Beekeepers will need to feed their bees sugar syrup in the summer months to keep them healthy and productive. There are several ways to feed your bees this nectar, including a bucket, contact feeder, rapid feeder, or VitaFeed. These feeders are available in most home supply stores.
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Using a bucket
To make your own Summer sugar syrup, you’ll need a large pan, 500ml of water, and two litres of sugar. Sugar is often made from beets or cane. To make it easier, you can pour the sugar into a bag that has small holes cut into the side. This can be inverted over the feeding hole, and it works just as well. The best syrup to use for your bees is a ratio of one kilogram of sugar to two litres of water. This is also called a 1:1 syrup, and is best used in the spring and summer months.
Another way to feed your bees is to use a feeding jar. A feeding jar is a simple jar with a lid, with a gauze section in the center. You fill it with sugar syrup, then invert it over an empty bucket, allowing the syrup to flow through the gauze. Once it is full, the jar is placed on the hive. It may take months to fill the jar. Using this method can also attract unwanted neighbors. Robbers will come and steal your bees’ food supply. It can be a dangerous situation, and the hive could even be destroyed.
Using a contact feeder
Bees do not prefer to feed on winter-hardened sugar syrup. In cold weather, they will not climb the stairs to the attic. Using a contact feeder is the best choice in those periods. A contact feeder is a more accurate representation of the nectar flow in the spring and summer. This type of feeding aims to mimic the queen laying and flow of nectar. Beekeepers should use a slow drip of a weak 1:1 syrup.
The first two colonies can be fed with light syrup, and the last two colonies can be fed with heavy syrup. Most large commercial beekeepers use heavy syrups. Light syrup can be mixed with cold water, though warm water dissolves it more quickly. Aim to feed 1-2 liters of syrup every day, but if your colony has low stores, you may need to feed up to five to ten liters per week until the stores increase.
Using a rapid feeder
Using summer sugar syrup for bees is an easy way to add extra calories to your bees’ diet. It also helps them meet their storage needs. Adding syrup is especially beneficial in the spring and summer when bees are especially eager to build comb.
Before using the syrup, make sure the hive is on a level hive stand. If the hive is on a riser, use straw or wood to prevent the syrup from touching the surface. If the syrup tray is too shallow, a riser is necessary to prevent the bees from drowning in the syrup.
Using VitaFeed
When it comes to feeding honey bees, it’s important to choose the right syrup. In the spring and summer, thick sugar water should be fed to the colony. The syrup will be quickly processed and stored in the hive’s nest. This syrup is also an excellent way to backfill the nest.
The ideal syrup for bees contains a ratio of 66% sugar to water. In this ratio, two cups of sugar are dissolved in four cups of water. Using warm water will dissolve the sugar faster. It is important to note that boiling honey is not beneficial for bees and does not have to be used for feeding the bees.
Impurities in sugar syrup
There are several ways to make a summer sugar syrup for bees. It can either be made from cane or refined table sugar. Regardless of the source, bees need this sweet treat to thrive. It is recommended to use a high-quality syrup to avoid the impurities in brown sugar.
The proportion of sugar to water is important. The ratio of sugar to water can vary a lot from one beekeeper to the next. Some beekeepers use a ratio of 1 part sugar to two parts water. This is to mimic the consistency of thin nectar. The ratio should be adjusted to create a sweet syrup for bees that will encourage them to build comb.
Using dry sugar
There are two different ways to provide sugar syrup for your bees. One is to buy commercially produced syrup, which is usually about 67% sugar. The other is to make your own syrup by using a mixture of two parts sugar to one part water. Using the latter method is much better, because you will be able to avoid the problems of too-thick syrup, which can damage your colonies.
Bees need supplemental food at certain times throughout the year, and sugar syrup is an easy way to give them what they need. During the spring and early summer, feed your bees with a light syrup that contains one part sugar to two parts water. This amount of sugar is sufficient for brood development, but a syrup that contains more than 50 percent sugar is not as stimulating to bees as nectar.
