Many beekeepers need to supplement the diet of their bee colonies throughout the winter. This is especially true if they do not have enough honey to feed the colony.
One option for bees is sugar water, also known as syrup. This is a substitute for nectar that bees need but cannot obtain from flowers during the winter months.
Contents
How to Make Sugar Water
Beekeepers often feed sugar water to bee colonies in the spring to stimulate the queen to lay more eggs. The increased number of bees will allow more food to be collected by the colony and a nectar flow to begin.
In winter, however, it is not recommended to feed the bees liquid sugar as this can encourage fermentation and a buildup of moisture in the hive. Instead, you should make sugar candy for the bees or use a sugar board.
Regardless of which method you choose, it is important to stop feeding sugar water when the temperature drops below 57degF or 14degC as this can encourage dysentery and a weakening of the colony.
The correct preparation, feeding, and storage of sugar water is vital to the health of your bees. So, if you want to avoid the risks of causing harm to your bees, read on for our 7-step guide to making sugar syrup that won’t kill them!
Ingredients
If you have a colony that is struggling to make it through the winter, it might be time to feed them sugar water. However, bees should only be fed this type of supplemental food if they are experiencing starvation.
There are several different recipes for sugar water, and they all have varying concentrations of sugar. It is important to mix the ingredients thoroughly and completely dissolve them in the water before feeding it to the bees.
Some people use a ratio of 1 part sugar to 2 parts water, and this is a good mixture for stimulating brood rearing. Other people prefer to feed a more heavy syrup, which may not stimulate brood rearing as much, but is likely to help the bees store honey for winter.
Another common winter feeding is bee candy, which has a little bit of water in it to help the bees digest it easier. You can make this by mixing granulated sugar with dry pollen substitute, such as BeePro, FeedBee or MegaBee, and water.
Storage
Bees need plenty of energy to prepare for winter, and sugar water is a simple way to provide the fuel they need. But it’s important to make sure the syrup you use is not boiled as this may change its chemical composition and make it indigestible for bees.
When the weather is cold and rainy, sugar water is a great supplemental feed for bees to supplement the honey they consume during their busy season. It also helps bees bolster their honey stores to ensure they have enough for winter.
You can use a hive top feeder or a frame feeder to feed your bees a large amount of sugar syrup. A hive top feeder sits on top of the hive under its telescoping lid and can hold around a gallon of bee syrup for your bees to access.
Feeding
When the weather cools, bee colonies may not forage enough honey for food, and they may need a small supplemental source of nourishment to survive. This is where winter sugar water can help.
Bees have a half of their dietary needs met by sugar, so adding sugar to the colony keeps them going until they can forage more naturally. It also stimulates wax production in the hive, which is important for new colonies or those that are small and need more comb space to store honey.
To make a 1:1 sugar water syrup, mix equal amounts of granulated sugar with water. It does not matter if you measure it by volume or weight; both will give the correct ratio.
