Sugar syrup for bees proportions. Syrup for bees - ratios. Features of the cooking process

In the wild, bees are quite capable of taking care of themselves, including stocking up on food. But in apiary conditions, where people use their reserves, bees need additional carbohydrate food. In this case, it is most convenient to use sugar syrup, which is easily digested by the hardworking inhabitants of the hives. To make nutritious syrup for bees, the ratios of all ingredients should be calculated in advance. The amount of raw materials used plays a serious role in feeding aimed at different times of the year.

Why is proper feeding important?

There is no need to be too zealous when feeding bees with syrup. This will weaken the bee colony and lead to an increase in the level of sucrose in the honey.

Nevertheless, feeding is very necessary, and even necessary. This happens when the bees do not have enough food and the health of the colony, as well as its survival, is compromised.

Syrup for bees

Feeding with syrup is appropriate in the following cases:

• the need to treat bees (medicines are added to the feed);
• weakening of the bee colony;
• eliminating the need for bees to fly out in unfavorable weather;
• replenishment of winter feed stocks;
• increasing the immunity of bees;
• it is necessary to increase the number of brood and achieve larger clutches.

Under unfavorable weather conditions - prolonged rains and late frosts - bees can use up their nutritional reserves. To prevent the extinction of workers, especially the death of the queen, it is necessary to provide beneficial insects with food.

Feeding bees with sugar syrup is relevant at any time of the year. But the purposes of such a treat and the ratio of syrup ingredients vary. For example, syrup for feeding bees in the fall, the proportions of which are 1:1, is not suitable for winter feeding.

Syrup for bees: autumn

In the autumn, when the hives are preparing for wintering, complementary feeding acts as a way to replenish nutritional reserves. By spring, young bees fed with syrup will become a strong part of the family, fully ready for active honey harvest next year.

Syrup for bees

In the fall, it is worth removing frames with honeydew honey, replacing this food of questionable quality with sugar syrup with a concentration of 50-60%.

In order not to harm the bees’ food system and to allow them to fully process the food, syrup is given from late August to mid-September. For regions with cold climates, these periods can be slightly extended.

Important! In late autumn, in case of insufficient pre-winter reserves and weakness of the bee colony, additional food can be placed in the hives. But, since liquid products contribute to disruption of the life cycle, during this period the bees are given solid or thick food.

Do you need syrup in summer?

In summer, feeding with syrup may also be in demand. This happens during periods of drought, prolonged rain and extreme cold, which sometimes occur even in relatively warm regions.

If the beekeeper has previously pumped out honey without waiting for the vagaries of the weather, then it is necessary to feed the bees additionally. After all, they themselves are temporarily unable to replenish food supplies.

The rules for summer distribution and preparation of syrup are similar to spring ones.

Note! It is not recommended to give bees food that is too liquid in inclement weather, as it may encourage them to fly out of the hive. Cold and dampness have a detrimental effect on small workers; you can lose a large percentage of individuals.

Syrup for the winter

Winter feeding of bees with sugar syrup is used relatively rarely. Basically, either late autumn or early spring feeding is carried out.

In the cold season, bees are fed with thick syrup; the ratio of liquid to sugar in it should be 3:2. The yield of the finished product during preparation will be 3.8 liters. For 1 bee colony living in a separate hive, 1 liter of syrup will be enough. They give it in bags, placing it on the lid of the box and covering it with insulation on top.

Feeding bees

There are several ways to prepare thick food for bees from sugar and honey:

• For 1 liter of water take 2 kg of sugar and 600 g of honey. Add sugar to boiling water, boil, and skim off the foam. Then reduce the heat and add honey. Bring the mixture to a boil again, remembering to stir constantly. When the syrup has cooled, it is rolled into balls and placed in the hives.
• Add 1 liter of water to 5 kg of sugar, boil the syrup over low heat for half an hour. Citric acid in the amount of 2 g must be added to it. When the syrup hardens, the resulting “candy” can be placed in the hives.
• Regular refined sugar is laid out on pieces of gauze, the resulting bags are moistened with water and placed on frames under the canvas. After a couple of days, you need to check if the sugar has dried out. If necessary, it is carefully moistened with water, trying not to disturb the bees.
• Crystallized honey. It is desirable that it have a fine-grained, greasy consistency. They make cakes from honey and wrap them in several layers of gauze. Place like sugar under the canvas.

In cases where the cold lasts too long and there is a lack of nutritional reserves, you can add more food. It is advisable to enrich its composition with herbal decoctions, flower honey, sea salt, which have a positive effect on the life of bees.

