Help with making syrup to feed my bees!?

[Bees4Us]

My bees (2 hives) will arrive this Monday, the 31st! I am so excited I can hardly stand myself!

I have everything ready to go, except food.

I was going to by gallons of distilled water and I wanted to be SURE I have this correct, so please give advice!

It's a 1:1 ratio, correct? So, if I were to make a gallon of syrup, I would use 8 cups of water and 8 cups of sugar, right???

I am using the styrofoam feeder, that will be sitting on top of my 1st brood box, is a gallon enough to start off with? I had read somewhere that I should start off with 1 quart?

Any pointers on this feeding info? I know my inner cover will go right over top of this styrofoam box, correct? Then my metal top.

I just want to make sure I have the feeding, and syrup making down. My books have told me to get the water to a boil, and then right before it starts to boil, to turn off the stove, and add the sugar and stir it, then let it cool. I wanted to make this all a couple of days before. Please advise if I am wrong!!

Thank you everyone, I am really excited about these 2 hives

[cg3]

You do not need distilled water. For 1:1 syrup you do not even need to heat it. Water and sugar have virtually identical weights/volumes. Just remember that "a pint's a pound the world around".
They'll take it slowly at first. A gallon will last quite a while until their numbers increase.
Have fun!

[cg3]

P.S.- With a top feeder I do not use an inner cover.

[robherc]

Personally, I don't like styrofoam in my hives...seems to me like the bees could end up chewing it & causing damage to either the foam or themselves...but I tend to be a little paranoid about that kind of stuff, so take it with a grain of salt.

As far as the syrup goes, feeding them a gallon right at first shouldn't hurt anything with package bees; they'll have a lot of comb to build, so it isn't likely to cause them to want to swarm, and if you're on a heavy enough flow that they can't use it, they'll simply not take any.

For making syrup:
I take a LARGE cooking pot (bigger than the amount of total syrup you want by at least 50% if possible);
pour the water into the pot at room temperature, then add a little less sugar than I think will make 1:1 (by weight, so a bit less than cup-for-cup) and start stirring;
once all the sugar dissolves, I add a little more & keep stirring;
repeat until you can't get quite all of the sugar to dissolve;
now turn on the heat under the pot & bring it to a slight boil for about 5-10min to kill any contaminants & bottle your syrup as it cools.

By dissolving the sugar in ROOM TEMPERATURE water, you're assured that you're not creating a super-saturated solution that'll crystallize sugar onto your bees, which is the #1 way to mess up syrup feeding, with the only other real way you're likely to mess it up being that of not checking it before feeding & accidentally feeding fermented syrup to your bees (I refrigerate mine if I'm not planning on using it in the next day or two... just make sure it's over 50*F before you give it to your bees & there shouldn't be any problems there).


Hope this helps
Rob

[Kamon Reynolds]

To go along with Rob you can use a drill and a paint/dry wall mud spinner to easily and quickly mix your sugar into your warm water.

[cg3]

OK, here we go. 1:1 will not crystallize no matter how you dissolve it. Depending on your water source it wouldn't hurt to boil it ahead of time but heating syrup after sugar is added takes the chance of overheating and caramalizing (very bad for bees). I just pour sugar plus water in an oversize water jug and shake it. It keeps quite a while at room temperature, when in doubt, taste it. Don't stress about exact measurements.

[Bees4Us]

So I have been reading that feeding bees can cause swarming, deaths, yellow jackets, waspers and even robbing to happen. I am readying on the Bush Farms site and it says to not feed if possible? To let the bees do it on their own? The new hives that are installed have to be fed, right? Am I missing something totally here?

The guy at the local Dadant store said the styrofoam feeder was the best feeder for me. We did paint the outside of it with white paint to keep it stable. I know that I will be removing the feeder soon, right? Probably after the first 7-8 frames in the first brood box are filled I guess?

So many different answers to things!

Thank you all for your help so far!

[ByGonzah]

I use tap water. Heat 2 quarts of water on the stove until hot but not boiling. I dump that into a food grade five gallon bucket and then add one gallon of warm tap water. Then pour in 10 pounds of sugar and mix with a large spoon or a paint mixing paddle until dissolved. (I use a plastic paint mixing paddle on the end of my 3/8" electric drill.) Pour in about half the sugar, then mix. When that's dissolved, pour in the other half and mix. You should end up with a little over two gallons of syrup. I add some essential oils to mine during the mixing process - similar to Honey-B-Healthy or the ProHealth products, but without the preservatives.

I'd make a couple of gallons to start and plan to feed them a gallon right off the bat. I installed towo packages 10 days ago and each one has burned through 2+ gallons in that time. I topped them off before I left for a business trip today, and I expect they'll need to be refilled when I inspect on Saturday.

[BeeCurious]

This might be helpful for syrup calculations.

