Any person who deals with bees or is just planning to have them needs to know one very important point: If you want honey in the summer, don’t skimp on it in the spring!
What's the point? Let me give you an example.
Nectar for a bee (food) is like gasoline for a car. The more fuel, the further, more confident, and faster the trip. If the car has an empty tank, the driver is unlikely to plan a long trip, right? And it will be somewhat scary to drive, because at any moment the engine can stall. By remembering and always keeping this simple association in mind, you can make the life of your wards a lot easier.
In spring, especially early, there are very few plants in nature that secrete nectar. And we need to feed our favorite insects continuously, and also feed the children. This means that the beekeeper is obliged to help them. In general, I believe that the role of a true, real beekeeper is “as simple as a rake” - to help the bees always and in everything! This is one of the principles of my beekeeping philosophy.
Honey is full
I really hope that my opinion regarding bee food will coincide with the opinion of the vast majority of beekeepers: the best food is honey. Of course, we understand that in many situations it is simply not possible to feed bees with honey for a variety of objective reasons. And then other foods come to our aid, which can replace honey relatively efficiently: honey feed, sugar syrup, candy, sugar candy, etc. But most of all, in composition and its main qualities, it is close to the natural carbohydrate original - honey.
Honey satiety is essentially honey diluted in water. Concentration may vary. It depends on the purpose of feeding. For example, if bees are fed in early spring, then the amount of water will be minimal, since at this time liquid food can provoke bees to fly out of the hive in search of fresh nectar and, accordingly, these bees will be doomed. In this case, the honey is simply dissolved (if it is crystallized) in a water bath, avoiding overheating, and mixed with water in proportions of approximately one to ten (one part water to ten parts honey). This type of honey is of moderate thickness and is easily transferred by bees from feeders to the nest. At the same time, food reserves in the nest are replenished and the queen begins to work better.
Liquid honey feed can be prepared using proportions of one to one or two to one (two parts of water to one part of food). In the first case, the consistency is medium in thickness, and in the second, it is more liquid. The second recipe is just an option for encouraging bees to fly out for nectar. Thus, by giving liquid food to the bees, we seem to be telling them: “Girls, the flowers are filled with nectar! Forward!" and the uterus also understands this signal and begins to worm intensively. Moreover, liquid food brought into the hive by worker bees has a greater effect on scarring than thick food. That is, if the beekeeper sees that the weather is more or less warm, often sunny, and the majority of the bees are still sitting in the hives, then incentive feeding is simply necessary. I am a supporter of annual incentive feeding for all families without exception.
Also, regarding the preparation of honey, I would like to add the following: honey should only be taken that was prepared by healthy families. Under no circumstances use honey from sick colonies, as this can lead to very serious consequences and, if it does not destroy it, will greatly weaken the bee colony. Also, you should not take honey from other, unverified beekeepers.
Sugar syrup
Next in line on our list of the most popular spring fertilizers is feeding with sugar syrup.
The first thing you should pay attention to is the sugar itself. Although in the spring, the quality of sugar does not play a special role, but when feeding in winter this issue should not be overlooked.
Let me digress a little and say a few words about autumn-winter themes. Beekeepers often complain to each other that they prepared their families for winter according to all the rules: they assembled the nest properly, fed them plenty of sugar syrup, fearing crystallization of honey in the combs, treated them for mites, thoroughly insulated them, properly organized ventilation, took them to the winter hut, and in the spring they discovered that that weak families were crumbling and there were traces of nosematosis everywhere. Question: what's wrong?
Perhaps the answer lies in low-quality sugar. In winter, bees do not have the opportunity to periodically fly around and thereby empty their intestines of feces. But it is quite likely that during a cold winter such a need may arise more than once. Sugar syrup prepared with yellow sugar, and even worse, with brown sugar, has an ambiguous effect on the digestion of bees. And also the addition of medicinal and, as it seems to us, stimulating fertilizers to the syrup causes indigestion of bees and a desire to empty the intestines as quickly as possible. This leads to diarrhea with all that it entails. The conclusion is this: when replenishing feed supplies for the winter, exclude all kinds of additives and use only high-quality white sugar or honey that will not crystallize.
