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Off the Wahl Beekeeping
New(ish) Beekeeper Column

Feeding Your Bees
By: Richard Wahl

Background
For the previous two years I’ve been a companion mentor with 4 or 5 different beekeepers which have supplied on-site, hands-on instruction to starting or potential beekeepers. The brand new beekeepers are inspired to take care of one hive at both of two collaborating farm areas by way of the ten month course. For greater than thirty years, the Southeast Michigan Beekeepers Affiliation (SEMBA) has managed this bee faculty which may concurrently deal with as much as thirty college students at every location. All through the period of the course, which meets on common as soon as a month, one of many extra incessantly requested questions is expounded to, “When, what and the way typically do we have to feed our bees?”

Feeding bees some type of granulated sugar may appear counterproductive to the brand new beekeeper. In different phrases, why spend cash on a meals supply for the bees which can be alleged to be producing that meals supply, honey? Contemplate the truth that whereas granulated sugar could be bought for round 70 cents a pound, or much less if in bigger portions, you may typically promote honey for greater than $8.00 a pound. So when there’s a dearth, the shortage of a nectar circulate, or an extended, exhausting Winter, it might be smart to feed the bees throughout these “emergency” instances to maintain your bees wholesome and at their productive peak.

As with most issues in beekeeping, there’s not one particular reply to the query about feeding bees. Whereas feeding bees could seem controversial for some, there are occasions when feeding stands out as the final resort to save lots of an in any other case ravenous hive. I’ll endeavor to offer some concepts and choices which have labored for me over the previous fifteen years in addition to to supply some strategies that I do know are utilized by different space beekeepers.

Winter Feeding
There are a number of causes when feeding previous to or by way of the Winter could also be required. If sturdy hives enter the Winter season with a heavy inhabitants of bees there won’t be an ample provide of saved honey to get them by way of the Winter. This can be as a result of beekeeper taking an excessive amount of honey from the hive, a late Summer season assortment of a swarm, a poor nectar circulate within the Fall or if the hive went by way of a robbing occasion. In any of those instances, heavy inhabitants, robbing or a dearth attributable to climate variations, feeding could also be simply sufficient to get that hive by way of to the following season. I like to attend till simply earlier than, throughout or after the Christmas holidays so as to add a granulated sugar feeder to my hives on a kind of rare heat, sunny Winter days.

I wait till across the holidays so as to add that sort of feeder to my hives for the reason that sugar in its refined state is tougher for the bees to digest than a syrup answer. If cane sugar is added too quickly within the Fall and the bees take a liking to it prior to anticipated, it may possibly trigger a dysentery outbreak among the many bees. That is evidenced by streaks of orange-brown bee poop everywhere in the outdoors of the hive and significantly close to any entrances. A nosema outbreak will even present these attribute orange-brown streaks however will likely be accompanied by bee’s incapacity to fly with many lifeless or dying bees close to hive entrances and a number of bee poop on inside combs and frames.

Baking parchment paper over ½ inch wire mesh with Winter feeder set above prime deep frames. Observe how bees work from one chewed by way of space.

My sugar feeder consists of a half inch wire mesh (referred to as {hardware} material) with one inch bent up sides stapled to a 3 inch spacer body, the identical measurement as my deeps, with the wire about ¼ inch above the underside fringe of the body. The ¼ inch house leaves sufficient room for the bees to maneuver round on the highest of frames slightly below the feeder wire which holds a sheet of baking parchment paper additionally folded up about an inch on all sides. I’ve discovered that the waxed cookie sheet baking paper is only a bit tougher for the bees to chew by way of than newspaper. A knife slit in a number of locations offers the bees a chew by way of place to begin. With newspaper the bees chew most of it in a short time and far of the sugar falls by way of to the frames and backside of the hive and goes unused.

Since bees have a tendency to maneuver upward as they undergo their honey shops, there’s a lot much less waste if the sugar could be contained above. The sugar above additionally serves as a moisture absorbent and collects a lot of the condensation that might in any other case drip down on the bees. If there’s nonetheless sugar left once I do my first thorough hive inspection of all of the frames, simply after the primary Spring dandelion heavy bloom, I accumulate any remaining sugar clumps and retailer them in a 5 gallon lined pail to reuse subsequent season. A body of this measurement will simply maintain 4 to 5 kilos of sugar poured onto the waxed baking parchment paper.

