Preparation of syrup for bees. Preparing sugar syrup for bees

With the advent of spring, beekeepers have more trouble. After a long winter, insects need help to recover and gain strength for the start of the new season. To this end, beekeepers carry out spring feeding of bees with sugar syrup in compliance with the necessary proportions. Syrup for bees - not only tasty food, but also a way to make up for the shortage of fodder reserves. Because of hunger, the bees become restless. This has a bad effect on the quality of their work and the number of offspring. Feeding eliminates these problems. Insects are satiated and prepare for active honey collection, and the uterus lays more eggs.

Top dressing is prepared from water and sugar. The proportions depend on the season: the concentration of spring top dressing is more liquid. Each beekeeper should know the approximate proportions for preparing the right amount of sweet food:

1. 40% concentration. The ratio of sugar and water is 1 to 1.5. Such food is prepared to enhance oviposition.
2. 50% concentration. Sugar and water are taken in equal parts. Such a concentration is resorted to in the event of a complete absence of a bribe in the warm season.
3. 60% concentration. The proportion of sugar and water is 1.5 to 1. It is used as a replacement for autumn feeds or as an addition to them.
4. 70% concentration. A ratio of 2:1 is used if it is necessary to feed the bees in winter and early spring.

1 kg of sugar and 1 liter of water yield 1.6 liters of a 50% solution. This formula calculates right amount sweet bee food.

How to prepare syrup?

Experienced beekeepers give uniform recommendations on how to prepare sugar syrup for bees. This is not difficult to do, but when cooking, cleanliness and attentiveness must be observed. You can not use a surrogate instead of granulated sugar. It is also not recommended to take hard water to prepare the solution. The health of honey workers depends on the quality of the prepared mixture.

To prepare sugar syrup for feeding bees, choose a suitable size dish, preferably enameled. Water is poured into it according to the selected proportion and brought to a boil. Sugar is slowly poured into boiling water, stirring the mixture continuously.

Then the fire is turned off, the container is closed, the liquid is allowed to cool. The resulting solution should be clear. If possible, 10% honey is added to the syrup. This contributes to better absorption of the product by insects. For medicinal purposes, herbal infusion is added to the solution.

How to distribute?

Ready food is distributed in a warm form, not lower than 30 degrees. When cold, it will not attract insects. Each time, a freshly prepared mixture should be distributed, the frequency is two to three days.

Syrup for feeding bees in the spring is served in clean feeders. It is recommended to use top feeders as they are more capacious. The volume of the solution in the feeder depends on the size and strength of a particular bee colony. So that insects do not fly out of the hives in vain, top dressing is carried out in the evening.

In addition to feeders, the following methods are used to supply sweet food:

• the mixture is poured into small jars, which are turned upside down and left in shallow pans;
• often beekeepers serve the syrup in plastic bags, tying them tightly and making small punctures in them.

Why don't bees take syrup?

Often, beekeepers notice that some families ignore top dressing. There are several possible reasons why bees do not take syrup:

• Insects are weak or sick. In such cases, they are sprayed with therapeutic solutions using spray guns.
• The solution turned out to be too thick or liquid.
• It's too cold outside.

If the bees do not take food after elimination possible causes, it can be replaced with honey.

Proper preparation and serving is the key to the high productivity of honey workers in the summer and the quality of the resulting product.

With the advent of spring, all families require additional feeding. This is necessary to improve the health of the worker bee before the onset of an active period of honey collection, high productivity of the uterus. Properly prepared syrup for bees will restore strength to all families in the apiary and ensure high productivity in the upcoming period of honey collection.

Overwintered workers need high-quality feeding. A sweet treat in the form of syrup for feeding bees will be a profitable alternative to the nectar missing in the early spring days. Malnutrition causes the bees to be restless. This negatively affects the growth of offspring and future collection rates.

In addition, underfed bees in spring period susceptible to many diseases due to the fact that the body has a weakened immune system. Often this situation leads to the death of the entire family. A simple sugar bee syrup made from water and sugar is not a complete food. Its preparation requires compliance with some nuances. The composition of complementary foods, the concentration of useful additives and its consistency are especially important. In winter, thicker baits are prepared.

Feeding is necessary at any time of the year. For each period, it has a different density. It is necessary to feed the bees in spring and summer with more liquid bait. It is prepared only from sugar and water, there should not be any surrogates, all kinds of fortified supplements.

