Many beekeepers discover themselves having to feed their colonies in late Winter or even early Spring due to insufficient preparation in Fall. This often signals their ineptitude.
Feeding liquid sugar during winter months can be hazardous. Bees huddled together in their winter cluster won’t break free to collect the feed and can even perish if their feeder leaks, potentially killing all involved.
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Dry Sugar
When there is an unexpected dearth in late summer or your bees have depleted all their honey supplies before the fall nectar flow, feeding sugar syrup may become necessary to ensure they survive until Fall nectar flows resume. There are various methods you can employ depending on weather and available equipment – for instance some beekeepers simply dump the syrup down the back of their hive (not recommended with Screened Bottom Boards), while others use baggie feeders created from gallon zip lock bags slit with razor blades placed on top bars then left open so bees can consume it easily.
Though bees in our climate can sometimes find it challenging to take syrup, especially if they’re starving due to lack of stored honey, fondant or bee candy can provide an easy alternative solution that’s available both commercially and DIY-style through online recipes available online. Betterbee even offers pre-made pollen patties which make the task even simpler!
Liquid Feed
Many beekeepers utilize liquid feed (typically 2:1 sugar syrup) as an emergency supplement during winter. This should be fed directly over clustered bees on days that are warm enough for them to readily accept it.
Avoid open feeding in late Fall and Winter as this may lead to theft from other colonies who already have sufficient stores of food, and also force their colonies to focus solely on storing up supplies rather than producing eggs.
To create a liquid feeder, fill a container the size of a full Langstroth frame with sugar syrup, drill or punch small holes into its lid, and place inside a division board or top feeder on a riser so bees can access it without drowning.
Sugar Bricks
Sugar bricks are composed of table sugar, lemon juice or citric acid, pollen patties, dried egg shells, oil, and yeast that combine together for an ideal way to stimulate brood production in times of low nectar flow or provide supplement feed in times of nectar deficiency. These bricks can provide extra nectar during times of nectar dearth.
By hand or with a food processor, combine sugar and other ingredients into a dough-like consistency. Press this dough-like substance into a mold or plastic container with small holes on its lid. This container won’t leak feed onto your cluster directly like traditional liquid feed does; simply set it over its target area!
Early spring can present colonies with an increased risk of starvation even when their stores remain intact from fall, and emergency/backup feeding methods like this one become vitally important. It is far simpler than making fondant or candy boards which require precise ratios and heating sugar up to boiling temperatures – creating a safety hazard for beekeepers. It may even prove less costly than purchasing new packages should any die due to starvation!
Bee Candy
Due to longer winters or more challenging summers, bee colonies may run low on honey supplies and require something like Bee Candy as winter feed.
This easy recipe should be completed during autumn so it has time to mature properly. Light or heavy syrup recipes (one kilogram of sugar mixed with 1.25 litres water or two kilograms mixed with 2.25 liters) may be utilized depending on your climate and desired storage capacity of syrup.
The mixture is then spread onto a candy board which insulates, ventilates and has an upper exit/entrance to prevent bees from breaking their cluster to access their food source. This board can either be placed directly above or within an overwintering hive body where bees have taken refuge.
