Feeding bees: types, methods, feeding last year's honey, sugar, honey fed

Spring feeding of bees is of great importance not only for the beekeeper, but also for bee colonies. This is due to the fact that the strength of the bee colony during the honey collection period will depend on the quality of feeding. Undoubtedly, bee colonies should receive adequate nutrition from the fall, but, as practice shows, the supply of food runs out even before the warmth comes. That is why beekeepers should use top dressing. Everyone decides for himself what type of feeding to choose for their insects and the time of feeding.

Why you need to feed the bees

With the help of spring feeding, which beekeepers give to insects before flying, it is possible to significantly increase the productivity of the queen of the hive. High-quality food products allow young bees to overwinter without mortality, in addition, after winter they start flying around well-fed and strong enough. As a rule, with the help of dressings, many diseases can be prevented.

Advice! It is recommended to feed the bees in the summer in the absence of a bribe.

Terms and types of feeding bees

Spring feeding of bees should be given due attention, since the strength of the bee colony depends on it. Spring feeding is used by beekeepers to achieve the following goals:

prevention and treatment of diseases;
stabilization of feed stocks;
stimulating the queen of the hive to lay eggs.

There are several main types of insect feed:

without the addition of various substances;
with the addition of vitamins and medicines;
dressings enriched with stimulants.

All beekeepers use top dressing. If necessary, you can prepare them yourself.

Attention! Regardless of the species, it is recommended to feed insects warm.

Feeding methods

As practice shows, beekeepers use natural honey, sugar, sugar syrup, protein feed, soy flour, Kandy and much more as a top dressing. For example, if diarrhea is found in insects after the first flight, then it is necessary to use the drugs that are given to them according to the instructions. At low temperature conditions, it is recommended to abandon the use of liquid dressings.

How to feed your bees with honey

If you plan to use honey for feeding bees, then you need to choose a quality product that will not harm insects. In this case, you will need to remove the honeycomb frame from the hive, print it and place it in the nest in the evening. Such honey has not only excellent taste, but also medicinal properties. As a rule, honeycomb frames are installed on the edge of the nest. Since honey undergoes crystallization, it must be printed and filled with warm water, due to which the product will become liquid.

How to feed last year's honey to bees

In order to feed the old honey to the bees, you need to place the honeycomb frame behind the distribution board or place it in the upper part of the body. It is recommended to pre-print the cells. When using this type of insect feeding, it is important to take into account the fact of theft. Honey frames are usually taken from other hives. If the bees refuse to consume honey or eat it badly, then it is worth replacing the honeycomb frame.

Is it possible to feed bees with fermented honey

It is strictly forbidden to give fermented honey to bees. Such a product should not be boiled to achieve the required consistency or diluted with warm water. This product, in general, cannot be used as a feed for bees. Since during boiling the temperature reaches + 95 ° C, honey undergoes caramelization. Often there are cases when unprintable honey can be found in the hives after wintering. It must be removed immediately and used as a top dressing only for strong bee colonies.

Are the bees fed sugar?

The use of sugar as a top dressing is practiced by a large number of beekeepers throughout the country. As the experience of beekeepers shows, thanks to sugar, the development of bee colonies is stimulated, while the swarming of insects in the spring is prevented. Sugar is especially widely used in Europe. Thus, during the winter season, bee colonies are fed up to 30 kg of sugar. Bees hibernating on the street and receiving sugar as top dressing collect up to 60 kg of high quality honey in 1.5 months.

What kind of honey is obtained if bees are fed sugar?

If the bees are fed with sugar, then the finished product, as a rule, is of low quality and quite different in taste and appearance from the natural product. Sugar honey has the following distinctive features:

the taste of honey is bland;
the aroma is poorly expressed, does not have a certain shade, the smell resembles an old honeycomb;
if we consider the consistency, then it is cloudy, gelatinous;
such honey is completely free of pollen;
high content of granulated sugar.

Falsification of honey is determined in laboratory conditions.

How to tell if bees were fed sugar

Falsified honey, as a rule, has rather low bactericidal properties, there is a small amount of active substances, and the therapeutic effect is completely absent.

As a rule, such honey has a white tint, the floral aroma is completely absent, the smell is weak or not at all. The taste of such a product is sweet, but at the same time sugary, there is no astringency, which is inherent in a natural product.

Attention! Some consumers use special pencils to determine the quality of honey.

Can you feed bees with cane sugar?

Many beekeepers make sugar syrup as insect feed. It is important to consider that the products used must be of high quality. Cane or beet sugar is best suited for such purposes. Refined sugar is not recommended. Sugar syrup is considered the easiest, most convenient, economical and popular winter feeding option.

Protein feed for bees

Despite the fact that honey is the main type of food, do not forget about feeding rich in proteins. Protein feeding allows not only to stimulate the queen of the hive to lay eggs, but also helps to recover after wintering.

Yeast supplements are often used, but, as practice shows, they are not able to replace high-quality protein. It is recommended to give insects:

pollen;
Kandy;
pergu;
powdered milk;
soy flour.

It is recommended to use high quality food for the preparation of dressings.

How to make honey bee feed

Making honey satiety is quite simple, there are a large number of recipes for this.Some beekeepers additionally add small pieces of bacon, dried insects, various herbs and spices. If necessary, you can use basic recipes for feeding bees:

Thick full... If all honey has been removed from the hive, it is recommended to take care of the nutrition of the bee colonies. To do this, you will need to dilute honey with warm water in a ratio of 4: 1.
Average full... This mixture is given to bees for better reproduction. To prepare top dressing, you will need to take 2 liters of honey and 2 liters of boiled water, and then stir until smooth.
Liquid satiated... This option is given when the bees have a supply of feeding, but it is necessary to push the queen bee to lay eggs. For 2 liters of honey, you will need to take 4 liters of boiled water.