For your information! Feeding bees during the cold season disrupts their life rhythms and provokes anxiety. In addition, it can lead to diseases and freezing of insects. Therefore, it is better to provide them with food in advance of winter.

Spring feeding with syrup

In the spring, bees prepare to actively collect honey and procure other bee products. During this period, after the first flight, feeding should be carried out. It will help the bees gain strength and replenish their depleted reserves. In the spring, you can carry out prevention against diseases by adding drugs to the feed.

A large amount of food provokes the queen to lay more generously, which in the future will provide a sufficient number of working individuals. The proportion of sugar syrup for spring feeding of bees is 1:1 or 2:3 (40% or 50% concentration). This food is well digestible and stimulates egg laying in the queen of the hive.

It is worth remembering that in cold weather bees are not given too liquid food, so as not to provoke them to fly out of the hives.

Feeding bees

Syrup for bees: ratios

To make it easier for beekeepers to navigate the ratios of sugar and water in syrup prepared for a certain time, there is a table that indicates the quantities of all ingredients and their proportions.

To ensure that bee colonies do not lack food and survive both the warm and cold seasons safely, it makes sense to feed them with syrup. But this should be done wisely, having calculated the required amount of ingredients in advance. Then the hardworking inhabitants of the hive will reward their owner with tasty and healthy honey.

With the arrival of spring, all families require feeding. This is necessary to strengthen the health of the worker bee before the onset of the active period of honey collection and high productivity of the queen. Properly prepared syrup for bees will restore strength to all families in the apiary and ensure high productivity in the upcoming honey harvest period.

Overwintered toilers need high-quality feeding. A sweet delicacy in the form of syrup for feeding bees will be a profitable alternative to the nectar that is missing in early spring days. Malnutrition causes bees to become restless. This negatively affects the growth of the offspring and future harvest rates.

In addition, insufficiently fed bees in the spring are susceptible to many diseases due to the fact that the body has a weakened immune system. Often this situation leads to the death of the entire family. Simple sugar syrup for bees, made from water and sugar, will not be a complete complementary food. Its preparation requires compliance with some nuances. The composition of complementary foods, the concentration of beneficial additives and its consistency are especially important. In winter, thicker baits are prepared.

Bait is necessary at any time of the year. For each period it has a different density. Bees need to be fed with more liquid bait in spring and summer. It is prepared only from sugar and water, there should be no surrogates or all kinds of fortified additives.

Proportions of sugar feeding for bees

Making the delicacy yourself is not difficult. The standard recipe is a kilogram of sugar per one and a half liters of water. But in spring the ratio is different. The presented table for preparing sugar syrup for bees will help you navigate better.

• thick - 2 parts sugar to one part water (67%);
• medium – 1:1 (50%);
• liquid – 1:2 (30%).

Important!

Liquid provokes the flight of bees, which threatens their death in cold weather. Additives in the form of pollen or pollen substitutes cause diarrhea.

The best feeding and natural syrup for bees in the spring is, of course, honey. In order for sugar feeding to become a complete complementary food, it is worth preparing inverted syrup. It differs from the usual one in that organic acids are used during cooking. Thanks to this, sucrose is broken down into fructose and glucose. To do this, use citric, tartaric or acetic acid. But beekeepers have been debating this method for many years. In any case, acids must be used carefully.

How to make syrup

Preparing sugar fertilizer requires observing some important points.

1. Use clean dishes that are not susceptible to oxidation. These can be enamel pots and buckets.
2. The sugar chosen is pure, natural, not refined, and does not contain various additives.
3. The entire volume of sugar is poured into a container and poured with the required amount of boiling water. Mix everything thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved.
4. Cool the finished product. The temperature should be close to the temperature of fresh milk.
5. Fill feeders and honeycombs with treats.

Important!

Boiling syrup for bees is strictly prohibited. Even a small amount of burnt sugar can cause the death of a family.

A large amount is contraindicated for a weak family. It is important that the dosages are observed.

Liquid feed

To prepare liquid sugar syrup for feeding bees you will need:

• to prepare one liter of fertilizer - 0.6 sugar and the same amount of water;
• 5 liters of sweet top dressing will be obtained from 3 kg of sugar and 3 liters of water;
• To get 10 liters of liquid treat, you will need 6 kilograms of sugar and 6 liters of water.

The resulting feeding is given after the worker bee has completed its first flight.