It took me 4 or 5 years to maneuver to the granulated sugar Winter feeding as earlier than that I used to be making exhausting sweet boards. A sweet board seems like an inverted telescoping outer cowl that measures the identical measurement because the hive tremendous which eliminates the overlapped telescoping. Within the middle, a chunk of two×4 is glued with a two inch gap by way of the two×4 and the sweet board ground. This gap serves as an air vent whereas the two×4 serves as a raised space so the candied sugar won’t run out when poured whereas in its liquid part. A water tight glue is used to carry every part collectively. I spent a couple of minutes with the sweet board stuffed with water to make certain there aren’t any leaks earlier than eradicating the water and pouring within the candied sugar answer.

An empty exhausting sweet board feeder.

On my first try utilizing this technique, I caused 5 kilos of sugar in a cup of water to a rolling boil in a too small ten quart pot. For the reason that continuously stirred rolling boil wants to succeed in a temperature of round 250°F (121°C) in my space (temperature will depend on your land elevation), I couldn’t attain that temperature with out the sugar slurry effervescent excessive of the pot. I needed to name for my spouse’s assist to pour half the combo into one other pot which she continued to warmth and stir as my half of the cloudy combine grew to become clear when reaching the specified exhausting sweet temperature. At that time it was allowed to chill to between 180° and 200° after which was poured into the sweet board. My spouse’s half within the second pot quickly reached the specified temp and was additionally poured into the sweet board. After letting it cool and solidify over night time the sweet board was positioned on a hive (with sweet aspect down). The primary 12 months I used this, I didn’t get the sweet board on my double deep hive till mid-February. By the point dandelions have been out in power, signaling time for a full Spring inspection, the bees had licked the exhausting sweet board over a ten body deep spotless and fully clear. I feel it’s apparent why utilizing the granulated sugar is way simpler than the exhausting sweet technique which requires the cooking stage.

One other technique utilized by some beekeepers is so as to add simply sufficient water to sugar to make it stick collectively and harden in a mould. A typical recipe for that is 5 kilos of sugar blended with a cup of water. A small portion of powdered bee feed can be added to this combine to complement any protein wants. It’s not unusual to see recipes name for a tablespoon of vinegar added as a preservative to preclude spoilage or molding. There are numerous recipes advised by respected bee sources on the web.

I do know of some beekeepers who additionally like to make use of fondant as a supplemental meals supply. It’s believed that fondant is softer and simpler for the bees to digest because the sucrose sugar became fondant has already been damaged down into the extra primary glucose and fructose parts nearer to being just like the flower nectars. Making bee fondant out of sugar requires some cooking steps. As soon as once more, numerous recipes could be discovered on-line beneath making fondant for bees. If retailer purchased fondant is used, ensure it consists solely of cane sugar or corn syrup and doesn’t have extraneous components as these components could be detrimental to the bees.

Within the case of dampened sugar molds or fondant made into patties for bees, some sort of spacer will likely be wanted to offer sufficient room for these patties or sugar truffles to relaxation on the highest of the frames beneath the inside cowl with out blocking the inside cowl middle vent gap. Choose whichever technique you might be most comfy with and feed your bees to get by way of the Winter. I’ve discovered that bees solely resort to those added dietary supplements if their very own honey shops have been exhausted or are unreachable because the bees transfer upward by way of their hives. A most disappointing Spring inspection is to search out lifeless bees with their heads caught in empty comb cells and discover that the hive has starved.

Spring Feeding
I’ve a dozen full grown maple bushes in my yard and there’s one that’s all the time first to have its buds pop open. On a heat, sunny day, normally the primary week in March, standing beneath that tree is like being in the course of a beehive. To the uninitiated, the excitement of the bees gathering nectar could be disturbing. I take advantage of this sign as a time to verify my Winter sugar feeders and so as to add extra sugar if wanted and likewise a pollen patty to the feeders. That is when the queen is starting to put extra eggs and the hive is coming alive for the next Summer season. It’s also the time when there will likely be few different pollen or nectar sources till the heavier dandelion bloom which happens across the final week in April or first week of Could, almost two months later.

This era is when bees are probably to starve if there should not sufficient honey shops or meals dietary supplements supplied by me, the beekeeper. What I normally discover is that ⅓ of my hives have completely used up the Winter sugar provide. An extra ⅓ can have partially consumed the sugar, whereas the remaining ⅓ won’t have touched the supplemental sugar. The identical appears to be true with the pollen patties, however not essentially matching the usage of the cane sugar. This could possibly be the results of some hives having an ample provide of pollen and/or saved honey or presumably a larger quantity or extra environment friendly group of bees gathering the early out there pollen and/or having a larger quantity of saved honey.

As soon as the dandelions are in full bloom, once I full my first deep hive inspections, I take away any remaining supplemental sugar which is now typically in clumps attributable to its moisture absorption by way of the Winter. Any unused pollen patties are additionally eliminated, but when bees are utilizing them, they’re transferred to the tops of the frames. Use of the baking parchment paper permits me to gather and retailer unused sugar in a lined, 5 gallon bucket till subsequent season.

