Estimate for how much sugar to buy

[BeeBear]

I am trying to estimate my need for sugar for the upcoming season. I am in southern Minnesota and will be installing packages onto foundation in mid April. I expect to feed until the first super is drawn, which I'm hoping will be 4-6 weeks.

How much should I expect to feed, in either gallongs or pounds of sugar? I know that "it depends", but I would like to at least develop an estimate on how much sugar I'll need.

Thanks for your opinions.

[east_stingray]

Well, you didn't say HOW MANY packages, but I'll do my best to give you a per-package estimate. I'm in Central IL, probably not quite as severe winter here, but we get it pretty hard too and it's still usually below freezing at least once each day. For new packages like that, they'll probably take about 2 gallons of 1:1 syrup (one part sugar to one part water by weight) every week. That's just a rough estimate based on what my packages took, and someone may be able to give you a better estimate. Keep in mind that how much feed they can take depends on what kind of feeder you use. I use a hivetop where they always have access to it and the access area is large. If you use an entrance feeder they won't go through it as quickly.

[BeeBear]

Thanks, east. That helps. Other estimates appreciated.

I was looking for a per-hive estimate.

I plan to feed 1:1 syrup in a hivetop feeder. I think our environments are similar, although you'll see warmer weather faster than I will. I suspect that won't make much difference in the part of the season that we're talking about since as long as it's warm enough for them to take the feed we'll see similar behavior.

[naturebee]

--How much should I expect to feed, in either gallongs or pounds of sugar? I know that "it depends", but I would like to at least develop an estimate on how much sugar I'll need.

--I was looking for a per-hive estimate.

Per 10 frame super:

quarts of syrup 33.100

dry sugar 8.25

Rusults may vary depending on your bloom and weather conditions.

Check out this beekeepers conversion table.

http://www.beekeeping.co.nz/convert.htm#foundation2

[VABeeKEEPER]

naturebee: thnaks for the conversion table link! those are great.

[naturebee]

opps!

Package bees! Must have ment Deeps:

Per 10 frame deep:

quarts of syrup 51.793

dry sugar 11 pounds

Let us know if you use exactally 51.793 per deep.

http://www.beekeeping.co.nz/convert.htm#foundation2

[naturebee]

VaBeekeeper,
Would you happen to know the bloom in ‘northern Va’ around first week in May? Was driving 95 south in 02 and observed 80 foot trees on each side of the highway with abundant bloom! Looks much like my black locust bloom which are cascading white flowers, only these flowers had a purple hue to them with cascading flowers just like locust has. I’m guessing a type of locust, but do you know which? Might buy some seedlings. Thanks!

[dcross]

<<I expect to feed until the first super is drawn, which I'm hoping will be 4-6 weeks.>>

I would strongly consider feeding them until they have the second one drawn, or they stop taking the syrup.

[cochran500]

Hey Folks a little help here please. Either I am mixing my syrup incorrectly or I dont understand the calculations. ie 11 pounds of sugar = 51.793 syrup. Heck I use 25# sugar for 6 gal or 24 qts. ?

[Antero]

cochran500-I use 2 parts sugar 1 part water

Terry

[naturebee]

Those calculations do seem a bit wierd.

Anyhow this is 'spring feeding time' and should be mixed 1 part sugar to 1 part water.

Generally, Thin syrup enourages combbuilding and broodrearing and thick encourages storage.

I use 5 pound of sugar to 1 gallon water, thats close enough for me.

[naturebee]

BTW, Great that you caught that Cochran500!

Might be s error in the progam.

If you go down to the 'sugar mix' table at:

http://www.beekeeping.co.nz/convert.htm#sugarmix2

It will tell you the 11 pounds of sugar will make 1.8097 gallons or 7.2387 quarts.

Sounds a bit more like it here.

[danno1800]

naturebee, thant was a great table...thanks for the post! -Dan

[guatebee]

Some easy numbers: 1 gallon of water weighs 8 lbs.
Remember that what feeds your bees is the sugar, not the water. So think in terms of how much sugar you want to supply a colony with, and add the corresponding water amount.
Stimulative feed seems to be different than survival feed.
From what I´ve read, 1:1 ratio will stimulate brood rearing, since it strongly resembles natural nectar as far as sugar concentration. But then, 1:1 syrup will ferment quicker if bees don´t take down fast enough or if your weather is warm (inside feeders will be at hive temperature anyway).
2:1 sugar ater ratio will keep much longer but I doubt it will stimulate the same. Twice the amount of sugar is twice the cost, so one should be careful.

Any ideas or more expert opinions?

[BeeBear]

Thanks to everyone for the input. I think I am going with an estimate of 10 pounds per hive, knowing that it is low and could be off by a factor of 2 (or even more) if I feed until the second deep is done. The purpose of this exercise was to get a handle on how much sugar to buy when I see it on sale, and since I'll probably be buying 10 pound bags, estimates out to the fourth decimal place are not needed.

As an aside, I find it both amusing and annoying when people provide results at a level of accuracy that is ludicrous. (Please, I'm not criticizing anyone who responded in the thread; you were simply a messenger from the web page.) OK, so your computer can do the calculations to 8 significant figures. That doesn't mean you need to display it that way. Thanks naturebee -- 5 pounds of sugar to a gallon of water seems so much more reasonable. The bees don't do their math using the floating-point function on a computer, and I can easily measure both the 5 pounds and the 1 gallon.

And yes, I do plan to use 1:1 syrup for Spring feeding.