Thick food

Feeding with a thick treat is carried out in the cold season. It is important that this is carried out in winter and continues until the first flyby. This guarantees good egg production by the queen. It is not difficult to prepare a thick one, following the presented recommendations and proportions:

• for 1 liter – 0.6 water and 8 kg. Sahara;
• For 5 liters you need to take 4 kg. sugar and 2.7 liters of water;
• 10 liters can be prepared from 8 kg of sugar and 5.5 liters of water.

The food should have a thick, transparent consistency. The prepared fertilizer can be stored for no more than a day. In warm conditions, fertilizing loses its value. A change in color indicates that the fermentation process has begun. This type of feeding is harmful to the bees.

Dosage

Caring, practical beekeepers try to leave some of the honey in the hives. Without feeding, the bees will simply die. If there is no honey in the hives, then you should adhere to a certain norm for feeding the bees with sugar syrup in the spring. The table presented above should be in the arsenal of every beekeeper.

1. Thick is offered to their students even before the first flight. This will provide adequate nutrition and provoke the uterus to lay eggs.
2. Liquid is used for the development of a bee colony in early spring after the first flights.

Preparation of invertase

The inversion process is carried out in several ways.

1. Classic invert food is prepared from sugar, water in the expected proportion with the addition of food acids (acetic, citric, tartaric). Lon is not entirely beneficial for bees, as it contains a large portion of carbohydrates.
2. Natural invertase is a beekeeping product and is produced by the bees themselves. This is a high-quality food containing nutritious and fortified components, which families use for their own nutrition.
3. Industrial invertase. Produced by enterprises based on fungi and yeast. Experienced beekeepers rarely use it, since the product does not contain honey. Such feeding is necessary in order to increase immunity and future productivity, which has been reduced over the winter.

Sugar syrup

To prepare this fertilizer you will need 6 liters. ready-made food, to which citric acid was previously added in the amount of 14 g. The process is slightly different from regular cooking.

1. Bring 6 liters of water to a boil.
2. Reduce the fire to the minimum possible. Add 7 kg. sugar, stirring constantly. Make sure that the sugar does not burn.
3. Add the full amount of citric acid and simmer with constant stirring for at least an hour.

During the process of simmering over low heat, the sugar in the feed is inverted into glucose and fructose. After the temperature of the syrup is no more than 39 degrees, you can introduce food into the feeders and honeycombs.

Sugar-honey mixture

This mixture does not require cooking, but it is better to prepare it strictly following the proportions:

• water – 2 liters;
• 7.2 kilograms of sugar;
• 750 grams of natural honey;
• 2.4 gr. citric or dry acetic acid.

Prepare in one container, where all the ingredients are placed and filled with warm water (35-40 degrees). Mix everything thoroughly. After this, the solution is kept warm (up to 35 degrees) for 5 days. The syrup must be mixed twice a day - morning and evening. After five days you can fill the feeders.

Based on industrial invertase

Industrial invertase is purchased in beekeeping stores. For example, this could be the drug “Pchelovit”. Making the syrup is quite simple, you will need:

• 5 liters of water;
• 5 kilograms of sugar;
• 2 gr. industrial invertase.

Prepare the syrup in the usual way: dilute sugar with boiling water. After the temperature drops to 40 degrees, add the required amount of industrial invertase and mix thoroughly. The prepared solution is kept at room temperature for two days, stirring constantly. This time is enough for fermentation. But it is better if it is transferred to cold conditions to prevent fermentation. This feeding will come in handy in March or in winter.

How to distribute

Beekeepers use several feeding methods.

1. The easiest way is to fill special feeders that are placed above the nests.
2. If the syrup is liquid, pour it into a jar. Cover the neck with several layers of gauze. Place the neck down on a container (saucer, feeder). It is important to secure the can to prevent it from tipping over.
3. Fill a plastic bag with syrup. Tie, after removing the air. Packages with fertilizer are placed on the upper frames in several places. Make a puncture with a sewing needle in several places.

Many beekeepers prefer to add additives to the syrup to improve the bees' immunity and reproductive abilities. Usually a small amount (1-2 drops/1 liter of syrup) of fir oil is introduced.

Why don't bees take syrup?

Syrup prepared with love, feeders and honeycombs carefully filled. But the beekeeper notices that the bees refuse the treat and do not take feeding. There may be several explanations for this phenomenon:

• syrup temperature below 10 degrees;
• the syrup contains nutrients that are unpleasant for the bees;
• the feeding has deteriorated.

These are important points, since low-quality syrup or its absence can lead to the death of the family.

