Other beekeepers prefer a dense syrup of 2 parts of sugar to 1 part of water (known as 2:1). The stronger syrup is used for food when honey stores in the hive are low. You can measure the sugar and water by either weight or volume as there is no need to be 100% exact about the sugar concentration.
To make a sugar feeder, take a one-litre milk bottle and attach the lid to a shallow dish or jar lid. Fill the milk bottle with sugar water and make a few small holes about half a centimetre from the bottom of the bottle. Screw it into the lid and turn the dish upside down.
Medium to strong bee colonies can be fed dry white table sugar placed on hive mats or in-trays under the hive lid. Bees need water to liquefy the sugar crystals. They will source water from outside the hive or use condensation from inside the hive.
Top feeders are considered the most well-built type of feeder. A solid 10-frame hive (like these high-quality designs available from Dadant and Sons) can hold up to three gallons of syrup. Beekeepers often prefer this style because their design makes for easy refilling without disturbing the hive.
Honey bees will not drink syrup that is too cold. Once the temperature of the syrup drops to a certain point—somewhere in the low 50s°F—the bees would become chilled if they were to drink it. Imagine how you would feel downing an icy beverage when you are nearly immobile with cold. Not a pleasant thought.
That may not sound like a big deal, but some beekeepers believe that pests and disease such as varroa mites and chalkbrood reproduce and thrive at higher pH levels. Therefore, too much sugar water can throw off the pH balance of the hive, which in turn can be detrimental to the colony's health.
ADDING GREEN FOOD COLORING TO BEE SYRUP
If you feed your bees a lot of sugar syrup in the fall, that will lead to excess capped sugar syrup in the spring. That capped sugar syrup can get lost in the shuffle and end up getting uncapped and extracted in the spring.
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.
If you'd like to make your own external top feeder like this, you will need a hole saw. Cutting a hole the size of the lid allows the jar to rest down into the lid and is unlikely to fall over. A 2 7/8-inch hole saw is the size that works well.
They suggest stopping liquid feed when it reaches 50 degrees during the day. Yes, the bees may be flying, but you should stop the liquid syrup.
White sugar (sucrose) is the preferred sugar to feed to bees. Many other products have the potential to contain substances that could be deleterious to honey bee health. Sugar should not be fed to bee colonies when they have access to a natural nectar flow.
Feeding sugar in any form is fine as long as the honey bees are not actively collecting nectar and making honey. If you feed syrup while the bees are making honey, the honey will be become diluted with the syrup. Honey is made from the nectar of flowers.
Do not overfeed - make sure you only have the necessary amount of syrup. Giving bees access to more syrup than they can take down will lead to robbing by other bees.
Raw sugar. Raw sugar is minimally or unrefined white sugar, which has a small amount of molasses to give it the golden color. Raw sugar is unlikely to have enough molasses to negatively impact bees and is safe to feed.
A: Congratulations on getting your first bees. It is the adventure of a lifetime. Once daytime temperatures drop below 57 degrees stop feeding liquid syrup and switch to a solid sugar board.
There are many types of top feeders. Top feeders are placed on the top of the hive just under the hive cover. This is an ideal way of feeding your bees with limited heat loss in the coldest conditions. Most top feeders contain 1 to 3 gallons of sugar water or dry feed.
One of the most simple and easy to use feeders is with the use of a mason jar. Almost everyone can find a glass container of some size and a lid. Because the bees can not get inside the jar – drowning is not usually a problem. This feeder is effective and very popular.
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.