As autumn arrives, bees begin to prepare for winter by stocking up on food stores. This includes collecting pollen to feed their brood and nectar to create honey.
In wintertime, they are responsible for keeping their queen and brood warm by clustering together inside the hive to conserve energy.
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Sugar
When bees don’t have enough honey stores to survive winter, feeding them sugar syrup is an effective solution. Sugar syrup is made with a specific ratio of water and sugar that changes according to the season.
Making sugar syrup with this method is simple. Just bring the water to a boil, add the sugar, and stir until completely dissolved.
Once cooked, remove from heat and allow the syrup to cool completely before serving it to your bees.
Beekeepers in wintertime should provide their bees with a syrup that contains 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. This concentration is ideal for winter feeding, but can also be used during spring and autumn to stimulate egg-laying.
Liquid Feed
In the fall, bees typically feed off of honey; however, this does not provide them with all their nutrition. Therefore, some beekeepers choose to offer a liquid feed supplement in order to meet their hives’ needs during periods of cold weather.
A simple liquid winter food for bees is a mixture of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Bees have the capacity for digestion sugar, so this autumn mix provides them with an easily digestible source of calories.
When providing liquid feed to bees, be sure to cover their feeder with a shallow lid. Doing this helps prevent bees from drowning in the syrup.
Another alternative for emergency winter feeding is a frame of capped honey, which bees are designed to consume during the cold season. If you have extra frames handy, simply insert them into your hive near the cluster on a warm day.
Winter Patties
Bees require carbohydrates in order to survive winter, and winter patties are an ideal source of this nutrition. Just be mindful that they only contain a minimal amount of protein – this is intentional as too much protein could encourage brood rearing, which isn’t ideal during the cold months.
Pro Winter Patties are an excellent emergency option for late winter bee feeding, featuring AP23 Pollen Substitute and Honey-B-Healthy, an essential oil preparation to boost the honey bee’s immune system. These high carbohydrate patties are made with sugar supplemented with AP23 to give your hives the essential nutrients they require.
Fondant
Fondant is an ideal way to feed honey bees in wintertime. This soft inverted sugar paste can be added directly into hive boxes as a source of energy for the bees.
Beekeepers can create their own fondant by mixing water, granulated sugar and mineral salt until it turns to a hard candy. Once cool, this mix can be placed into an old-fashioned candy board frame for display.
A candy board can be placed inside the inner cover of a hive box. Make sure it’s high enough to store enough sugar candy for an optimal colony.
These patties are easy to distribute to your hive and can be added at any time you need to feed the bees. They contain carbohydrates and other essential nutrients that keep honey bees strong during wintertime.
