The Buzz Newsletter

October 2004

 

 

Page 9

Feeding Syrup to Honey
Bees
Reprinted from Allen Dick’s website
www.honeybeeworld.com

Feeding sugar syrup honey to honey bees helps ensure that they survive periods when honey may run short, such as winter. Sucrose syrup is a superior wintering feed, since it stays liquid and contains no solids that might cause digestive problems during a long confinement period, particularly in northern continental climate areas such as ours (~55 degrees North). Feeding syrup is also an important way to ensure bees build up well in spring. Bees should never be allowed to run short of feed.

For fall feeding we use white refined table sugar dissolved in water so that solids are 67% by weight. Syrup can be mixed on premises from bagged sugar, but this requires labor and heat and suitable water. Note 1

For spring feeding we normally use the same sucrose syrup as for fall, but sometimes we purchase High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) which has 77% solids and which works very well as long as it is high quality. Before receiving a load of HFCS, we add clean (city treated) water -- about 10% of the total expected volume -- to the tanks before pumping in the hot HFCS. It mixes perfectly, is an ideal consistency to feed, and will not sugar out, even over winter. Consult your local experts. Note 3

Syrup is stored in tanks and pumped rather than lifted, so there are considerable savings in dollars and convenience over mixing dry sugar into syrup. Moreover, the sugar is already in solution at the factory and has to be dried to crystal form to be bagged, so it only makes sense to get the syrup direct from the factory, and we do. By the tanker load. Sugar should never be fed at any time when it is possible that it will be stored in the honey supers and extracted with honey. Note 2

A pump equipped tanker delivers over 40,000 pounds of syrup to our farm. Three 1250 imperial gallon tanks hold the syrup until needed. Syrup keeps well for a month or more. After that, slow fermentation is possible in warm weather. In cold weather, over time some sugar will precipitate out onto the bottom. An ordinary honey pump is adequate to fill our truck tanks for daily use.

A one ton flat-deck truck holds the feeder sitting on the deck. The tank is a 200 Imperial gallon farm gasoline-style steel tank. Attached is one inch gasoline hose with a swivel and a service station quality nozzle. The auto shut-off has been removed from the nozzle. In summer when the syrup is thinner due to warmer temperatures, we use 3/4 inch hose.

The unit we presently use no longer has its own battery. We now run #4 power & ground welding cables to the vehicle battery along the frame. For more than 30 gallons or so at a yard, the truck engine must be running to avoid a flat battery. The modified Pumptrol® pressure switch is visible at the right on the 90 degree elbow. Camlocks are used for quick connection. Aluminum ones last longer.

This is a close-up of the feeder pump. It is a common brass gear pump ($120 CAD) belt driven by a 12 Volt DC motor. The motor shown here is a winch motor from a Kelley hive loader, but a starter motor from a small car like a Nissan Micra might be a good choice.

A helper pre-opens the hives in readiness for feeding by turning the upper box a bit . We have a feeder in each of the two brood boxes and fill according to need. we use straw or grass to prevent drowning. Bees tend not to drown in thick syrup anyhow, since they float so high due to its density and, besides the wetting ability of thick syrup is poor. Thin syrup will drown bees.

Here, the syrup is being run into a one US gallon frame feeder. Bees prefer these wood & masonite feeders to plastic ones. These feeders have a single 3/8" x 1" x 15" stick as a float for the bees.
A feeder fills in 15 seconds or less. The pressure-sensitive electric auto-shutoff switch on the pump allows the operator flow control precise at the nozzle.

In fall, we feed the yards by filling drums and letting the bees help themselves. The drum has a lid to keep water out and louvers to allow the bees in. Rainwater, being lighter than syrup will float on sugar syrup and discourage feeding. Comb scrapings are placed on a board on top to attract the bees and start robbing. Otherwise the bees will sometimes ignore the syrup.

Notes

1. Honey bees are sensitive to some things in water that do not bother people, such as fluorides. Our local water has high fluoride levels (2 ppm or more).

2. Honey is defined as the nectar of flowers gathered by bees and converted to stores by them, and no scrupulous beekeeper would ever allow sugar syrup to be sold as honey. Moreover there are penalties for doing so.

3. HFCS must be diluted with about a 10% volume of sterile water when delivered or it will promptly granulate. If granulated, the product is quite soft, but is a problem to pump.