Feeding can help newly established colonies or established hives build their winter stores faster, as well as to supplement pollen sources when their pollen count drops due to drought or extreme weather.
Common table sugar mixed with water at a ratio of 1:1 can serve as a liquid feed source, while other solid winter feed options like candy boards or fondant require specific recipes and more time in the kitchen.
Contents
1. Honey
Honey bees rely on nectar and pollen for food sources; nectar contains carbohydrates which fuel colony operations, while pollen contains proteins essential to brood production.
Bees are master chemists. They know exactly how to turn the simple sugars found in plants they forage into the complex power food known as honey, creating antibacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits while creating an inhospitable environment for microorganisms to flourish in.
To create honey syrup, mix equal parts granulated sugar and water in equal parts – this will produce a 1:1 sugar to water ratio syrup that mimics natural plant nectar and provides one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of feeding your bees.
2. Sugar
Sugar syrup provides new or struggling beehives with energy to stimulate brood rearing and lay foundation. A typical one-to-one mix of water and sugar should do the trick, measured either by weight or volume.
When there is insufficient honey after extracting season or low stores heading into late fall and winter, many beekeepers provide their bees with sugar water comprising 2 parts sugar to 1 part water (known as 2:1). This gives their bees the nutrition they require while also aiding their own bees’ survival.
Sugar water should be warm to help make processing simpler for bees; however, avoid boiling it as this will caramelize and become indigestible to them.
3. Nuts
Honey bees use pollen, a powder-like substance composed of male contributions to flower reproduction, to expand their colonies. When visiting flowers, bees collect pollen on their hairs that line their bodies before depositing it in special pollen baskets on their hind legs called pollen baskets on their hind legs. After returning home they mix it with nectar and honey into protein-rich bee bread that they then take back home with them to their hive for safekeeping.
Sugar water should be added to hives during spring to encourage colony building and brood rearing, and in fall when beekeepers prepare their hives for Winter, it should be fed at a 1:1 ratio as an aid for colony survival – however make sure your honey collection supers are off!
4. Fruits
Bee colonies meet their energy requirements through nectar and honey; however, bees also require protein and fat supplements; their specific requirements vary with the season and amount of brood being reared in their hive.
At the oats and barley bloom in spring, protein supplemental feeding may be beneficial, since adverse weather conditions could make finding adequate sources of protein difficult for bees. By autumn however, bees require carbohydrates as winter stores buildup occurs.
Sugar sirup from cane or beet sugar sources and isomerized corn syrup are commonly available from feed stores as suitable carbohydrate supplements, and can be fed using an entrance feeder – typically an inverted container that slides easily into a frame at the colony’s entrance.
5. Water
Honey bees carry water in their crop, an expandable organ which holds onto liquid. Without water, bees would die quickly; even short trips away from their hive require additional sips of it.
Some beekeepers utilize an entrance feeder, which sits atop their hive’s entrance, to offer sugar syrup. Be sure that its temperature allows it to melt the sugar without becoming so hot it caramelizes and is indigestible by bees.
Other beekeepers prefer creating a 2:1 mixture of sugar and water in a shallow pan or receptacle, such as a birdbath, dog bowl, horse trough or hose bibb. Be sure that it’s elevated so as to prevent unwanted visitors like ants from accessing it; add twigs, corks or polystyrene chunks that float to give bees somewhere to land.