Experienced beekeepers give beginners useful recommendations to save and increase their bee colonies.

1. Bees should be fed only with fresh, high-quality syrup made from natural beet sugar. Cane sugar is not prohibited, but you need to choose it only from a reliable manufacturer. If you make a mistake when choosing sugar, it can lead to the death of families.
2. If you overdo it with additives (fir oil, herbal decoctions), the bees may refuse the syrup or leave the hive.
3. Late feeding threatens early closure of the cells.
4. Syrup offered to bees early will only be taken by old bees that took part in last year's honey harvest. The young animals will remain hungry, which will lead to their death.

Sugar syrup is an excellent alternative to honey, which helps preserve the natural product. But if such feeding is carried out constantly, then this threatens to produce low-quality sugar honey, loss of immunity and viability of the family. Ultimately, such actions lead to the fact that the colony may leave the hive or simply die.

During its life, a small bee provides honey to several adults. In turn, a person is required to be careful and properly care for the hardworking insect. Experienced beekeepers know that if you strive for abundant supplies of honey, it is imperative to feed the bees with sugar syrup throughout the honey harvest and wintering.

Opinions differ regarding the advisability of additional feeding of bee colonies. Some beekeepers believe that this procedure will harm the health and reproduction of insects. But when the question is about preserving the lives of the inhabitants of the hives, even skeptics prepare syrup to feed the bees.

The sweet mixture is used at different stages of the honey season. At each time of the year, the need for additional nutrition is caused by various reasons, including:

• increasing the strength and efficiency of the family;
• harvesting more honey;
• replenishment of feed supplies;
• increasing the number of brood;
• increasing the immunity of insects to diseases;
• cure from diseases;
• eliminating the need for early departures in cold weather.

There are situations when the weather throws up unpleasant surprises: severe frosts in late spring, rainy, cold summers, prolonged winters, and others. Under such circumstances, the bee family is not able to stretch food supplies or provide itself with food. As a result, part of the working individuals, the queen, on which the life of the entire hive directly depends, dies.

How to prepare sugar syrup for feeding?

Food for insects from water and sugar is simple to prepare, does not require many ingredients, and satisfies the nutritional needs of insects. To enhance the usefulness and taste, it is allowed to add honey, molasses, vinegar essence, and medicinal additives to combat diseases. Depending on seasonal needs, sugar is diluted with water in several proportions.

Preparation of sugar brew according to the classic recipe is carried out according to the following scheme:

1. The ratio of sugar and water is 3:2 (60% concentration).
2. Water is brought to a boil in an enamel container.
3. The liquid is removed from the heat and cooled a few degrees.
4. The required amount of white sugar without impurities is added.
5. The mixture is thoroughly stirred until the sugar dissolves.
6. The finished product is cooled to a warm state.

To bring the composition of the mixture closer to the food products of the bee family, honey (50 grams per 1 kg of sugar) and vinegar essence (3 ml per 10 kg of sugar) are added to it. These products, decoctions of medicinal herbs, and medications are added to the cooled ready-made syrup base. Liquid in other proportions is prepared in a similar way.

Beekeepers use several ways to organize insects' access to additional liquid nutrition. Popular ones are:

• placing food in special feeders, which are installed near the hives, and when wintering outside, directly in the box itself;
• using jars with a tight layer of gauze at the neck, which are placed upside down on the top cover of the hive;
• spilling liquid into plastic bags, which are placed on the top wall or lowered directly into the hive.

Analyzing reviews from beekeepers, the simplicity, convenience, and effectiveness of the latter method stand out. Plastic bags are an economical material; by choosing durable, reliable products, liquid leakage into the hive is prevented.

Up to 1 liter of mixture is placed in a separate plastic bag. After packaging, air is removed from the container, after which a secure knot is tied. 2-3 micro-holes are made in the bag, but it is better to drop a little sweet mixture onto the surface and the little workers will make access to the food themselves.

Spring feeding of bees with sugar syrup

Spring is considered the most important period of life for bees, on which sufficient replenishment of the family population, the working productivity of individuals, and the amount of honey collection depend. After the first flight, the bee colony needs to replenish its strength after wintering.

If the spring is early, warm, there is a honey base nearby, and there were enough winter reserves, then the insects will be able to organize their own food. In the opposite situation, beekeepers can help replenish the energy reserves of the apiary inhabitants by feeding them.

More often, feeding bees in the spring with sugar syrup is used, the proportion of sugar and water in which is 2:3 (40% concentration) or 1:1 (50% concentration). Such combinations stimulate egg laying. Liquid food is similar to the nectar secreted by flowering plants and is therefore easily absorbed.

