Beverley
Beekeepers' Association
The
local Beekeeping Association for East Yorkshire
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Feeding
Bees
Why do we need to feed bees?
You
will need to feed bees if you find they are running low on
stores and they are likely to starve. This is most likely
to be in spring when a cold spell develops after a ‘false’
spring.
Bees benefit from feeding to encourage comb building such
as for a newly hived swarm or after artificially swarming a
colony.
A colony will need feeding in the autumn if the beekeeper
has taken all the honey stores for himself. The third week
in September is usually an ideal time.
What
do we feed and how do we do it?
Proprietary
feeds exist but a white sugar solution (syrup) is quite
satisfactory. Two strengths are used –
In autumn you should use a ≈60% sugar solution (w/w), made
up from 2 lb sugar dissolved into 1 pint of very hot water
(1 kg into 600 ml). This is stirred until clear and allowed
to cool before feeding to the bees.
In spring or summer use a weaker solution of ≈45% (w/w)
made up from 1 lb sugar dissolved into 1 pint of very hot
water (1 kg into 1200 ml). This is stirred until clear and
allowed to cool.
You may feed back your own honey but never feed anyone
else’s and certainly never commercially produced honey.
This could introduce diseases.
Feeding a colony can make it vulnerable to robbing. To
avoid this start feeding in the evening after the bees have
stopped flying, be careful not to spill any syrup around
the hive, and feed all hives at the same time.
Feeders
Various
designs of feeder have been devised for feeding syrup.
Contact
feeders
come in a range from 5 litres down to 1 lb honey jar size.
These are inverted over the feed hole in a crown board and
allow bees to take syrup from a fine mesh. They are
particularly good for feeding in cold weather.
Rapid feeders
can be as large as 10 litres and are good for feeding large
quantities. Miller or Ashworth feeders replace the crown
board whilst the smaller plastic rapid feeders are placed
over the crown board holes. They can be topped up in-situ
and are thus useful for a home apiary.
Frame feeders and entrance feeders have been used in the
past but are seldom used these days.
How
much do we feed?
For spring feeds and swarms a litre or two should suffice,
but autumn feeding will require at least 10 litres
depending on existing stores in the brood box. The aim
should be to achieve stores of 35 lb. If insufficient
feeding was given in autumn winter feeding will be
necessary. This should not be as syrup but as fondant or
candy. Fondant can be made at home but it is easier to buy
it from beekeeping suppliers. In an emergency a bag of
sugar can be pierced through in a few places and soaked in
a bucket of water to saturate it before being placed over
the crown board feeder hole.