Proportions of sugar feeding for bees

Preparing a delicacy on your own is not difficult. In the standard recipe - a kilogram of sugar per one and a half liters of water. But in the spring the ratio is different. The presented table for the preparation of sugar syrup for bees will help you better navigate.

• thick - 2 parts sugar to one part water (67%);
• medium - 1:1 (50%);
• liquid - 1:2 (30%).

Important!

Liquid provokes the flight of bees, which threatens their death in cold weather. Additives in the form of pollen or its substitutes cause diarrhea.

The best top dressing, natural syrup for bees in the spring, of course, is honey. In order for sugar top dressing to become a complete complementary food, it is worth preparing an inverted syrup. It differs from the usual one in that organic acids are used during cooking. This breaks down sucrose into fructose and glucose. To do this, use lemon, wine or acetic acid. But beekeepers have been arguing about this method for years. In any case, acids must be used with caution.

How to make syrup

The preparation of top dressing from sugar requires the observance of some important points.

1. Use clean dishes that are not able to oxidize. It can be enameled pots, buckets.
2. Sugar is chosen pure, natural, not refined, not containing various additives.
3. The entire volume of sugar is poured into a container and poured with the required amount of boiling water. Mix everything thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved.
4. Cool the finished product. The temperature should be close to the temperature of fresh milk.
5. Fill with delicacy feeders, honeycombs.

Important!

Boil syrup for bees is strictly prohibited. Even a small part of burnt sugar can provoke the death of a family.

A large number is contraindicated in a weak family. It is important that dosages are observed.

liquid food

To prepare liquid sugar syrup for feeding bees, you will need:

• to prepare one liter of top dressing - 0.6 sugar and the same amount of water;
• 5 liters of sweet top dressing will be obtained from 3 kg of sugar and 3 liters of water;
• To get 10 liters of liquid treats, you need 6 kilograms of sugar and 6 liters of water.

The resulting top dressing is given after the worker bee has made its first flight.

dense feed

Top dressing with a thick delicacy is carried out in the cold season. It is important that this is carried out in winter and continues until the first flight. This ensures good egg production by the queen. Cooking thick is not difficult, following the recommendations and proportions presented:

• for 1 liter - 0.6 water and 8 kg. Sahara;
• for 5 liters you need to take 4 kg. sugar and 2.7 liters of water;
• 10 liters can be prepared from 8 kg of sugar and 5.5 liters of water.

The food should have a thick, clear consistency. Ready top dressing is stored for no more than a day. In warm conditions top dressing loses its value. A change in color indicates the beginning of the fermentation process. Such top dressing is detrimental to the bees.

Dosage

Caring, practical beekeepers try to leave some of the honey in the hives. Without feeding, the bees will simply die. If there is no honey in the hives, then you should adhere to a certain norm for feeding the bees with sugar syrup in the spring. The table presented above should be in the arsenal of every beekeeper.

1. Thick offer their wards even before the first flight. This will provide good nutrition and provoke the uterus to lay eggs.
2. Liquid is used for the development of a bee family in early spring after the first overflights.

Preparation of invertase

The conversion process is carried out in several ways.

1. Classic invert food is prepared from sugar, water according to the expected proportion with the addition of food acids(vinegar, lemon, wine). Lon is not entirely useful for bees, as it contains a large portion of carbohydrates.
2. Natural invertase is a product of beekeeping and is produced by the bees themselves. This is a high quality feed containing nutritious and fortified components, which is used by families for their own feeding.
3. Industrial invertase. Produced by enterprises on the basis of fungi, yeast. Experienced beekeepers rarely use it, since the product does not contain honey. Such top dressing is necessary in order to increase the immunity reduced over the winter and future productivity.

Sugar Syrup

To prepare such top dressing, 6 liters will be required. ready-made feed, to which citric acid was previously added in an amount of 14 g. The process is slightly different from the usual preparation.

1. Bring 6 liters of water to a boil.
2. Reduce the fire to the minimum possible. Add 7 kg. sugar, stirring constantly. Make sure the sugar doesn't burn.
3. Enter the entire norm of citric acid and simmer with constant stirring for at least an hour.

