Inverted sugar syrup for bees

Inverted Sugar Syrup for Bees is a high carbohydrate artificial nutritional supplement. The nutritional value of such feed is second only to natural honey. Insects are fed with inverted sugar syrup mainly in the spring months - the introduction of such feeding into the diet stimulates egg-laying in the queen bee. In autumn, eating it helps bee colonies better prepare for wintering.

Benefits of using inverted syrup in beekeeping

In their natural habitat, natural honey serves as a source of carbohydrates for bees. It is rich in various nutrients:

• organic acids;
• amino acids, glucose;
• fructose;
• minerals.

The product is able to provide the bee colony with sufficient energy and helps insects survive the winter. If there is no honey or it is not enough to feed the swarm, it may die.

The lack of honey most often causes the lack of melliferous plants, but sometimes the deficit is caused artificially due to the sampling of honey by the beekeeper. In this case, for the normal functioning of the family, it is necessary to provide the insects with another source of food. To do this, various feedings and artificial nectar substitutes are introduced into the diet of bees in the apiary, which insects subsequently process into honey. In particular, sugar inversion is commonly used to feed bees.

The following advantages of this method of feeding bee colonies can be distinguished:

• the chemical composition of such feeding is as close as possible to natural honey, due to which the replacement of a natural product does not cause a disturbance in the digestive processes of bees;
• in the process of processing the mixture, there is no wear and tear of working individuals, which often leads to their early death;
• after wintering, bees fed in the fall live much longer than their congeners, who ate ordinary sugar syrup;
• the product is widely used to strengthen weakened bee colonies and their further development;
• inverted sugar syrup is the best substitute for low-quality honeydew honey, which is produced at the end of summer due to a decrease in honey yield;
• unlike many other types of top dressing, sugar invert retains its useful properties for a long time, so you can immediately harvest large portions of the product, gradually consuming material later;
• honey obtained from invert is not subject to crystallization, and therefore is always suitable for eating by insects - bee colonies winter well on this type of food.

What is the difference between inverted bee syrup and sugar

The process of making invert syrup for feeding bees involves inverting the sugar. Such a product differs from ordinary sugar syrup in that sucrose is broken down in it to the level of glucose and fructose.For this, food acids (lactic, citric), honey or industrial invertase are added to the sugar mass.

It is believed that such a carbohydrate feeding has an extremely beneficial effect on the life of a bee swarm. This is due to the fact that insects spend less effort on digesting the product - the sugar invert is absorbed quickly enough. Moreover, eating plain sugar syrup causes premature depletion of the enzyme system in bees. This leads to a rapid decrease in the volume of the fatty body of insects and their quick death.

When sugar invert with various food additives is introduced into the diet of a bee colony, insects live longer and have better resistance to many diseases.

How to make inverted bee syrup

Syrup for bees is inverted in different ways: with the addition of honey, industrial invertase, lactic and citric acid, etc. In this case, the raw materials used to prepare top dressing must meet certain characteristics:

1. Sugar for the preparation of inverted honey is used in accordance with GOST. Yellow or brown sugar (raw) is not suitable, nor is powdered sugar. In this case, small grains of sugar will not be able to sink to the bottom and will eventually become centers of invert crystallization, that is, the product will be more susceptible to sugaring.
2. All feed additives must be of high quality.
3. Honey used as an additive to the product must be harvested no more than a year before the feeding is made.
4. Do not use honey that has been exposed to high temperatures in the past.
5. In the same way, honey, in which there are foreign impurities, is unsuitable for the preparation of inverted top dressing.
6. It is especially important to respect the proportions of the ingredients used when preparing the sugar bee invert. Insects do not respond well to feeding with too thick honey, since in this case they consume a large amount of additional moisture to break down the product to a more diluted consistency. On the other hand, honey that is too liquid is also of little use for feeding bee colonies. The fact is that such food is more difficult for insects to digest, its assimilation is time-consuming, which greatly weakens the swarm. In some cases, the bee colony may even die.
7. Invert honey should not contain any infectious agents, that is, it should be sterile.

Depending on what substance is used to prepare the inverted syrup for the bee colony, the final product can vary greatly in its usefulness to insects. The following additives for invert are most popular:

1. Food acids. This is the classic version. Citric, acetic or lactic acid is added to the sugar syrup. Such food is notable for its cheapness, availability and ease of preparation, however, its nutritional value is significantly lower than that of sugar invert, created on the basis of industrial invertase or honey.
2. Honey-sugar invert is more useful than feeding with the addition of acids due to the high content of natural invertase in honey, which insects add to nectar. In addition to carbohydrates, this feed also contains amino acids, vitamins and mineral components.
3. Sugar syrup, inverted with the help of industrial invertase, is considered the highest quality option for feeding bee colonies, which is second only to natural honey in its usefulness. The product differs among other types of feed with a high content of nutrients and a deeper level of decomposition of all its constituent components.