When feeding after the flight, weather conditions are taken into account. A thinner syrup for feeding bees in the spring should not be given during cold weather or frosts, as this stimulates insects to fly out of the hives. Apiary residents, weakened after winter, may die or contract a disease under the influence of bad weather.

Additional nutrition in the autumn period is not used often; strict time restrictions are observed with it. Feeding during this period is caused by an insufficient supply of stored food and the need to increase the strength of the hive inhabitants before the winter season.

In order not to harm the insect’s food system, which may not have time to process the sugar consistency and weaken, feeding is carried out from late August to mid-September. In cold regions with severe frosts, you can slightly increase the extreme temporary norm. In this case, a 50-60% concentration of sugar food is used.

Late autumn, when the beekeeper observes meager winter reserves and the weakness of the family, allows additional food to be placed in the hives. But in such cases, thick or solid fertilizers are used, since the liquid composition will disrupt the life cycle of insects.

Feeding bees in winter with sugar syrup

Feeding a bee colony in winter is a last resort measure that is used in emergency or unforeseen situations. More often there is a need to replenish food supplies by the end of winter or the beginning of spring, so early feeding of bees with syrup is used.

During winter-spring feeding, thick consistencies of sugar liquid are used, prepared in a 3:2 ratio, which produces 3.8 liters of the finished product. For a full-fledged family occupying a separate hive, 1 liter of nutrient mixture is enough. The food is poured into bags, placed on the lid of the box, covered with insulation on top.

If the beekeeper sees that food supplies have run out or are running out, and the cold weather is dragging on, then additional replenishment of food supplies is applied. During this period, it is important to enhance the composition of food with natural flower honey, herbal decoctions, sea salt, vinegar essence, and other useful elements.

Beginning beekeepers should remember that feeding bees in the middle of winter not only disrupts the peace and lifestyle of the family, but also leads to illness or frostbite. Therefore, it is important to control food supplies before the start of winter and replenish them as necessary.

Feeding bee colonies with sugar is an important measure to preserve their health, which is the duty of every beekeeper. This procedure does not take much time or effort; the sweet composition is prepared according to a simple recipe, but with high nutritional value. In return, the bees will provide the owner with a sufficient amount of tasty and healthy honey.

During the cold season, beekeepers actively use feeding bees with sugar syrup. When bees do not have enough natural food, preparation and proper feeding of the bees is required. Experienced beekeepers know from experience how to prepare sugar syrup correctly, and for those who are faced with such a need for the first time, we will consider in more detail recipes and methods for preparing syrup.

Why and when do you need to feed with sugar syrup?

Every beekeeper knows that there are periods when bees do not have enough food reserves and therefore they need to be additionally fed with honey or sugar syrup. And if feeding with honey is considered highly effective and contains all the necessary substances, but is quite expensive, then sugar syrup is a convenient and inexpensive product, as well as easy to prepare, but you should not feed the bees only syrup for too long, since with such a diet it is much more difficult for them to grow offspring.

Feeding bees with sugar syrup in bags

Feeding with sugar syrup is required in the following cases:

• To increase food supplies for bees for the winter, as well as, if necessary, to replace low-quality honey for a favorable wintering of bees.
• In the spring, when there is insufficient food in the hives until natural food appears - pollen and nectar.
• To stimulate the cultivation of young offspring in the absence of flowering plants.
• For the prevention of foulbrood diseases in apiaries, if there were sick families there in the past.

Replenishment of food is necessary in cases where the bees were unable to stock up on the required amount of provisions or the cold lasted for a long time, and food was no longer running out.

How to make syrup. Recipes

Sugar syrup varies depending on the purpose and time of feeding. Thus, the proportion of 1 part sugar to 1.5 parts water is used to stimulate the raising of the young generation or to train bees.

1 part sugar to 1 part water is used if there is no bribe at all.

A syrup of 1.5 parts sugar and 1 part water is prepared for autumn feeding or changing or replenishing feed.

2 parts sugar and 1 part water are prepared during a long winter and forced feeding of the bee colony in cold spring or winter.

Also, the feeding will be more nutritious if some natural honey is added to the syrup.

Classic recipes for feeding syrups

The most important thing in the beginning is to choose the right concentration when preparing for the first time. The optimal proportion for most beekeepers is 60% sugar and 40% water.

You need to take a suitable enamel pan. Pour the required amount of water into the pan and put it on fire.

