sugar to your bees in the winter, it is important to spritz it with water to make it more palatable to the bees. If the sugar is too hard, you can sprinkle pollen substitute on it. This will help keep the bees from flying off when the temperatures are low.
Another way to feed dry sugar to bees during the winter is to feed them with a syrup made from sugar. The amount of sugar required depends on the type of container you use. The syrup may be thick or thin, and depends on how much water is present. However, if your bees are too weak to gather sufficient water, you should avoid using this method of feeding. During the autumn and spring, the humidity level is high, and the bees can easily gather enough water to liquefy the sugar crystals into a liquid.
If you decide to feed your bees during the winter, it is important to make sure that you choose a sugar that does not contain molasses. In most cases, sugar will not affect bees negatively if you feed it raw, so don’t worry. It is best to use white sugar.
During the winter months, you will also need to give your bees a shim to place on the body of their hive to give them some ventilation. This is an important step because winter can be a very cold and humid period. If you can’t feed your bees during this time, there may be something wrong with your hive. You may have to make some adjustments to your feeding schedule.
During the winter months, you can also feed your bees with pollen patties. These are made of a combination of pollen and sugar. This combination attracts the bees and makes them eat more than normal. You can vary the amount of pollen in your patty depending on the availability of pollen.