In the spring, since bees have the ability to periodically fly around, the quality of sugar does not play a special role and preventive, therapeutic, stimulating additives can be used, and in some cases necessary.
The thickness or consistency of the sugar syrup can be different and, as in the case of honey syrup, is determined by the beekeeper based on his goals. If you feed it in early spring it will be thick. Feed “on the worm” and provoke a mass flight in search of nectar and pollen - liquid.
Thick syrup is prepared based on the proportions of one to two (one part water and two parts sugar). Liquid - on the contrary, two to one. The average concentration is achieved by mixing sugar and water in equal parts.
You need to prepare sugar syrup only in clean containers, it is better if they are enameled, but it is also possible in aluminum. Bring the water to a boil and immediately add sugar. Then stir vigorously for several minutes until completely dissolved. Once dissolved, remove from heat. Do not cook! Don't boil! Don't let the sugar burn! Then cool, but not completely, but to 20-30 degrees, since bees will not readily take cold syrup.
To prevent nosematosis, you can prepare syrup with added acetic acid. Dissolve a kilogram of sugar in a liter of water and add three grams of acetic acid. That is, equal volumes of sugar and water, and for every kg of sugar three grams of acetic acid. Give families the mixture three or four times a little at a time (300-500 g) every few days.
It is better to use feeders in the spring of small volume, because the longer the time (total duration) feeding takes place, the better, and the less likely it is that the syrup will have time to sour in such a volume.
In general, there are no special tricks in feeding bees in the spring. Although... there is an interesting natural way to stimulate egg laying and accelerate the development of families. It is natural, this is very important! And it consists in using pine infusion for spring feeding.
So, now, as for protein food.
Protein supplement
In spring, the beekeeper’s main goal is to increase the total mass of bees by creating all the necessary conditions in the nest. One of these conditions can be called the presence protein feed in sufficient quantities. To raise brood, you need not only honey and water, but also beebread and pollen. While there are no pollen carriers in nature that could continuously provide families with the required amount of fresh pollen, the beekeeper must take care of this.
Starting in the fall, based on the total number of colonies going into winter, the beekeeper must prepare frames with beebread. The number of these frames must at least match the number of bee colonies going into winter. It would be better if there were more beebread frames.
During the main harvest, if, along with nectar, bees bring a large amount of pollen to the hive (and this happens most often), then the beekeeper needs to remove these excesses using pollen traps. If this is not done, then the frames will be heavily covered with pollen and this may adversely affect both the volume of the brood nest and the amount of honey in general, since the queen will not have room for sowing, and the bees will be forced to store freshly brought nectar in the cells , which are partly already occupied by pollen.
I know that there are often cases when you take out a heavy sealed full-copper frame for pumping, print it out, put it in the honey extractor, pump out the honey, and when you take it out of the honey extractor you realize that the frame has not become any lighter. You look into the cells - it’s full of beebread. This is how bees fill the bee bread with honey and seal it due to the lack of free space for nectar, and due to the beekeeper’s little control over the total volume of pollen entering the hive. Although, in this way you can preserve bee bread and it will be stored much better and longer without losing its properties.
By the way, beebread frames must be stored in a dry place. Otherwise, the bee bread becomes moldy, ferments, and such food will do more harm than good. In winter, frames need to be protected from possible severe freezing. It’s good if you have an underground winter hut with good ventilation, in which temperature changes are minimized. It is advisable to place all feed reserves there for storage.
