The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Bees & Beekeeping => Topic started by: Laurieston on October 07, 2013, 11:37:17 pm
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We are feeding out colonies at the moment, mostly 2:1 sugar/water, but also some honey left over from last year (back into the same hive). However, when we went to replenish the feeder today my co-beekeeper (my 9 yr. old daughter) asked why we did not use the sugar cakes as the bees do not drown in those.
Seemed a good question, so I thought I'd ask.
(by sugar cakes I mean white sugar dampened and pressed and into cake/biscuit shapes and dried)
Any thoughts?
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My basic understanding is that the sugar syrup (I'm feeding the inverted syrup at the moment) is easier for them to take down into the hive. If you've got a proper feeder, they shouldn't drown in it. The problem with syrup is that they have to remove water from it before they can cap it. That's much easier when it's warm as it is now than it is in the depths of winter. So in late winter/early spring, they get fondant because they can use it straight away without needing to dehydrate it but it's not quite as right for them as sugar syrup.
H
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You can use 1:1 syrup for laying down the winter stock of food , if the feeder allows hang or pin some green Scotch bright pad into the sugar off the feeder wall , so they can use it as a door mat and walk to the syrup without drowning in it.
Another way is to float a very thin section of polystyrene in the top of the feeder , making the styrene almost an exact fit into the feeder, then poke half a dozen holes in it with a sharpened pencil so the bees can drink syrup out the holes as it floats over the syrup .