Attention! If you plan to use gurt honey with the remains of honeycomb, then the main ingredient is taken more.

Is it possible to feed the bees with jam

If we take into account the reviews of experienced beekeepers, then it is worth noting that in some cases it is allowed to use jam for feeding the bees. However, this should be done as carefully as possible. It is recommended to give jam only in a non-withdrawal period, in order to save sugar. It should be borne in mind that the fecal load will be maximum.

Important! It is allowed to use old honeycombs as top dressing for bees.

How to feed bees with perga

Perga is considered the main and irreplaceable type of protein supplement for bees. In case of a deficiency of this type of food, the queen of the hive stops laying, as a result of which the development of the bee colony slows down. To prevent this phenomenon, it is recommended to put frames with bee bread in the hives. If during the summer period a large amount of bee bread was harvested by insects, then some can be removed.

As a rule, for storage, bee bread is transferred to glass jars, having previously shaped into balls, after which the container is poured with honey and covered with gauze.

What to feed the bees if there is no bee bread

If necessary, the bee bread can be replaced. For this, there are the following recipes:

1 kg of pollen is mixed with 200 g of honey and 150 ml of water, the resulting mixture is poured into frames;
200 g of milk powder and 1 kg of granulated sugar are diluted with 800 ml of boiled water and given to insects in small portions;
1 kg of chalk and 0.5 kg of bee bread are mixed with 500 ml of hot water, filtered, the mixture is allowed to settle for 48 hours.

With these types of dressings, if necessary, you can replace the bee bread that is missing in sufficient quantities.

Features of feeding bees with pollen

If necessary, bees can be fed pollen. The pollen is collected as follows:

Collect and dry the hazel earrings.
Shake off the pollen early in the morning from the flowers, lowering them previously into a vessel prepared for storage.
Collect the pollen using pollen traps for this purpose.
They are removed from the beech frames, after which they are ground to a state of dust.

The pollen must be poured into empty cells, after sprinkling with a small amount of sugar syrup.

Top dressing Kandy

As you know, Kandy can be purchased in a specialized store or cooked on your own, adhering to certain proportions:

Take honey - 26%.
Powdered sugar - 74%.
Pure boiled water - 0.18%.
Acetic acid - 0.02%.
Mix everything thoroughly.

After the dough is received, it must be divided into pieces weighing from 200 to 300 g and placed on top of the frames.

Advice! It is not recommended to replace the powder with granulated sugar.

Cobalt-added feed

Cobalt has been shown to have beneficial effects on insect health by scientists. If you add cobalt to the sugar syrup, it is possible to increase the number of offspring by 19%. To prepare this type of feeding for bees, you will need to take 1 liter of sugar syrup, add 8 mg of cobalt to it and mix thoroughly until the drug is completely dissolved. Such food should be given to bee colonies in a warm form.

Top dressing with healing infusions

With the help of medicinal dressings, you can prevent the appearance of many diseases. If insects develop foulbrood, then the following healing infusion will need to be prepared:

1 liter of sugar syrup is required.
Also take: 2 g of sulfanthrol, 2 g of sulcide, 900 thousand units of penicillin, 1 g of sodium norsulfazole, 400 thousand units of neomycin, 500 thousand units of biomycin.
Pour a small amount of warm water into the container.
All components are dissolved in it.
After that, the preparations, diluted with water, are slowly introduced into the sugar syrup and mixed thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained.

With varroatosis you will need:

1 liter of sugar syrup.
2.5 ml of dill oil.
Mix everything thoroughly.

If necessary, you can feed the bees in the summer.

Can medications be added to feed

Medicines, if necessary, can be added to insect nutrition:

sugar syrup;
Kandy.

Meals with the addition of medicines are given in the amount of 200 g for each street. The frequency of feeding depends entirely on the diseases of the insects. You can add to top dressing:

dill oil;
ascorbic acid;
essential peppermint oil;
salicylic acid.

Most often, beekeepers resort to the use of tetracycline antibiotics.

Feed laying rules

It is recommended to give viscous types of dressings to insects:

in the evening to prevent theft in the apiary;
in warm weather, as there is a possibility that insects will begin to fly out of the hives.

Liquid dressings are laid as follows:

in external feeders (it is not necessary to climb inside the hive);
in the rear feeders (a great option to prevent theft);
in the upper feeders (ensures the preservation of the heat of the sugar syrup for a long time);
you can feed the bees with packages (hungry insects gnaw through polyethylene perfectly);
in glass jars;
in cellular frames.

It is necessary to work with liquid dressings as carefully as possible and not to spill them.

Caring for bees after feeding

After the feeding has been completed and the bees have come out of hibernation, it is recommended to inspect the hives for mortality. In addition, the examination allows you to assess the strength of the bee colony and the amount of brood. If the insects are weakened and unable to fully provide themselves with food, it is necessary to feed them for some time, which will allow them to gain strength and start working.

Conclusion

Feeding bees in winter is of particular importance. It is thanks to high-quality food that insects survive the winter without loss, do not suffer from diseases, the queen of the hive lays a large amount of brood.

Feeding the bees