In the spring, you can also prepare protein candy, in the event that there are no beebread frames, but the bee pollen prepared in the summer is sufficient. It is prepared like this: 400-500 grams of honey, one kilogram of pollen and 3.5 kg of powdered sugar. How to cook kandi is described in detail in the article ““. Distribute in the same way as usual. We pack in bags (400-500g), make flat cakes, scratch the cellophane on one side with a fork and place this side on top of the frames, then canvas and insulation.
In order to be in good shape and have good health, you need to eat not only tasty foods, but also healthy ones. And there are more useful substances in natural products. Nowadays, finding a completely natural product is somewhat problematic.
What is honey syrup and what does it consist of?
In this article we will talk about a truly natural product - honey syrup. Syrups come from distant France, but they were first invented and cooked by the Arabs. If we translate the word “syrup”, we literally get “drink”.
Syrup is a concentrated solution of sugar, usually in some kind of fruit juice. Honey syrup is especially popular. From natural honey, the syrup is transparent and viscous.
The basis of honey syrup is. Bee honey contains a lot of sugars, so people suffering from diabetes should use this product with caution.
To prepare honey syrup you will need natural honey, sugar, and clean water.
Natural bee honey has high energy and nutritional value. The resulting drink is used as a sauce in cooking. It is often used to prepare various cocktails. Thanks to honey syrup, you can emphasize the piquant taste of products and focus attention on them.
Honey syrup for pancakes
This product is also very popular in home cooking; pancake lovers will especially like it; its delicate, pleasant taste will not leave anyone indifferent. Read the recipe for this wonderful product below. And, of course, honey syrup is used in confectionery.
Honey syrup is often combined with alcoholic drinks. Honey syrup is added to vodka, orange juice, lemon juice, etc. Spices are often used additionally: ginger and cinnamon.
As practice has shown, you just need to prepare honey syrup, and you will find a use for it very quickly. So it is used for baking baklava, gingerbread and honey gingerbread. This sweetness can be poured over porridges, puddings and pancakes. Don't forget about such dessert as ice cream.
Almost all oriental spices are prepared using honey syrup. But domestic cuisine is unthinkable without this sweet drink. Those who often spoil their loved ones with donuts know that they taste much better with honey syrup. To prepare honey syrup you will need few ingredients and even less time.
Pure water is poured into the pan and natural honey is placed. Proportions 1/1. Stir the liquid over moderate heat until the honey melts. A minute before readiness, pour one tablespoon of honey into the syrup. It is imperative to ensure that the syrup does not boil, otherwise all the beneficial properties will be lost twice as much.
Honey feed for feeding bees recipe
Honey syrup has not been ignored in beekeeping either. He was given a specific name - honey satiation. This is the same a solution of water and honey, only in different ratios. To obtain honey satiety, simply dilute natural honey in already cooled boiled water. Achieve complete dissolution of honey crystals if the honey has already crystallized. The resulting honey syrup is poured into bee feeders. Honey satiety can be liquid, medium or thick in consistency.
For different consistencies Different amounts of honey are required. So for liquid honey you need to take half the amount of honey and water. To obtain average honey satiety, take equal parts of water and honey. It will take four times as much water to get a thick, honey-rich honey.
The bees are fed thick honey so that they can replenish their food reserves. For the purpose of stimulating feeding, the bees are fed medium-thick, full food. Liquid honey is used to sprinkle bees during the union of bee families.
As a rule, the time comes before their cleansing flight. Since the bees' intestines are already clogged by this time, it is recommended to use only syrup, without seasoning it with additives or pollen.
How to do without sugar syrup to feed bees?
In the apiary you can do without using sugar syrup, even for medicinal fertilizers. It is clear that many people do not want to use honey syrups for economic reasons. You can do it wisely. To do this, you can use the remaining honey after pumping it out of the frames. The honey remains on the cast, even if you try to clean it off.
When the beam is reheated in a wax furnace, honey comes out along with steam and condensate. It is this mixture that can then be used to obtain honey satiety. You just need to keep the wax melter on low heat, and not boil it too much.
