Honey is NOT a bee's favourite food. Nectar is.
Honey has a low moisture content and contains undigestible solids (especially dark honey) that can be hard for bees to digest.
Sugar syrup is more like nectar.
To keep a colony healthy through times of dearth, feeding is essential. Feeding is also one of the first steps to take when a hive is diseased.
5 Reasons to feed bees that have nothing to do with taking to much honey:
Feeding helps flush out disease. We all know that lots of water and a few bowls of chicken noodle soup can help fend off a cold. The same goes for bees, except sugar syrup is their chicken noodle soup. Feeding them while they are sick or weak allows them to focus all of their energy on fighting off the illness rather than gathering food.
Feeding keeps hives from robbing and bringing disease back to the hive. When bees rob other hives in the fall, they are most likely to choose weak hives with fewer guards. These weak hives are weak for a reason and your bees could be bringing that reason back to the hive with them.
Sugar syrup is easier to digest than honey. When bees consume honey, they must also consume water and water can be hard to come by in the shoulder seasons when more of the day is too cold to fly, but there is not yet condensation inside the hive to consume. Sugar syrup contains enough water to make it fully digestible on its own. Honey, especially dark honey, also contains undigestible solids (called ash) that can be hard on bees guts, especially if they aren't able to take frequent cleansing flights.
Feeding keeps bees happy during a dearth (when they can start to be very defensive and sting more often). This one is important if you keep bees in your back yard or any place where there might be interference with kids, pets, or the public. Food stressed bees are cranky and defensive and that can make for some negative human-bee interactions.
Feeding prompts the queen to keep laying eggs (she would normally stop during dearth). This can be a good thing if you have a long winter coming up. If food stops coming in on August 15th and your hive starts to produce winter bees, those bees will need to survive much longer than if you can prolong brood rearing to September 15th or even into early October.
When to feed syrup vs. fondant
The conversation above refers specifically to feeding syrup and fondant will not create the same benefits. Like honey, it is survival food and won't satisfy the bees in the same way as nectar or sugar syrup.
Sugar syrup is the food of choice dyring periods when the bees are still actively flying for most of afternoon (this means they are out searching for nectar). This coincides roughly with daytime high temps around 12ºC/55ºF. Do not feed sugar syrup if temps are below this.
1:1 vs. 2:1 Syrup
1:1 Syrup is the most similar to nectar and will simulate a nectar flow. Your bees will consume this rather than store it and it will prompt the queen to lay eggs. This is what we feed most of the time to produce the benefits listed above.
2:1 Syrup is often called fall syrup. There is some debate about whether it is worthwhile to feed this thicker mix. The idea is that the bees will store this for winter if they are light on honey.
Making 1:1 Sugar Syrup
Fill to the top with hot tap water
Stir until sugar is dissolved
Do not boil as this produces a compound called HMF that is toxic to bees!
Only use regular white sugar. Do not use raw sugar as it contains too much ash and will be hard on bees' guts.
Feeder Options
Looking for more?
Looking for more beekeeping education? You can find my virtual, on-demand course Intermediate Beekeeping for Year 2 and Beyond at https://courses.rushingriverapiaries.com/courses/intermediate-beekeeping
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