In the process of languishing over low heat, the sugar in the feed is inverted into glucose and fructose. After the temperature of the syrup is no more than 39 degrees, you can introduce food into the feeders and combs.

Sugar-honey mixture

This mixture does not require cooking, but it is better to cook with strict observance of the proportions:

• water - 2 liters;
• 7.2 kilograms of sugar;
• 750 grams of natural honey;
• 2.4 gr. citric or dry acetic acid.

They cook in one bowl, where all the ingredients are found and poured with warm water (35-40 degrees). Mix everything thoroughly. After that, the solution is kept warm (up to 35 degrees) for 5 days. The syrup must be mixed twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. Feeders can be filled after five days.

Based on industrial invertase

Industrial invertase is purchased in beekeeping stores. For example, it may be the drug "Pchelovit". Preparing the syrup is quite simple, you will need:

• 5 liters of water;
• 5 kilograms of sugar;
• 2 gr. industrial invertase.

Syrup is prepared in the usual way, dilute sugar with boiling water. After the temperature drops to 40 degrees, add the required amount of industrial invertase and mix thoroughly. The prepared solution is kept at room temperature for two days, constantly stirring. This time is enough for fermentation. But it is better if it is transferred to cold conditions to prevent fermentation. Such top dressing is useful in March or in winter.

How to distribute

Beekeepers use several methods of feeding.

1. The easiest way is to fill special feeders that are placed above the nests.
2. If the syrup is liquid, it is poured into a jar. Close the neck with several layers of gauze. Put the neck down on the container (saucer, feeder). It is important to secure the jar, preventing it from turning over.
3. Fill a plastic bag with syrup. Tie, after removing the air. Feed bags are placed on top frames in several places. Make a puncture with a sewing needle in several places.

Many beekeepers prefer to add additives to the syrup in order to increase the immunity of the bees and their reproductive abilities. Usually, a small amount (1-2 drops / 1 liter of syrup) of fir oil is injected.

Why don't bees take syrup?

Lovingly prepared syrup, carefully filled feeders and combs. But the beekeeper notices that the bees refuse to treat and do not take top dressing. There can be several explanations for this phenomenon:

• syrup temperature below 10 degrees;
• the syrup contains feeds that are unpleasant for the bees;
• feed deteriorated.

This important points, since low-quality syrup or its absence can lead to the death of the family.

Experienced beekeepers give beginners useful advice to save and increase your bee colonies.

1. It is necessary to feed the bees only with fresh, high-quality syrup, which is made from natural beet sugar. Cane sugar is not prohibited, but it is necessary to choose it only from a reliable manufacturer. If you make a mistake when choosing sugar, this can lead to the death of families.
2. If you overdo it with additives (fir oil, herbal decoctions), then the bees may refuse the syrup or leave the hive.
3. Late top dressing threatens with early closure of combs.
4. The syrup offered to the bees early will be taken only by the old bees that took part in last year's honey collection. The young will remain hungry, which leads to their death.

Sugar syrup is a great alternative to honey, which helps preserve the natural product. But if such top dressing is carried out constantly, then it threatens to receive low-quality sugar honey, loss of immunity and viability of the family. In the end, such actions lead to the fact that the family may leave the hive or simply die.

Feeding bee colonies is widely used in beekeeping, so every apiary owner should know how to prepare syrup for bees in the spring. First of all, sugar syrup and products based on it in the first days of spring are necessary in order to cheer up weakened bee colonies.

Top dressing is given if brood is found in the nest, because in spring the bees are not only weakened, but also spend a lot of energy while feeding the larvae and maintaining a stable temperature in the nest.

To summarize, the main goals of spring feeding are:

1. stimulation of the uterus and oviposition;
2. support for bee colonies and replenishment of the lack of food;
3. treatment and prevention of diseases by adding to the spring sugar syrup for bees medicines; This type of feeding is given in autumn and spring to strengthen the bees and prevent them from being infected with various diseases.

Remember that in no case should you give syrups to bees in the spring on cold days: in search of its source, they will fly out of the hive, after which they will fall dead to the ground, or they will be blown away by the wind. If there is an urgent need for feeding, then the liquid syrup is placed in the nest in the late afternoon, when the insects are unable to get out of the hive. Top dressing in the cold compensate for the lack of fluid and nutrients.