Such honey syrup can be rolled up with iron lids and lowered into a cool cellar, and, if necessary, the crust can be used. Such a honey product will not ferment in the cellar. In addition, if you need to add various drugs that have a smell, this honey will cover them up.
How to Make Honey Lemon Syrup for Baking
A very popular recipe for honey syrup for baking is the following:
Recipe: Take 6 tablespoons of fresh, high-quality honey, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and about 10 mint leaves. To prepare this syrup, you need to pour freshly squeezed lemon juice into a bowl. Then mix it with honey and crushed mint leaves. Mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous suspension is formed.
Then move our honey syrup into a dark-colored vessel so that the sun's rays do not fall on it. Let the mixture sit for some time, and very soon you will get the desired honey syrup for baking. It is very tasty, and also healthy for our body.
With this syrup you can prepare a lot of delicious dishes: donuts in honey syrup, Chuck-Chuck in syrup, eggplant appetizer, etc.
Honey diluted with water is called satiated. A full meal is called fatty if it contains half the amounts of honey and water; it is given to bees that do not have their own honey. Those bees who have their own honey and want to induce them to lay eggs are given food consisting of a liter of honey and two liters of water; such a well-fed diet is called poor.
The main purpose of feeding bees well is to ensure that the queen lays as many eggs as possible; As a result, such feeding is called raising the apiary for brood or for strength. The so-called incentive feeding. In the spring, on gauze in 1-2 layers, give 200 g of candied honey per frame under the canvas. During prolonged inclement weather, feeding honey is repeated.
How to cook a meal
The feed for brood feeding is prepared without roots, very simply. Having put a liter of honey in a pot, pour a liter of hot water into it, and when the honey dissolves after stirring, the meal is ready. In the same way, the poor woman will get full if she adds two liters of water to a liter of honey.
If syta is prepared from herd honey with wax, then you need to take, depending on the purity, one third or one quarter more honey, pour in warm water and, after shaking the mixture, collect the wax and squeeze it out by hand.
Beekeepers add various drugs to the food, such as: potion, roots, ant oil, ants, dried queen bees, lard, pepper, ginger, cloves, vodka, etc. and so on. But I advise preparing for the first feeding only according to the above recipe, and not according to any other, and then only to cleanse the bees. When preparing food for later feeding, you should not add anything at all, neither roots nor vodka, and take only honey and water, because all other additions are now completely unnecessary.
In extreme need, you can make a meal from ordinary white sugar (feeding unrefined yellow sugar is dangerous for bees). For 0.5 kg of sugar, take a liter of water and make a solution over fire, skimming the foam from the surface; then add a spoonful of molasses to the solution. Bees very willingly take such food, which produces the same effect as food from honey.
To feed 100 families once, 10 to 13 liters of food are required.
What time to start feeding full in the spring?
The beekeeper should begin feeding with full brood or strength five weeks before the usual swarm.
Since swarming does not happen everywhere at the same time, feeding when well-fed should begin somewhere earlier, somewhere later. The beekeeper should already know from experience when his swarming begins, and five weeks before this time, begin to give the bees enough to eat.
How often and in what portions to feed
On days when the bees could not go to the field or did not have any collection, it is necessary to give them 0.5 liters of food every evening, after sunset. You cannot feed during the day, because an attack is inevitable. Others give food before sunset, but I do not recommend doing this, especially if there is another apiary nearby, because in this case an attack can also easily occur. For every hundred families, 10 to 13 liters are sufficient to keep them fed. The stronger are given a little more, the weaker less, so in any case this amount is enough. No more should be given; too little is also not good.
You also need to pay attention to the condition of the honey in the hives and the honey collection in the field. Families who have a lot of honey left from the winter supply or who have already collected it in the spring from vines, willows, blueberries, copperheads, maples and sycamores are given poor food, since in this case the point is no longer in nutrition, but only in the fact that to reassure the bees regarding the continuous existence of honey flow and so that the queen lays eggs non-stop. On the contrary, if a deficiency is noticed in the hive, then you need to give a fatty diet consisting half of honey, since in this case food is needed for the bees and for the brood.