How to invert sugar syrup for bees

The proportion of the solution is of great importance in the inversion process. Inverted bee sugar syrup can be prepared with the following percentages:

• 40% (sugar to water ratio 1: 1.5) - this feeding is suitable for stimulating the laying of the uterus;
• 50% (1: 1) - an invert with this concentration is used in the summer months in the absence of a bribe;
• 60% (1.5: 1) - the product is poured into feeders in the fall to better prepare the bee swarm for wintering;
• 70% (2: 1) - feeding is introduced in exceptional cases in winter.

Regardless of what substance is used as an additive in sugar invert, the method of its preparation practically does not change. Soft drinking water is brought to a boil and the right amount of raw materials is added to it. Then the solution is stirred until the sugar grains are completely dissolved.

How to make honey bee inverted syrup

Honey is one of the most common food additives used in the DIY process of making bee inverted syrup. With the addition of honey, the syrup is inverted according to the following scheme:

1. 7 kg of sugar are poured into 2 liters of water.
2. Then the thoroughly stirred mixture is diluted with 750 g of honey and 2.4 g of acetic acid.
3. Further, the solution is kept at a temperature not lower than 35 ° C ° C for 7 days. All this time, the product is stirred 2-3 times a day.
4. When the foam subsides and the amount of crystallized sugar is reduced to a minimum, the invert can be poured into containers.

Inverted Sugar Syrup for Bees with Citric Acid

This recipe for inverted syrup for bees is quite popular:

1. 7 kg of sugar are poured into 6 liters of hot water.
2. The resulting mixture is thoroughly stirred and 14 g of citric acid are added to it.
3. After that, the solution is kept for 80 minutes in a water bath.

How to make bee inverted syrup with invertase

The recipe for invert syrup for feeding bees based on invertase is as follows:

1. 7 g of invertase is mixed with 7 kg of sugar.
2. 750 g of honey is diluted with 2 liters of soft drinking water.
3. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed and 2.5 g of acetic acid are added to the resulting mixture.
4. The sweet mass is infused for a week at a temperature of 35 ° C. It is important to stir the mixture periodically, at least 2 times a day.
5. When no grains of sugar remain at the bottom of the container, and the amount of foam is significantly reduced, this means that the inversion process is coming to an end.

How to Make Lactic Acid Inverted Bee Syrup

With the addition of lactic acid, sugar for bees is inverted according to the following scheme:

1. 5 kg of sugar are poured into an enamel saucepan with 2.8 liters of water.
2. 2 g of lactic acid are added to the solution.
3. The resulting mixture is boiled to a boil, after which it is kept on low heat for another half hour. In this case, the mixture must be stirred from time to time to avoid thickening of the sugar mass.

After the top dressing is ready, it is slightly cooled and poured into the feeders in the apiary.

Rules for feeding bees with invert syrup

After preparing the sugar inverted syrup for bees, you need to take care of the correct supply of carbohydrate feeding. The product is introduced into the diet of bees according to the following rules:

1. If it is planned to introduce feeding in the apiary in large portions, for the first time it is poured in an amount of 0.5-1 liters per one bee colony.
2. Some bee colonies do not respond well to such feeding - they slowly absorb the product, as a result of which it stagnates and deteriorates. This indicates that the portions are too large. To avoid spoilage of the product, portions are reduced.
3. In order to increase resistance to diseases, it is recommended not to overload the nests of bee houses with food supplies. Better to feed insects in the spring - substitute frames, etc.
4. The bee swarm eats the cooled inverted syrup reluctantly. The recommended product temperature is 40 ° C.
5. To prevent bee theft, top dressing is poured in the evening hours.
6. In autumn, the mixture is placed in special feeders, in spring - in plastic bags, which are sealed and placed in the hive on frames. In this case, it is necessary to make 3-4 holes with a diameter of 0.3 mm in them. The bees will take food through the holes for several days.

Conclusion

Inverted sugar syrup for bees can be difficult to prepare - it is necessary to strictly observe all proportions, select high-quality raw materials, and also make sure that the temperature of the product during cooking does not exceed the established norms. In addition, the preparation of inverted sugar feeding is time consuming - the process can take several days. On the other hand, the efforts spent on making such food pay off in full - the bees only benefit from such food.

For more information on how to make Inverted Sugar Syrup at home, see the video below:

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