Provided that there’s a dearth occurring will I complement hives with sugar syrup. A dearth happens when there’s greater than two to a few weeks of no rain. After two or three weeks, the vegetation could also be producing flowers, however they aren’t producing a lot nectar or pollen as they’re supporting new progress, root growth and nectar or pollen manufacturing is the very first thing to be curtailed. If I determine to separate a hive and the cut up has restricted honey or pollen shops I’ll present the hive with a sugar syrup combine and a partial pollen patty.

A quart jar Boardman feeder.

Within the Spring, a one to 1 elements water to sugar is advisable. The one to 1 combine by quantity most almost equates to the nectar the bees would in any other case be gathering from flowers. I take advantage of a funnel to pour 4 to eight cups of sugar in a rinsed out plastic milk jug then add the identical quantity of heat water. A very good shake of the capped jug three or 4 instances at ten to fifteen minute intervals is sufficient to dissolve the sugar which may then be poured into any sort of feeder the beekeeper prefers. I like to make use of the black body feeders with any ten body deep splits and the quart jar Boardman feeders on any 5 body nucleus (nuc) splits.

Bees in a cut up with a number of frames of quickly to emerge brood can simply devour the gallon body feeder or quart jar feeder in every week if there isn’t any exterior nectar circulate occurring. If there’s a nectar circulate the bees will usually accumulate from nature as a substitute of utilizing the equipped sugar syrup.

Summer season Feeding
For Summer season feeding of captured swarms, full measurement or 5 body nuc splits, I take advantage of the identical sugar syrup combine as for Spring feeding. If there’s a concern for spoilage or mould, most suggestions I’ve learn say so as to add a tablespoon of vinegar per gallon of combine. Actual proportions should not important for the sugar syrup combine, however needs to be comparatively shut. Just a few days previous to inserting honey supers on the hive, any feeders ought to have been eliminated. This precludes bees shifting any sugar syrup shops into the honey supers. You need the honey that’s collected to be constituted of nectar sources and never from the sugar syrup you’ve gotten supplied. If there’s a good nectar circulate on, I like so as to add two honey supers for the bees to work in. When there are just one or two partial or empty frames left that aren’t getting used within the prime or single deep for brood or nectar storage or in an almost stuffed honey tremendous, it’s time to add the following honey tremendous.

Fall Feeding

The black body feeder holds one gallon and replaces one deep body. Wooden discs float in every feeder gap to keep away from bees drowning.

In our space of southeast Michigan, the bloom of the Fall purple aster and goldenrod involves an finish someday in late September or early October, relying on the climate. This happens simply as the primary nightly frosts start and is my sign to think about Fall feeding. If there was a Fall dearth on account of a dry spell, I’ll start feeding the Fall sugar syrup combine in a two elements sugar to 1 half water ratio a bit sooner. The heavier sugar to water ratio gives a larger sucrose content material and requires much less effort by the bees to take away extra water.

A bucket feeder on prime of inside cowl that will likely be surrounded by an empty tremendous with an outer cowl on prime.

If it has been a moist Fall, understanding the Fall flowers are offering ample nectar, I’ll wait a bit longer earlier than placing on feeders. For the Fall season, I just like the gallon or half gallon buckets which have a small screened gap within the prime set inverted over the inside cowl gap. When flipping the bucket to inverted, don’t achieve this over the hive as there will likely be a small quantity of seepage from the screened gap within the cowl till a vacuum has shaped within the bucket, and ensure the quilt is on securely. Encompass this with an empty tremendous with the usual outer cowl and solely the bees within the hive can get to the feeder.

Most of the time I will likely be eradicating emptied honey supers from on prime of inside covers that I had beforehand positioned there for the bees to wash out. Generally the hive bees will clear out emptied honey supers positioned on this method as they aren’t perceived to be part of the hive. Within the occasion bees do begin changing nectar in a honey tremendous merely transfer it to a special hive for cleanout.

As soon as temperatures constantly fall beneath freezing at night time, it’s time to cease with sugar syrup and wait to find out when to put Winter feeders on the hives, which brings us full circle to the start of this text. Like most issues in beekeeping, feeding is just not an actual science. The one factor I can say is that feeding has saved a few of my hives throughout our variable Michigan Winters, whereas early in my beekeeping expertise a scarcity of feeding had, from time to time, resulted in a hive sadly ravenous. Hold good notes and regulate your feeding routine to your wants. Feed judiciously as wanted and it’ll turn into a vital step in turning into a sustainable beekeeper.