Bees are not interested in sugar syrup or do not take it: what to do?

Often beekeepers are puzzled by the question: why don't bees take syrup? The reason lies in diseases and the weakened state of insects. In this case, they are sprayed with therapeutic syrups from special spray guns, such as Rosinka. Also, the reason that the bees do not take candy or syrup may be its wrong consistency: too thick or liquid.

Types and concentration of syrups

Sugar feeding for bee colonies in the spring is a delicate matter. It should not be too thick, otherwise you will have to dilute it with water, which may violate the correct proportion. Too liquid sugar syrup harms the bees: they spend too much energy, which leads to the extinction of insects.

1. With 50 percent sucrose, as practice shows, this is the most useful bee syrup;
2. 7-%, but this is a very thick composition, which will be difficult for bees to pick up and seal;
3. 60% is the best option for bees and the beekeeper.

For winter top dressing, 10% honey is added to the syrup.

Recipes for healthy and restorative sugar syrups for bees

Syrups according to certain recipes are not only a useful nourishment, but also a stimulation of development, working capacity or the amount of brood. Let's look at some of them.

Accelerating the work of the uterus in order to increase the number of brood

Such a spring syrup for bees is prepared from sugar and water, taken in equal proportions. For example, for 1 liter of liquid put 1 kg of sugar, and in addition needles. To prepare, put needles in an enamel bowl, add water. Wait for the mixture to boil. It usually takes 5 to 10 minutes for the water to boil. After removing from heat, add sugar and stir until it dissolves.

This recipe is suitable for top dressing in spring or autumn, when the natural food in the combs is not enough.

Top dressing-invert

Invert is a top dressing based on natural honey, which is best perceived by bees. For its preparation, depending on the number of bee families, take 1 liter of water, 1 kg of sugar and 40 g of natural honey for each liter of water.

Spring vitamin dressing with perga

To prepare this top dressing, which is recommended to be given for prevention in the fall and maintaining the strength of bees in the spring, you will need: a kilogram of natural honey, 500 g of pollen, 0.5 l of water. All ingredients are passed through a sieve, infused for 2-3 days and poured either into combs or feeders.

Therapeutic spring dressings

As a rule, the preparation of therapeutic spring dressing differs in that the necessary ingredients are added to it:

• needles,
• hot pepper,
• pure phytoncides,
• natural honey,
• flour,
• milk.

Top dressing Gaidak

The preparation of this spring top dressing will require the following ingredients:

• soy lean flour (3 parts),
• skimmed milk and dry yeast 1 part each,

All ingredients are mixed, and then honey is added. For 3 parts of dressing put 1 part of honey. Further, dense cakes are formed from the resulting mixture, which are placed in frames.

How to make candy sugar syrup?

To prepare this mixture, you will need 300 g of powdered milk, 500 g of powdered sugar and 200 g of sugar syrup. Everything is mixed and, if necessary, a drug is added.

How to prepare nutritious candies for bees for autumn-spring?

Instead of syrup, you can make lollipops: for this, 1 liter of water is boiled, sugar is added, and for each gram of sugar, 50 g of honey. The liquid is boiled until a viscous toffee is obtained.

After reaching the desired consistency, the future lollipops are removed from the fire, ground to a state of fudge and fixed in frames above the nest. Bees take this food well: it strengthens their immunity, is well absorbed and very convenient.

For 1 family for autumn-spring, you will need from 3 kg of candy.

What drugs are added to syrups?

The following medicines are added to syrups for the prevention and treatment of bee diseases:

• Foulbrood. With this disease of bees, oxytetracycline is added to the top dressing (500 thousand units per 150 g for 1 bee street). Top dressing is applied every 6 days until the insects are fully recovered.
• Nosema. For the treatment of this disease, 20 g of fumagilin are dissolved in 25 liters of syrup. They give each family, depending on its size, from 300 to 500 g.

Naturally, in the treatment and prevention of diseases, it is worth cleaning and disinfecting all hives.

Before the onset of the active period of honey collection, feeding of bee colonies with sugar syrup is widely used. This is necessary to improve the health of the worker bee and high productivity.

In this case, it is important to be able to prepare syrup for bees and know the proportions for preparation.

