Feeding the bees

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 harvest period will depend on the quality of feeding. Undoubtedly, bee colonies should receive adequate nutrition in the fall, but, as practice shows, the supply of food runs out even before the weather warms up. This is why beekeepers must use fertilizers. Everyone decides for themselves what type of feeding to choose for their insects and the feeding time.

Why do you need to feed bees?

With the help of spring feeding, which beekeepers give to insects before flight, the productivity of the hive queen can be significantly increased.High-quality food allows young bees to overwinter without dying; in addition, after winter they begin to fly around well-fed and quite strong. As a rule, with the help of fertilizing you can prevent the occurrence of many diseases.

Timing 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 supplies;
• stimulating the queen of the hive to lay eggs.

There are several main types of insect food:

• without adding various substances;
• with the addition of vitamins and medicines;
• fertilizers enriched with stimulants.

All beekeepers resort to using fertilizers. If necessary, you can prepare them yourself.

Feeding methods

As practice shows, beekeepers use natural honey, sugar, sugar syrup, protein feed, soy flour, Kandy and much more as feeding. For example, if after the first flight the insects have diarrhea, then it is necessary to use the medications that are given to them according to the instructions. At low temperatures, it is recommended to avoid using liquid fertilizers.

How to feed bees with honey

If you plan to use honey to feed bees, then you need to choose a high-quality product that will not cause harm to 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. This 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 old honey to the bees, it is necessary to place a honeycomb frame behind the distribution board or place it in the upper part of the housing. 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 eat honey or eat it poorly, then it is worth replacing the honeycomb frame.

Is it possible to feed bees fermented honey?

Giving fermented honey to bees is strictly prohibited. This 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 the boiling process the temperature reaches +95°C, the honey undergoes caramelization. There are often cases when, after wintering, unprintable honey can be found in hives. It must be immediately removed and used as feeding only for strong bee colonies.

Do bees feed sugar?

The use of sugar as a feed 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 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 overwintering outside and receiving sugar as food collect up to 60 kg of high-quality honey in 1.5 months.

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

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

• honey tastes unleavened;
• the aroma is weakly expressed, has no specific shade, the smell resembles old honeycomb;
• if we consider the consistency, it is cloudy, gelatinous;
• such honey is completely free of pollen;
• high content of granulated sugar.

Adulteration of honey is determined in laboratory conditions.

How to tell if bees have been fed sugar

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

As a rule, such honey has a white tint, the floral aroma is completely absent, the smell is weak or absent at all. The taste of this product is sweet, but at the same time cloying, there is no astringency that is inherent in a natural product.

Is it possible to feed bees cane sugar?

Many beekeepers prepare sugar syrup as food for insects. It is important to consider that the products used must be of high quality. Granulated cane or beet sugar is best suited for such purposes.It is not recommended to use refined sugar. Using sugar syrup is considered the simplest, most convenient, economical and popular option for winter feeding.

Protein supplement for bees

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

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

• pollen;
• Kandy;
• bee bread;
• powdered milk;
• soy flour.

It is recommended to use high quality products for preparing fertilizers.

How to make honey feed for bees

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

1. Thick is full. If all the honey has been removed from the hive, it is recommended to take care of feeding the bee colonies. To do this, you will need to dilute honey with warm water in a ratio of 4:1.
2. Average full. This mixture is given to bees for better reproduction. To prepare the fertilizer, you will need to take 2 liters of honey and 2 liters of boiled water, then mix until smooth.
3. Liquid full. This option is given in the case 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.

Is it possible to feed bees with jam?

If we take into account the reviews of experienced beekeepers, it is worth noting that in some cases it is permissible to use jam to feed bees. However, this should be done as carefully as possible. It is recommended to give jam only during the dry period, in order to save sugar. It should be taken into account that the fecal load will be maximum.

How to feed bees with beebread

Bee bread is considered the main and indispensable type of protein nutrition for bees. In the event of a deficiency of this type of nutrition, the queen of the hive stops laying eggs, as a result of which the development of the bee colony slows down. To prevent this phenomenon, it is recommended to place frames with beebread in the hives. If during the summer a large amount of beebread was prepared by insects, then some can be removed.

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

What to feed bees if there is no bee bread

If necessary, bee bread can be replaced. There are the following recipes for this:

• 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, and the mixture is allowed to stand for 48 hours.

If necessary, these types of fertilizers can be used to replace bee bread that is not available in sufficient quantities.

Features of feeding bees with pollen

If necessary, bees can be given pollen as food. Pollen is collected as follows:

1. Hazel catkins are collected and dried.
2. Shake pollen off flowers early in the morning, placing them in a container prepared for storage.
3. Pollen pollen is collected using pollen traps for this purpose.
4. They are removed from the beebread frames and then ground to dust.

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

Feeding Kandy

As you know, Kandy can be purchased at a specialized store or prepared independently, adhering to certain proportions:

1. They take honey - 26%.
2. Powdered sugar – 74%.
3. Pure boiled water – 0.18%.
4. Acetic acid – 0.02%.
5. Mix everything thoroughly.

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

Feed with added cobalt

Scientists have proven that cobalt has a beneficial effect on insect health. If you add cobalt to sugar syrup, you can increase the number of offspring by 19%. To prepare this type of food 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. This food must be given to bee colonies warm.

Feeding with healing infusions

With the help of medicinal supplements, you can prevent the occurrence of many diseases. If insects develop foulbrood, you will need to prepare the following healing infusion:

1. You need 1 liter of sugar syrup.
2. They also take: 2 g of sulfantrol, 2 g of sulcide, 900 thousand units of penicillin, 1 g of sodium norsulfazole, 400 thousand units of neomycin, 500 thousand units of biomycin.
3. Pour a small amount of warm water into the container.
4. Dissolve all components in it.
5. After this, the preparations, diluted with water, are slowly introduced into the sugar syrup and stirred thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained.

For varroatosis you will need:

1. 1 liter of sugar syrup.
2. 2.5 ml dill oil.
3. Mix everything thoroughly.

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

Is it possible to add medicinal drugs to food?

Medications can be added to insect food if necessary:

• sugar syrup;
• Kandy.

Food with the addition of medicines is given in the amount of 200 g for each street. The frequency of feeding depends entirely on insect diseases. You can add to the fertilizer:

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

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

Rules for laying food

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

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

Liquid fertilizers are applied as follows:

• into external feeders (it is not necessary to go inside the hive);
• in the rear feeders (an excellent option to prevent theft);
• into the upper feeders (ensures that the sugar syrup remains warm for a long time);
• you can feed the bees with bags (hungry insects are great at chewing through polyethylene);
• in glass jars;
• within a cellular framework.

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

Caring for bees after feeding

After feeding has been completed and the bees have left the winter hut, it is recommended to inspect the hives for the presence of deaths. In addition, the inspection allows you to assess the strength of the bee colony and the amount of brood.If the insects are weakened and are not able to fully provide themselves with food, it is necessary to feed them for some time, which will allow them to gain strength and begin to work.

Conclusion

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

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