When the water boils, the required amount of sugar is added to it. It is important to stir the mixture constantly so that the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup does not burn.

It is necessary to stir until the composition boils. There is no need to boil it, and once the syrup has reached the required state, remove it from the heat and leave to cool.

For better cooking, it is necessary that the fire under the pan evenly covers its bottom, and not just the center. This ensures uniform heating of the mass.

Syrups with various additives aimed at specific purposes are also known.

Syrup is used to feed the queen to increase the brood. For this syrup, additional ingredients are added during the preparation process: phytoncides or cobalt chloride.

Pine or pine needles are used for syrup with phytoncides. This process is longer, since it requires preliminary preparation of an infusion from water and pine needles; after preparing the infusion, it must be strained from the pine needles and you can begin preparing sugar syrup.

Invert syrup is considered more useful than a simple classic recipe. Additionally, honey is added to this syrup. The proportions of addition are equal to 40 grams of honey per 1 kg of sugar.

Feeding with honey and bee bread. This recipe completely eliminates sugar. Only bee bread, honey and water are used in the following proportions: 1 part bee bread, 2 parts honey and 1 part water. All this must be mixed and passed through a sieve, and then left to infuse for two days. After this time, the feeding is ready. This composition lasts for a long time - one bee colony consumes only 0.5 liters of syrup.

How to feed bees correctly

After preparing special food for bees, many beekeepers have an absolutely logical question - how to properly feed all this to the bees? There are no particular difficulties here, but there are several feeding options.

The easiest way is to place the syrup directly into the honeycomb. This process is carried out using a syringe or a teapot with a thin spout.

The second option is a plastic bag. Small holes are pierced in such a bag, approximately 1 liter of syrup is poured into it and placed in the hive. And then the bees will figure it out themselves.

Special feeders in the form of a box are also used; such a feeder is placed on top of the bee nest.

The side frame is also actively used for feeding with syrup. If the air temperature is low, then the frame is installed next to the socket, and if it is high, then it is placed behind the diaphragm.

If there are no specialized feeders in the apiary, then beekeepers can use ordinary glass jars. For such feeding, the jar is filled to the top with syrup and covered with gauze, previously folded four times. Next, you need to sharply turn the jar over and secure it to the nest frame. The bees will feed on the syrup, sucking it through the gauze and then storing it in the cells of the nest. For a strong bee colony, you can safely attach two or three jars at once.

A little advice for amateur beekeepers! Do not forget about the optimal temperature of the syrup. For better consumption by bees, the syrup must be placed in the hive warm, approximately 30-35 degrees Celsius, since cold syrup causes little interest among bees, and the frozen syrup will be much more difficult for striped workers to remove through a dense layer of gauze.

If the syrup is prepared well, bees will not have problems consuming it. They eat properly prepared syrup with great pleasure, which cannot be said about burnt syrup or one that has already been stored for a long time. Moreover, low-quality syrup is harmful to the health of bees. Also, do not forget that although syrup is a complete food for bees, it is still less useful than natural food or honey-based food. Therefore, it is better to avoid prolonged and monotonous feeding of bees only with sugar syrup; it is better to alternate it with honey, so the bees will be stronger, hardier and healthier, and will also be more likely to please young offspring.

If you do everything correctly and approach the issue of feeding bees seriously, then, thanks to feeding, you can be sure of a safe winter for striped bees during the cold season or when there is a lack of food. And in the spring, the bees will be more active and healthy, and will also begin to produce young offspring, which is undoubtedly an advantage.

The best food for bees for the winter is their own honey. Therefore, you should not take it all. Or feed the bees sugar syrup. Any experienced beekeeper knows this. And now you will learn how to prepare sugar syrup, what proportions to follow, what you can add to it, and the most interesting thing - how to give it to the bees.

As a winter fertilizer, it is better than other artificial fertilizers for 2 reasons:

• least overloads the intestines;
• least of all.

However, winter feeding with sugar syrup has its disadvantages:

• sugar does not contain proteins - there is a risk of protein starvation;
• stimulates early “awakening” (exit from the hibernation state, that is, increased activity and rearing of young animals, and sometimes premature attempts to fly out for a bribe);
• Our minke whales do not eat cold feeding, so we have to give it often, but in small portions (it is better not to increase the temperature in winter, otherwise the spring mode of revival and procreation will be activated in the hive ahead of time).