The most severe famine occurs especially in the fields, from the time when the orchards fade until the white hazel and mustard begin to bloom. Lilac and viburnum usually bloom during this period, and beekeepers say that during this flowering the bees need to be fed the most; and this is very reasonable, because at this particular time the hives are full of brood, and there is hunger in the field. If you do not feed them during this hungry time, they throw out their testicles, although the queen lays them, suck unsealed larvae for their own food and become exhausted to such an extent that they crumble even in June. It is therefore necessary to be especially vigilant during this hungry period, which lasts about 20 days, and to feed the apiary. Where there is a forest, there is no such famine, for at this time the color of buckthorn and sycamore appears, and sometimes there are early honeydews.
How to give food to bees
Feeding is carried out in feeders installed inside the families. A raft (plywood) is placed on the surface of the poured food in the feeder, leaving a small gap between its edges and the sides of the feeder for the bees to access the food.
In Germany, they use plastic or glass containers (8-10 liters) attached to the outer wall of the hive with food introduced into the hive according to the following principle: Having filled the container (flask) with honey, tie its hole with a piece of linen so that the honey does not leak out, but so that the bees, however they could have sucked it out.
Such bottles are inserted into holes made in the walls of the hive, in the closures, or in the partitions separating the nest from the magazine. To prevent the bottle from tipping over, especially in thin shutter boards, you can wrap the neck with something, or, by making a hole in a special piece of wood, insert the neck into it and then put the end of the neck into the hole of the shutter, so that the bottle itself rests on the inserted a piece of wood. When inserting the bottle, you must ensure that its hole is between the honeycombs and the frames, otherwise it would be inaccessible to the bees. Some people put rings on the neck of their bottles, which prevent the neck from going deeper into the hive than the thickness of the hive wall.
Feeding well-fed food using bottles can be considered the most appropriate: with it, firstly, theft can be avoided, since there is every opportunity to pour honey indoors and take out completely prepared bottles to the apiary for distribution; All this has the advantage that the honey does not spill and, having a double number of such bottles, you can immediately put in others after emptying some. Secondly, this method makes it possible to give honey to the hives in the nest itself, placing the bottles through a hole made in the same place, which can then be plugged with a peg. Such feeding also eliminates the need to open the hives in the summer during bad weather, when there are many bees in the hives, and therefore it is very difficult to close them later. Finally, in cold weather it provides relative warmth to the nest.
The whole difficulty of using these bottles lies in their proper adaptation to hives of various shapes, which, however, is left to the ingenuity of everyone.
In domestic beekeeping, frame (4-5 l) and over-frame (3-5 l) feeders are used. Food can be given to the bees in a honeycomb or in glass jars (0.5-1 l), the neck of which is tied with 2-3 layers of gauze and placed upside down over the nest.
What to do if there is not enough honey for food
When our beekeepers do not have enough honey in the spring, they cut it out of the richest colonies, even from the heads, and feed the hungry families. Thus, supposedly saving the hungry half of the apiary, they make the other half the same and spread hunger to the entire apiary. You should never do this, unless the family has a large surplus of honey beyond its needs: then you can borrow a little from it, and then you should take honey only from below or from the sides, but not from the head, otherwise the nest will cool down, and the best family can go bad.
If you don’t have enough honey of your own and you can’t get it from the right hands, then, in any case, don’t buy it from traders, even if it looks very good, because, as mentioned above, you can very easily poison an apiary with such honey. In such a case, it is better to buy sugar, since it can be fed to bees just as successfully as honey: it is the only reliable surrogate.
