Of all artificial feeding, honey feed for bees is the most natural and useful, since in fact it is natural honey diluted with water.
By processing satiety, bees wear out the least and receive all the necessary substances and microelements contained in honey.
The content of the article
- 1 When can you give
- 1.1 Issued in spring
- 1.2 Issuance in autumn
- 1.3 Issuance at the end of wintering
- 2 Cooking Rules
- 3 How to cook and give to bees
- 4 important points
When can you give
The bees are fed depending on the situation in autumn, winter, spring and even summer.
Naturally, in different periods of the year, feeding bees with honey-fed solves different problems and, therefore, requires the corresponding recipes and concentrations.
Issued in spring
Feeding the bees with a well-fed honey spring has as its purpose to induce the queen to an increased egg-laying, and the bees to the grabbing instinct.
The proportion of honey to water can be one to one or even one to two (for one part of honey, two parts of water).
This concentration most closely resembles natural nectar. The families think that the bribe has begun. The scouts activate the search for flowering plants, and the queens begin to sow the maximum possible number of larvae.
For the same purpose, in the spring, it is recommended to add cobalt-based preparations to stimulate egg-laying, for example, “Pchelodar”, to the well-fed.
Issuance in autumn
The same concentration as in spring nourishment is also given in early autumn to encourage the uterus to sow longer to maximize the strength of the colony before hibernation.
Issuance at the end of wintering
At the end of winter, before the cleansing flight, when sugar syrup cannot be given yet, but there are stocks of old honey, if necessary a much higher concentration is given – ten to one (ten parts of honey to one part of water).
Such feeding will not provoke insects to premature flight for nectar and will not cause death from hypothermia.
To read:
Feeding the bees with old honey
Sugar syrup for bees
Cooking Rules
It is better to take your own honey for cooking fed, obtained from healthy families. And if you buy it on the side, then only from trusted beekeepers.
Dishes should be used clean, non-oxidizing, better enameled, but aluminum can also be used. In large apiaries, the solution is often prepared directly in cans.
How to cook and give to bees
Cooking takes place as follows:
- Honey, if necessary, dissolves in a water bath at 40 degrees to a completely liquid state.
- An appropriate amount of boiled water is poured into it.
- Then the solution is mixed until the top dressing is completely dissolved.
It can be given to hives in ceiling feeders, plastic bags with small holes or glass jars, inverted and installed on special drinkers..
important points
1) It is better to give fertilizing of low concentration in small portions in order to avoid souring in the feeders.
2) When distributing in a free-for-take period, it is impossible to provoke bee theft and attack on weak colonies!
Feed should be distributed in the evenings, to minimize the time when the hive is open, to prevent spillage of top dressing on its lid and outer walls.
