Sugar Feed for Bees

I mix mine with hot tap water

I am a third year beekeeper and have done the 1:1 both ways. If going with the unheated water, I put it into a large clean plastic container with the sugar and shake it a lot. As long as your quantity is small enough for the bees to consume it in a day or two this works pretty well. I have had the sugar in unheated syrup sink to the bottom of a hive top box feeder when the shaking was insufficient and it was one more thing to clean out.

This year I am only feeding a nuc with a quart jar so I am heating the water - I don't necessarily boil it -- just heat it hot enough so that the syrup is clear and not cloudy -- i.e. the sugar has melted. Heating this little bit is convenient so I figure why not.

In the fall, however, with a 2:1 mix, you pretty much have to heat/boil it to get it blended.

i mix 8-10lbs of sugar to 1 gal of water -

i just use hot tap - mine is set to 130 degrees - i like a warm shower!!!!!

easy way to make it is in a 5 gal bucket - pour in 1 gallon of water and stir in 10lbs of sugar - if you dump it all in at once - its hard to stir but if you add 1/3 at a time it stirs fast

good luck with your bees

I use a paint mixer on a drill driver. Works great.