Half a liter of any sugar is dissolved in a liter of water, heating the latter and removing the foam from the surface, and thus you get excellent satiety. If you want to have a more nutritious diet, then you need to dissolve sugar in only half a liter of water (In the spring, the bees are given 50% sugar syrup (to one part sugar, one part water); in the fall, the syrup is prepared in a ratio of 2:1). Bees are just as willing to eat a sugar meal as they are a honey meal; Only at first, until you get used to it, you need to add a spoonful of honey per liter of food for flavor, but later this becomes unnecessary. Sugar completely replaces honey, and the bees feed on it, prepare milk for brood from it, and are just as playful and healthy as when fed with honey. Sugar satiety also has the important advantage that it does not tempt other bees to the same extent as honey.
Having such a reliable substitute in sugar, which can always and everywhere be obtained, one should not use other unreliable and often harmful substitutes. As a result, there seems to be no need to mention them here.
Summary of the main reasons for spring feeding
While the bees have not yet cleaned themselves in the spring, you should not feed them unless absolutely necessary, otherwise they will get dirty.
When there is still hunger in the field, you should not feed during the day, but only in the evening, after sunset, so as not to cause an attack. Only in the case where food is given to the bees in a common trough in the apiary, as indicated in its place, must it be given while it is still light, otherwise the bees will not take it away. Before the entrance, you never need to feed during the day; even empty troughs, from which the bees have already taken honey, must be removed before dawn, in order to avoid a possible attack.
On cold and rainy days, you should not feed the bees before the entrance, because through this a lot of strength is lost, because the bees fly out of the hive and freeze in the air. If there is a need to feed the bees in cold or rainy weather, then you need to give honey inside the hive; if the bees do not fly, then this can be done during the day, but in this case the entrance must be closed with a strainer and not opened until the bees take the honey, so that they do not fly out and disappear.
Watch most of all for strong families that already have a lot of brood, because for this latter they need a lot of honey, and if there is not enough of it, the bees will throw out or suck out the larvae and thus a lot of strength will die, and even the whole family may crumble from hunger . Weak colonies, which have difficulty going down to the trough and do not crawl out to the entrance, are better fed with thick molasses through a dowel, or from above, or with honeycombs, placing them in the nest in a well-known way.
Feeding bees in the fall, when they lack winter supplies, will be discussed in its own place on the site.
A complex process that requires constant attention and careful care of the breeder. One of the main issues that worries us is feeding bees in the spring. Many people doubt whether to choose sugar syrup or honey syrup. More experienced specialists are inclined to believe that honey is still closer to a natural product and will bring more benefits.
Honey satiety: description
Roughly speaking, honey satiety is diluted with water. Only the proportions and methods of feeding change. The consistency depends on the time of year in which feeding will be carried out. For example, in the spring it is not recommended to give bees a large amount of liquid; Accordingly, to prepare honey satiation you need to use more honey and less water.
The natural components, vitamins and minerals included in its composition are very important for the life of insects and are as close as possible to their usual diet, consisting of pollen and nectar.
Important! Sugar feeding is acceptable for bees, but is high in carbohydrates and lacks the minerals and vitamins that they constantly need.
Honey full used to lay as many eggs as possible; This type of feeding is called incentive feeding and is used for brood production and apiary strengthening. Most often, it is added to the diet of insects in the spring, when food supplies are exhausted, and the flowers have not yet bloomed and the bees cannot feed themselves.
Cooking full
Honey satiety is very simple to prepare, and there are many recipes for its preparation. Many beekeepers, in addition to the main ingredients, add pieces of lard, dried insects (queens, ants), herbs and spices, and sometimes even vodka to the treat; however, the benefits of these impurities are difficult to assess. We offer basic classic recipes for this nutritious supplement.
Most often, this period occurs at the end of May, when the bushes and. It is very important not to miss this hungry period of time due to the fact that it is during this period that active reproduction occurs and bees especially need nourishing food. Such situations do not arise only in flax apiaries, where such breaks practically do not occur.