When the bees have not yet begun an active period, they need to be fed on an ongoing basis in order to keep the life of the hive in good shape. But if the supply of honey is not enough, then the insects can get sick or even die. A sugar solution can support normal life. Making it is very simple, water and sugar (or honey) are mixed, and the benefits are enormous. It also has secondary benefits:

1. The productivity of the uterus increases. If the worker honey plants bring little food to the hive, the queen will be repelled by the state of the drones. This is done so as not to risk the young. If the situation is inversely proportional, the queen will be able to lay many eggs. This speaks of in large numbers collected honey in the future.
2. If the insects are sick, the medicine for recovery is diluted in syrup.
3. If honey plants refuse to leave the hive, a tasty drink is the surest way to get them out of there.
4. The solution additionally protects the hive from decay.

The benefits of a sugar drink are enormous, to put it simply, it provides the full life and workforce of bee colonies.

What syrup concentrations are used in beekeeping

Preparing a solution is not difficult. The standard recipe includes a kilogram of sugar per one and a half liters of water. If the solution is liquid, then it is better to apply a similar concentration in the spring, because such a syrup will provoke the bees to fly out of the hive. If the solution is thick, then on the contrary, it will provoke the bees to return to the hive, respectively, it is used in the fall. Below is a list of concentration proportions of sugar syrup, which should be guided:

• thick- this is 2 parts of sugar to 1 part of water (70%);
• medium in density- this is 1 to 1 (50%);
• liquid solution is 1 to 2 (30%).

Important! Do not add pollen or its substitutes to the solution, this will cause diarrhea in the bees.

Spring feeding of bees with sugar syrup

A spring sugar drink is indeed a very useful remedy for bees, but it cannot be considered universal for solving all problems. Before preparing syrup for bees, consider the following nuances:

1. Restocking with a sweet treat is a necessary measure. If you abuse this option, the insects will dramatically lose their strength. To recycle the eaten mixture, will leave large quantity energy, so the body wears out quickly.
2. It is important to feed in March. Insects that participated in last year's gathering will feed on the solution, and the young will refuse, because they do not know what it is. If you start feeding before the appointed time, this threatens the extinction of the young, and there may also be problems with the processing of the syrup.
3. Feeders must be clean. It is important to calculate the amount of servings for each nest, depending on the remains of honey and the strength of the family. Proper complementary foods are a warm composition and a container lubricated with syrup.
4. Sweet treat must be at a certain temperature - 20 ° C. This favorably affects the processing of the solution.

In what proportions and how to prepare the mixture

Any beekeeper should know that these solutions are designed specifically for making fresh honey. The delicacy is easily digestible and contains a whole range of essential nutrients. The mixture includes only two ingredients - water and commercial granulated sugar. When spring feeding bees with sugar syrup, you should follow the following recommendations for cooking:

1. Pour water into the pan in accordance with the selected proportions and set to boil.
2. Immediately after boiling water, slowly pour in the required amount of sand, while stirring the resulting solution. This is necessary so that the mixture does not burn, otherwise the insects will refuse to eat it.
3. There should be no sediment left in the finished solution, if any, this means that the drink is spoiled and low-quality ingredients were used in the preparation.
4. The solution is removed from the stove and allowed to cool. To add additional herbal mixture or other medicines, wait until the mixture is warm.

Note! If you add 10% honey to the solution, then it will be better absorbed.

Features of preparing top dressing in autumn

Usually, autumn feeding begins in early August and ends no later than September 12. If top dressing is carried out later, then they are considered not physiological, at this time the bees can get very sick.

If you start top dressing in September, this will give impetus to the work of special glands in the body of bees. They consume a lot of proteins. Similar processes were previously activated for wintering bees. In this case, she will go to winter more weakened. In this case, it is also important to take into account the appropriate proportions for the preparation of sugar syrup for bees.

Before the start of baiting, the combs are removed and special, small-sized feeders are put in their place. Beekeepers most often use small bottles, plastic bags as feeders, it is most convenient to use them in order to pour the mixture and install it in containers. But The best decision- This is the use of ceiling feeders. They are suitable for beekeepers who use multi-hull hives on their site. To do this, the upper part is left empty so that the insects can freely fly through the hole, and the feeder itself is installed from below.

