If this is recovered honey and not fit for resale and you are not sure of which hive or hives it came out of you can feed it back to the bees BUT you must dilute it down with water say 3parts water to one part honey and boil the mixture and leave it to boil for a couple of minutes after it has started to boil.
Feeding honey from an unknown source, such as a supermarket or even another beekeeper, can cause infection in your hives. If you feed suitable honey to your bees, place it inside the hive. Never place honey in the open outside the hive — this is illegal under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994.
For late winter or early spring feeding, make a 1:1 syrup using 1 pound of water (2 cups) to 1 pound of sugar. If feeding in the fall (if not enough honey was left on the hive after the honey flow), make a 2:1 syrup using 2 pounds of sugar per pound of water.
A one-to-one mixture of sugar and water — measured either by weight or by volume — provides the energy your bees need to stimulate brood rearing and start drawing out foundation. For each gallon of sugar syrup, measure out 10 2/3 cups sugar and 10 2/3 cups of water.
Feeding bees their own honey is the best option all the time. If you have honey you have collected from the hive earlier in the year, you can feed back the crushed comb honey in this manner in a top bar hive. The bees are left a space where one of the bars would be to access this bag of crushed comb honey.
The worst problem with an old bucket of honey isn't age or crystallization. Even though older honey usually has higher levels of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) than fresh honey, the amount is usually negligible as a factor in bee health. Crystallized honey is easy to feed and safe, so that's not an issue either.
The ratio is really forgiving, but I generally do 2 parts honey to 1 part warm water. You can also do 1 to 1 for an even more liquid solution (equivalent to simple syrup called for in cocktails). And I'll mix it up right in the container.
2:1 Sugar Water Recipe
For example, 8 cups of sugar to 4 cups of water. When using this mixture, use very warm water to dissolve the sugar easier. However, do not boil your bee syrup, this is not good and it is not necessary.
Vinegar is a great solution for deterring bees. Unlike chemical deterrents, vinegar doesn't contain any harsh substances, and it doesn't harm most plants. To make a homemade vinegar solution, mix together equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle.
Honey is loaded with nutrients
Unlike sugar, honey is laced with all kinds of things bees need for good health, including vitamins, minerals, micronutrients, antioxidants, and even small amounts of pollen. So if you want a package to get off to a roaring good start, there is nothing better than their natural food.
A worker bee needs 11 milligrams (mg) of dry sugar each day, which translates to about 22 microliters (µl) of 50% (1:1 ratio) sugar syrup per bee per day. One teaspoon full of 50% syrup is about 5 milliliters (ml), which provides enough food for 227 bees for a day.
The total weight of bees, hive furniture, and honey in such a set-up is ideally about 160 pounds. The minimum amount of honey you should leave on your full-sized colony is equal to one full deep box, or about 90-100 pounds (this is the full weight of the box, frames, bees, and honey).
Honeybees collect nectar and pollen from flowers. Both are stored in the hive where nectar is converted to honey, and pollen is fermented into bee bread. Bees eat honey and bee bread. Bee bread provides protein, while honey is a source of carbohydrates.
A Bee's diet consists of honey and pollen.
Honey and pollen are the building blocks of a bee's diet. Bees eat honey because it provides them with energy-laden carbohydrates, while pollen's protein provides bees with essential amino acids.
In all but the warmest areas, I recommend that a beekeeper leave 80 to 90 pounds (36-41 kg). In nearly all cases, this will assure a good supply of natural food for your bees, and it will save you messing around with syrups and sugars and supplements. In short, it is good for them and good for you.
1 part sugar to 1 part water is what beekeepers will give their brand-new bees in the spring. It attempts to mimic thin nectar as best as possible. And the other mixture is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, which is a thick syrup used traditionally in the fall.
White cane sugar probably remains the safest and most reliable nectar substitute for honey bees. The concentration and quantity are equally important. For colony stimulation in spring or when queen rearing, feed small quantities (1–2 L) every few days of a 1:1 concentration of sugar and water by volume.
In the springtime, you may stop feeding honey bees sugar water once the flowers are in bloom. However, if it's a new package of bees, you may need to keep going for a while. You don't expect to harvest honey in your first year, so the risk of harvesting capped syrup is eliminated.
The RSPB suggests getting a small container or spoon and offering two tablespoons of granulated white sugar to one tablespoon of water. If you have your Bee Revival Keyring, this is an easy step for your spontaneous encounter with a tired bee.
Once daytime temperatures drop below 57° F, stop feeding liquid syrup and switch to a solid sugar board. Liquid syrup puts too much moisture in the colony, and the bees are unable to evaporate the excess moisture to ensure long-term storage of the syrup.