Bees Feeding

  Keeping it as natural as possible

1. There is no scientific evidence yet, but surely their own honey has got to be better than feeding them with refined sugar.  Leave the bees with enough honey to last them through the year.  This means leaving your 14×12, brood and a half or double brood box well alone and not be tempted to harvest honey from it (they will need 20Kg of stores to get them through from September to March)
2. The best way to guarantee that bees have enough pollen is to ensure there are adequate and round-the-year pollen-bearing plants close to the hives
3. Ensure that the bees have access to a clean water supply

Other Tips

• Avoid feeding honey as it carries the risk of spreading bee diseases and the odour increases the likelihood of robbing
• Avoid spilling or leaving syrup open to bees in the apiary
• Take care to avoid robbing.

When to feed

• When a colony is short of stores and there is no or little nectar flow. This can occur at any time of year. 
• When you have combined 2 hives
• When you have hived a swarm.

Sugar Syrup Recipe

Basic ingredients: White granulated sugar, water

Warning – Do not use brown or raw sugars as they contain impurities.

Thick sugar syrup: 1 Kg of granulated sugar to 630 ml of water.

Thin sugar syrup: 1 Kg of granulated sugar to 1L of water.

There is no need to boil the mixture but heating the water helps. Stir regularly to dissolve all the sugar. When fully dissolved the mixture is clear and a very pale straw color.

If syrup is stored for any length of time then a black fungal growth may appear. This can be prevented by adding a little thymol. Thymol does not dissolve readily in water but a solution can be made up in a small sealable bottle. Fill it to one third with thymol crystals and top the bottle up with surgical spirit. Add 2.5 ml. of this solution to 4.5 l. of sugar syrup or half a teaspoon to a gallon of syrup.