Making 1:1 Syrup, By the Gallon

Here is a video for those of you who are about to become new beekeepers, and have only a hive or two to feed syrup.

Enjoy!

Making 2:1 Sugar Syrup For Bees - Video

Now that fall is coming the bees need all the resources they can store to make it through winter, especially bees that were installed just this year.  A heavier syrup, called 2 to 1, is a concentrated cocktail that ought to get them storing sugar.  That is: 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. 

Jury Still Out On Homemade Honey Bee Healthy

I made a batch of homemade HBH per the recipe described in this post, added a tablespoon to a gallon of syrup, and put it out for open feeding, alongside some bags full of bee tea (leaving out the onion) the girls had already found.  The HBH bag was largely left alone while interest in the bee tea remained robust.

Test Run of Homemade Honey-Bee-Healthy

Mann Lake and Brushy both sell a derivation on this product, I mixture of essential oils that are meant to improve the health of the hive, boost brood production, and accelerate syrup take-up.  The dose is approximately one or two tablespoons per gallon of syrup.  The stuff is pretty expensive and there are enough homemade recipes out there to try that I decided to give it a go.

Spring Bee Food

As the weather has improved I have switched from solid food (sucrose and fondant) to syrup and made a large batch that included some bee tea.

Here is how we did it:

In a 5 gallon bucket (the Home Depot Homer Bucket) mix:

• 1.5 gallons hot water
• 20 lbs of sugar
• A medium onion macerated in a blender with a few cups of water;
• A gallon of bee tea

Mix all together until the sugar dissolves.  makes about 4+ gallons.

I make the bee tea by bringing a gallon of water to a boil, adding a couple of chamomile tea bags, a

Preliminary Fondant Results......

...Are not good.  I placed the fondant, while in a one-gallon container, upside down on some newspaper on the uppermost top bars.  The fondant was very firm and my expectation was that the bees would eat through the newspaper and get to the sugar.

My inspection proved otherwise.  The fondant had melted completely and had puddled first on the newspaper and then down through the hive, draining through the ventilated bottom board.  I can only assume that the bees had generated enough heat and moisture to melt the fondant into that gooey mess.  It has been very cold here, in the 20's, so heat outside the hive ought not have been the cause.

On my smallest hive where I place some more firm fondant I also saw significant moisture on that newspaper and some very still bees in on the fondant.  Some of this moisture could have been the result of snow-melt from yesterday's storm, I just don't know.

I placed the lemon-spiked sugar on the final two hives today and two bees came right up to it, so perhaps the infusion of zest will help.  I will check on their progress with the sugar in two weeks.

I have one more batch of the runny fondant and may place it RIGHT SIDE UP in the hive and see if they take any of it.

Jeff

Bee Feeding Part 2 - Table Sugar

Part 2 of my winter bee-feeding experiment, today with simple table sugar enhanced with lemon zest.  If this wind clams down I will add this to my last two hives, placing a sheet of newspaper on the uppermost top bars, pouring the sugar on that, and then placing a shim above that so that the sugar has some space.  The hope is that the scent of the lemon will alert the bees to the presence of the food and they will eat through the newspaper to access if needed.  This is similar to other posts I have read that suggest using vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in pollen patties to improve the acceptance of that food to the bees.  I will let you know how it all turns out!!

Making Bee Fondant To Winter Bees

I tried my hand making fondant today...I think candy makers would be proud but worried how the bees feel.
Still feeling sticky!!!