To obtain all the necessary substances, in the fall, top dressing should be viscous, that is, have a higher concentration. To do this, you need to mix the ingredients in the following proportions:

• 2 kg of sugar per 1 liter of water;

Most often, inverted sugar is used for feeding in the fall. It is used for better absorption and can be easily prepared by yourself. Russian beekeepers make it according to the recipe of I. A. Melnichuk:

• honey - 7.5%;
• sugar - 74%;
• water - 18.5%;
• concentrated acetic acid - 0.03%.

After combining all the ingredients, the solution is infused for a week at a temperature of 35-36 ° C.

But there are other recipes for preparing a solution:

• 3 kg of sugar;
• 2 liters of water.

Most often, water is boiled first, and then sugar is poured in, in the same way as with spring feeding of bees. Chop and leave to cool for several hours. After add 1 ml of 70% vinegar essence in the proportion of 0.3 ml per 1 kg of sugar.

Table for calculating sugar syrup for bees

Below is a table with the required proportions so that there are no problems with the preparation of a bee drink:

Determination of the need for top dressing

Feeding is needed in the following cases:

1. If an insufficient amount of honey was stored for the winter.
2. To stimulate insects to raise young offspring at a time when there are no flowering plants.
3. If there were sick bee colonies in the apiary in the past, in order to prevent foul diseases.
4. In the spring, when there is not enough food in the hives.

Summing up, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. Syrup for feeding should be only fresh, prepared exclusively from natural products.
2. If you add artificial ingredients, then insects can get sick.
3. You can not give a drink early, because only the old bees who participated in last year's gathering will take it, which will lead to the death of the young.
4. The drink must be at a certain temperature so that the bees do not refuse it.

Sugar syrup for bees by nature serves them as a wonderful top dressing! Especially it concerns winter period when there is a lack of food in the hive and harmony is broken.

In the spring, it is also used for food, since the bees are weakened, and the combs do not yet have the amount of honey that is necessary for the full nutrition of the whole family.

Why sugar syrup should always be in abundance?

• it prevents the formation of rot in the hives;
• serves as a preventive measure for various diseases.
• it raises the immunity of bees and helps to quickly cope with carriers of viruses from nature and get harmony in the hive.

The preparation of sugar syrup must be precise, because if it is too thick, the bees will need additional moisture to turn it into a more liquid and acceptable food.

And if the food for bees, on the contrary, is too liquid, then this leads to the fact that they are forced to spend much more energy, which subsequently leads to their rapid extinction.

Types of sugar concentration

1. Most of all, as practice shows, the syrup that is prepared with inversion, where the percentage of sucrose is 50%, is useful.
2. If you prepare a syrup with a concentration of 70%, then it will be difficult for the bee colony to pick up and seal such a thick composition.
3. The best result is obtained when feeding with sugar syrup with a concentration of 60%.

Experienced beekeepers for the winter harmony of bees recommend adding 10% natural honey to top dressing.

Recipes

As already mentioned, carbohydrates are beneficial for striped babies by nature, and are necessary for the harmonious development of the insect family.

Queen syrup (to increase brood count)

To prepare bee food:

• 1 liter of water;
• 1 kg of sugar;
• cobalt chloride.

The introduction of natural stimulants, such as phytoncides, into feeding works very effectively.

Syrup with phytoncides

Similar food for bees is prepared from the following ingredients:

• 10 liters of hot water;
• 1.5 kg of sugar;
• needles or pine.

1. Needles or pine needles are laid out in an enameled bucket with a volume of approximately 10 liters.
2. Then the entire space of the bucket is filled with hot water.
3. When the infusion settles, it is poured through a sieve into a convenient container.
4. Sugar is added.

Such food is prepared when there is not enough natural nutrition in the combs.

invert syrup

Invert is a syrup in which natural honey is present. A good inverted feed is obtained if 40 grams of honey is allocated per 1 kilo of sugar. Invert syrup is much healthier than regular syrup, as it aids in the process of inverting sugar into glucose.

Honey-perg top dressing

Required:

• 1 kg of honey;
• 500 grams of perga;
• 0.5 l hot water.

1. The whole mixture is passed through a sieve and allowed to brew for about 2 days.
2. They give 0.5 liters per family in 2 days. You can fill it in honeycombs and feeders.

All these types of sugar food for bees will provide them with vitamins and microelements for a good wintering and spring honey plant. After such feeding, your bees are provided with complete harmony.