Preparing bees for winter

Before wintering, the beekeeper has 5 main things to do with the hives that need to be done in the fall:

1. prepare a place for wintering (, omshanik, cellar, ditch);
2. reduce the space inside (to make it easier to maintain heat - let the insects touch each other with their wings while sitting on adjacent honeycombs);
3. insulate the outside (so that there are no gaps and the air does not blow out heat);
4. protect from dampness (use breathable insulation);
5. check to see if the bees need winter feeding.

If there is little honey stored (or left), then one more thing appears - prepare sugar syrup for additional winter feeding.

How to understand that you need feeding

At the end of August or early autumn (if the air temperature allows), after the end of the honey collection period, each beekeeper must definitely check how much honey the bees have stored and what kind of honey it is. For 1 average family there should be 8-12 kg (3-4 full honey frames) depending on the length of the winter. If there is little honey or if honey is found in the food supply, and it is not possible to replace it with normal honey, then you can immediately prevent a food shortage by feeding the bees with sugar syrup. In two weeks they will process it into sugar honey and leave for the winter in peace.

During the cold season, it is better not to disturb the bees. Determine the state of the colony by sound (humming) and do not open the hive without reason. Feeding bees with sugar syrup in winter is only necessary in extreme cases:

• Insects die of hunger when the honey runs out or crystallizes (no buzzing is heard).
• Bees suffer from diarrhea due to honeydew honey, which has too much undigested residue (too much buzzing).

In these cases, you need to give the insects good food. Ideally, honey, but thick sugar syrup is more often used. The necessary conditions for sugar feeding are the temperature in the winter hut above 2 o and small warm portions. For feeding, you can make a special feeder, or you can give sugar syrup in jars or bags.

When to start feeding bees for the winter

3 cases with different feeding times:

1. Before winter, at the very beginning of autumn (until mid-September, in the south - until the second week of October), when the bribes end, there are no flowering plants nearby, and the flight stops. The bees will turn the syrup into sugar honey and put it in the honeycombs, and in winter they will eat it like regular honey.

Feeding bees for the winter with sugar syrup and processing it takes 2 weeks. Warm weather is needed: sucrose breaks down at 10°C and above. Early feeding will provoke the premature emergence of young bees, who will also begin processing syrup and become exhausted ahead of time; Late feeding will resume the work of the wax-excretory and throat systems, which will also lead to exhaustion. In addition, with a late flight, young bees may defecate in the honeycombs - then they will no longer be able to put honey in them, and a bacterial infection may develop.

Advice: It is better to place the feeders and 2 empty frames for filling in the middle. Then, at the beginning of winter, sugar reserves will be eaten, and by spring, insects will move to the outer honeycombs and finish off the flower honey. The biological clock will not go astray, there will be no early activation and egg production, wintering will take place correctly.

1. in winter(in any month as needed) if the hive is uneasy due to lack or poor quality of food. In this case, the bees will eat sugar syrup instead of honey. You need to feed at the first opportunity in order to save the family.
2. From autumn to spring, if the bees have no reserves at all. Then sugar syrup should be given monthly, constantly disrupting wintering. This is an extremely undesirable option, since bees will be able to survive the winter well on sugar syrup, but raising offspring and building wax will be very poor. To do this, you need the addition of eggs, milk, bee bread, pollen, etc.

Calculation of the amount of sugar syrup for feeding

To understand how much sugar syrup to prepare for the winter, you should:

1. Calculate how much honey is missing.
2. Take so many kg of sugar.
3. Make syrup from this amount of sugar.

The volume of syrup will be larger, but when processing honey there will be exactly as much as needed.

How to calculate how much honey to leave for the winter?

The amount of honey left depends on the length of winter. Average consumption - kilogram of honey per month:

• Winter is an “energy-saving” period, insects move little and eat almost nothing—750 g per month is enough.
• With warming, they consume more - 1-1.2 kg of honey.
• In spring it’s time to feed the brood: bees create heat, spend more energy, eat 2-2.5 kg per month.

But for example, in the Urals, wintering sometimes lasts from October to May - 8 months! In the spring they actively breed offspring, so you will have to leave about 10 kg of honey for an average family. You need 30% more syrup - 13 liters when wintering only on sugar feeding.

Depending on the thickness of the syrup, bees, when processing and placing it in honeycombs, either dilute it with water or, conversely, dry it. So that they do not waste extra energy on this, it is better to immediately make the syrup needed consistency:

• For autumn feeding The ideal ratio of water and sugar is 2:3 (according to the results of experiments at the Beekeeping Institutes).
• For winter feeding the mixture should be thicker and even viscous, in a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3.

