As you prepare for the winter, consider giving your bees supplemental feed to ensure their survival. Bees’ favorite food is honey, so supplementing their diet with dry sugar is a smart move. To help you make the most nutritious and natural feed for bees, visit Vita, the leading supplier of premium bee feeds. Honey, dry sugar, and Mountain camp are all suitable options. Here are tips to make your winter feeding easy and rewarding for your bees.
Contents
Supplemental feeding is a form of insurance for bees’ survival
Supplemental feeding is essential for the successful overwintering of bee colonies. The hive must be stocked with adequate amounts of honey, as bees generate heat from the food they eat. In the winter, it’s necessary for bees to be well-fed and to have low virus counts. A healthy colony can survive through the winter, but supplemental feeding is an important part of this plan.
Honey is the food of bees
Bees begin winter preparation in late summer/early fall. The blooming season has ended, and they cluster together in a cluster called a winter cluster. Bees begin pumping their flight muscles to stay warm. The winter clusters are about 90-100 degF, with the queen near the center. As winter approaches, worker bees will scurry around the hive to reach the honey that is stored in honeycomb cells.
Dry sugar
There are two ways to feed your bees through the winter: dry sugar and syrup. While sugar syrup is easier to transport and store, it is messy and can drown your bees. Plus, it can freeze solid during the winter. Fortunately, there are several ways to feed your bees, and each one has a different amount of sugar required. To learn more about this method, read on!
Mountain camp
Mountain camp is an easy method for feeding bees through winter. You simply lay a sheet of newspaper on the top of the frames and pour sugar on top. Make sure the newspaper is not outside the hive because moisture can seep in and cause havoc. In addition, be sure to keep the hive dry and warm, at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If you can’t keep the hive warm, you can also feed the bees with honey or sugar instead.
Bee candy
If you have a hive, you may be wondering how to keep the bees alive during the winter. One of the best ways to do so is to provide bees with bee candy. Unlike sugar cubes, bee candy is not expensive. Bees can eat about 50 grams of bee candy a day. To help your bees survive the winter, you can make a bee candy board with any combination of ingredients and recipes. For best results, consult a bee mentor and learn what to put on the board.
Bee candy is a bee feeding stimulant
The first step in making bee candy is to prepare a sugar/water mixture, which you can use as a replacement for pollen. Mix in some pollen substitute and stir well. Place the candy board on a flat surface and fill it about one-third full. If the board has a hole for the entrance, leave a small space around the hole and pack the sugar in around it. If you don’t have an entrance, place a block of wood in front of the hole, and then add more sugar around the wood.
Honey B Healthy is a bee feeding stimulant
When using Honey B Healthy, beekeepers can use it to increase the amount of food available to their bees. During times of nectar dearth, a high level of honey is necessary to feed the bees. However, the addition of Honey B Healthy to the bee’s diet can lead to robbery. If you want to prevent robbery, you should consider using Honey B Healthy in the fall.
Providing water to bees
Providing water for bees during the winter is an important part of ensuring their health and well-being. Unlike humans, bees cannot survive without water. You should provide your bees with a reliable water source that is clean and will not dry out during the summer. Your bees’ water source should not be shared with livestock, pets, or other insects. You should also ensure that the source is clean, as polluted water will cause diseases and other organisms to thrive, which can be harmful to the colony.
