Beekeeping - Feeding Tips

All living things need food in one form or another and bees are no exception. Beekeeping is incomplete if you do not care for your bees and give them proper nutrition.

Sugar syrup
It is not only a good food for the bees but it is also a good stimulant for increasing egg production so that the population of bees increases, thus enhancing the nectar collection.

Honey
Instead of artificial feeding, it is better to leave honey on the hives or shift some frames of honey from a hive that has sufficient honey. If artificial feeding is essential, the options are:

Syrup
A lot of comb should be filled with syrup by the bees so that the colony does not need to generate more brood. The syrup should be concentrated in equal parts of water and dry granulated sugar.

The syrup is delivered quickly by a top feeder on the right hand side which can contain plenty of syrup. The bees come from one side and are prevented from drowning by a screen. Instead of the frames, “Boardman” or frame feeders can also be used to deliver syrup as they have floating objects so that the bees don’t drown.

Care should be taken while feeding the syrup so that syrup does not drip, which might result in bees from nearby colonies stealing the syrup and depriving the original colony from its supply of syrup and honey.

Hard Candy
Bees can be fed with hard candy without producing brood in excess. However, such feeding does require some preparation time. The candy can be made using either a microwave or stovetop candy recipe. Bee candy can also be made using any peanut brittle recipe.

Granulated Sugar
Another way to feed bees without increasing brood production is by feeding granulated sugar. Bees eat granulated sugar only in the absence of sufficient honey.

Increase colony growth with proper feeding
Continuous feeding over many weeks can stimulate a colony to produce more bees. However, as it is not necessary for the feed to be consumed rapidly, lighter syrup can also serve the purpose. Although the proportions of water and dry sugar need not be very accurate, it should be remembered that if there is too much water and the weather is hot, the syrup will ferment faster.

An inverted pail feeder placed over the top-bars of the frame with an empty hive body and with a cover around the pail will serve the purpose very well. The rate of consumption of the syrup can be controlled by the number of holes in the pail.

Plastic bag feeder
A good feeder can be made with a zip-lock plastic bag by placing it on top of the frames and slicing the middle of the top of the bag. The bees will be able to drink from the slit without drowning.