How to prepare sugar syrup to feed bees for the winter

Whatever cooking methods you choose, it is better to use the right dishes:

• Clean, otherwise foreign impurities can cause diarrhea and death of bees;
• Non-oxidizing, that is, not cast iron, not iron or aluminum (honey cannot even be stored in such containers)

Good options: stainless steel, enameled (glass-ceramic coating) and tinned (tin does not oxidize up to 100 o).

You need to prepare winter food for bees using the highest quality ingredients:

• Water- without mineral impurities. To make sure of this, boil it and leave it for several hours, and then drain the sediment.
• Sugar- must be white, cleared of all impurities, otherwise it hardens in its processed form, and bees simply cannot process starch, flour, and nuts (neither in winter nor in summer).

If the sugar is wet (or lumpy), you need to prevent fungus and bacterial infections: then we begin preparing the fertilizer by boiling the sugar for 10 minutes. No need to boil! If it burns, the mixture will become unusable and could kill the entire apiary.

Sugar syrup is prepared in 4 steps:

1. boil the required amount of water;
2. add sugar, stirring constantly and maintaining the ideal proportions of sugar syrup (2:3) for bees in winter;
3. Do not boil again! Burnt sugar kills bees, and the mixture in boiling water thickens well anyway.
4. cool to 25-45 o and take to the hives.

Sugar food recipes for bees

Proper feeding consists of 60% sugar (in other words, the proportion is: three parts sugar to two water). You can prepare honey syrup in the same proportion: three parts sugar and two parts honey. 0.3 ml (a drop) of vinegar per kg of sugar will help prevent crystallization.

At the end of winter you can add to the fertilizer:

• Cobalt. 8 mg per 1 liter of sugar syrup or 1 tablet of cobalt chloride from a pharmacy per 2 liters. Result: increases the egg production of the uterus (if you do not exceed the dose, otherwise – exactly the opposite).
• Cow's milk. 1/5 of the volume of 40% syrup (necessarily in water) is added to the finished product, stirred and cooled to 35-40°C. Feeding bees with sugar syrup with skim or whole milk increases the weight of larvae and hatching bees. An increase in weight affects the honey production of bee colonies, since the heavier the bees (better developed), the greater the load they can withstand, and accordingly, the more nectar they bring to the hive. But it should be taken into account that in their lives our minke whales do not encounter milk and do not know the taste of it. They may not like this feeding, so milk (whole or skim) should be introduced gradually into the diet of the bee colony.
• Egg. 1 egg per family. Beat, strain through cheesecloth, stir into 40° syrup. Result: protein complementary food for young animals.
• Baker's or brewer's yeast. 50 g per 1.5 liters of fertilizer - grind, boil and mix with non-hot syrup. The result: vitamins and protein.
• Fumagillin and other drugs. 20 ml per liter of carbohydrate mixture (act strictly according to the instructions). Result: prevention of nosematosis.
• Needles. A weak infusion instead of water - pour boiling water over the needles and young twigs, leave for 10 hours and make syrup. Result: vitamins + tick prevention.

How to properly give sugar syrup to bees in winter

In winter, sugar syrup should be given warm (25-40 o, room temperature or body temperature, that is, it should be felt by the hand as warm or neutral), in small volumes (up to 1 l), so that the bees eat it before it cools down too much (cold they do not eat) or ferment (harmful for bee digestion - toxins and unprocessed substances overwhelm the intestines and cause diarrhea).

What to feed bees in autumn and winter

1. Feeders (give in the evening, do not drip on the hive and the ground, otherwise they will fly and pick up, wasting their energy and time). Bee feeders are:

• common for the entire apiary, with bridges (wooden or straw), from where you can drink without drowning. Mandatory conditions - warm weather and no bee diseases within a radius of 3 km;
• the top ones are good because the food will be naturally heated (warm air always goes up);
• the side ones (instead of frames) are good because they fit more.

1. Glass jars. Cover the neck with multilayer gauze so that the syrup seeps out a little at a time.
2. Plastic bags. You need to smear it with honey - the bees will gnaw holes themselves. The packaging bags already have factory micro-holes, so the smell spreads without smearing. It is important that the carbohydrate feed is thick, otherwise it will flood the bees and the bottom of the hive.
3. Honeycombs. Fill the kettle and place it in the hive.

The latter method is only suitable for pre-winter feeding. In winter, it is important that the temperature in the hive does not drop below zero, otherwise the syrup will harden. And finally, a useful video on how to properly feed sugar syrup in bags: