Bee Syrup Mixing Chart (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio for bee syrup? ›

Bees should be fed sugar syrup with 70% sugar (sucrose) content. This means a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water. It is important to ensure fall feed has a higher sugar content, as the bees will be able to ripen it quickly for storage. If the stored syrup has too high a moisture content, it can cause dysentery.

Some beekeepers prefer a ratio of 1 part of sugar to 1 part of water — measured by weight (known as 1:1).

After the sugar has dissolved (by mixing mixing mixing!), you can add 2.5 tsp of apple cider vinegar, a half teaspoon of salt and . 5 ml of lemongrass essential oil. looks yummy, doesn't it? well, it smells HEAVENLY!!!!!

White sugar (sucrose) is the preferred sugar to feed to bees. Many other products have the potential to contain substances that could be deleterious to honey bee health. Sugar should not be fed to bee colonies when they have access to a natural nectar flow.

1 part sugar to 1 part water is what beekeepers will give their brand-new bees in the spring. It attempts to mimic thin nectar as best as possible. And the other mixture is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, which is a thick syrup used traditionally in the fall.

How to Make Sugar Syrup for Package Bees. A one-to-one mixture of sugar and water — measured either by weight or by volume — provides the energy your bees need to stimulate brood rearing and start drawing out foundation. For each gallon of sugar syrup, measure out 10 2/3 cups sugar and 10 2/3 cups of water.

Bees seem to prefer their syrup at ambient temperature, so removing the syrup from the refrigerator a few hours prior to feeding can be beneficial. This can help ensure that the syrup is not too cold, which the bees may not prefer, and can encourage them to take the syrup more readily.

Traditional simple syrup is made from one part water to one part sugar (1:1). White granulated sugar is the standard sweetener, but once you've mastered that basic base, feel free to experiment with different sugars, while being sure to keep the ratio the same.

Homemade 2:1 bee syrup recipe

While generally, you'd make a 2:1 bee syrup by mixing two parts sugar to one part water — for instance, two pounds of sugar to one pound of water — this method takes away the need to weigh and measure. Gather your supplies and ingredients, and give this method a try.

Crystallized honeycomb might not appeal to us, but it does not bother the bees. Sugar syrup is one of the most common ways to supplement bees in early spring. Make a 1:1 sugar-to-water syrup with pure cane sugar. Avoid beet sugar because it can cause an illness in the bees called nosema - basically, bee dysentery.

What can I give bees instead of sugar water? ›

Compared to sugar water, it is much less work for bees to process thicker solutions like ambrosia® bee feed syrup because the inversion takes much less glandular effort. Alternatively, beekeepers also prepare a fondant using powdered sugar and honey, but this is very labor-intensive and expensive.

He writes that bees are accustomed to acidic environments and that household vinegar, with a solution of 5% acetic acid with an average PH of 2.5, isn't enough to kill bees. In fact, beekeepers will even use distilled apple cider vinegar in their bee feeders to prevent mold and bees aren't the least bothered by it.

For late winter or early spring feeding, make a 1:1 syrup using 1 pound of water (2 cups) to 1 pound of sugar. If feeding in the fall (if not enough honey was left on the hive after the honey flow), make a 2:1 syrup using 2 pounds of sugar per pound of water.

To try and remove bees, you can mix equal parts of vinegar and water in a spray bottle and apply the solution to surfaces where bees are active or nesting. The strong odor of vinegar may help deter bees from returning to certain areas, encouraging them to relocate elsewhere.

2:1 sugar water is made by mixing two parts sugar to one part water by weight, and is used mostly when the bees are low on stores within the hive, particularly when going into the winter months, to help the bees put on weight.

Speaking of honey bees, they follow Fibonacci in other interesting ways. The most profound example is by dividing the number of females in a colony by the number of males (females always outnumber males). The answer is typically something very close to 1.618.