Scroll down for the syrup calculator ...
http://www.beekeeping.com/goodies/conversions_bee.htm

[Bees4Us]

THANK YOU! Awesome link

[mrobinson]

To me, bees are low-tech. I fill the blender with water, take plain white sugar ("turbinado" and "brown" sugars have unwanted residues ...), pour a cup "or so" into it, and run it for a minute or so until the sugar is fully dissolved. And, "that's that."

More often than not, though, I feed sugar that's dry. Confectioner's sugar (if it has no starch in it), or whip some granulated sugar in a coffee-grinder to make a powder. Putting it in an easy-to-get-to box that's sheltered from rain ... or, putting it inside the hive in a similar box or carton ... seems to give them food without making an unholy mess. (Very lightly dampening the surface seems to give them a clue that they need to taste the stuff.)

Full disclosure: I might not have the faintest idea what I'm talking about. There are, of course, lots of conflicting opinions about how much syrup a hive of bees may require; or, if they require any syrup at all. It's always been my thought that, while I want to provide for my hives, I don't really want to coddle them. I don't want them to starve, but I also don't want to see 'em filling combs with my sugar-water. So ... "your mileage may vary," and I think that's a fair way to end it.

[robherc]

So I have been reading that feeding bees can cause swarming, deaths, yellow jackets, waspers and even robbing to happen. I am readying on the Bush Farms site and it says to not feed if possible? To let the bees do it on their own? The new hives that are installed have to be fed, right? Am I missing something totally here?

Generally, I would suggest feeding a new package, and if you read further, I think Michael Bush says to feed them "until they start capping syrup stores."
Yes, it can cause swarming if you feed too much, or for too long.
Yes, syrup that's too thick can crystalize on your bees, or syrup that's fermented can poison them...both causing deaths. ... that's why I mix at room temp, then heat to sterilize.
Yes, if you put a feeder too near the entrance, or don't keep the entrance reduced enough, it can incite robbing by other honey bees, bumbles, wasps, etc...so keep your feeders on top, and your entrances on bottom.

aside from that, everyone has an opinion, and I already shared mine, so I won't start an argument by repeating myself

[Lisa in NH]

I add 5lbs of sugar to a gallon milk jug...then top off with hot water....then shake until dissolved...and maybe a couple of times after that if any sugar settles to the bottom...this year I also added Honey B Healthy...I'm not sure if they don't like it or if they just don't need it...as my new package hasn't taken any yet. Last years girls sucked it up as quick as I could add it...

Lisa Smith
Indian Brook Farm
Swanzey, NH

[TNTBEES]

This is the recipe i use. I was making up a batch yesterday and had over a hundred bees trying to get into my house through the open windows. Thankfully the screens were all good.

5 cups water
2 1/2 lbs sugar
1/8 tsp lecithin granules
15 drops spearmint oil
15 drops lemongrass oil

I mix it on the stove on medium heat. It makes a great air freshner for the house also. My two brand new top bar hives are going through a gallon every two days.

[Bees4Us]

This is a very interesting recipe! Where can I get the lecithin granules, spearmint oil, and lemongrass oil??? Just 5 cups of water to 2.5lbs of sugar though? Just want to make sure I have that right

Thank you all for taking time to reply to this thread! Monday is approaching quickly!

[TNTBEES]

The lecithin, and the oils all come from a natural foods store. I always make a double batch so i just buy a five lb. bag of sugar and 10 cups of water. I have never measured the sugar but I think it ends up being 1 to 1. The syrup is so aromatic that it when i make it with the windows open the bee's come to the windows in a matter of minutes. When i hived my packages two weeks ago they drank 1 qt per hive in the first night. Good luck on Monday. It will definately be exciting.

[robherc]

2 cups water = 1 pound of water. So yes, 10C water + 5lbs sugar = 1:1

[Bees4Us]

I am going to a nature store tonight to pick up these items. What day would be best to make this syrup? Since I am getting them Monday, and plan to install them that evening, would Saturday or Sunday be the better day to make it? Can I also use it for the spray to use when I first get them??

[robherc]

Sat or Sun either one works, shouldn't make much difference. I often use 1:1+those 2 oils for spraying swarms before hiving them, or colonies before moving them to a different hive. So yes, I'd say it should work great for your package bees too.

...though I use about 1/5th as much of the oils myself, works fine for me weaker & for TNTBees stronger, so I'm guessing there's a pretty large "margin for error" on the oil amounts.

[Marshall]

For this years packages I am trying a 5:3 ratio. 10 lbs of sugar to 3 quarts of water. I checked the sugar levels after 7 days. Each hive had went through less than 3 quarts They are building good comb. I had read on a previous post that a little higher ratio would push up comb production and I would have to fill the feeders less often. Seems to be working so far.