How to feed bees for the winter

Many novice beekeepers in the early years of beekeeping, trying with all their might to maintain the health of insects, are faced with such a nuance as feeding bees for the winter. The expediency of this procedure often causes controversy in certain circles, and therefore it is worthwhile to understand this issue in more detail.

What do bees eat in winter

The mode of life of honey bees in the winter months is as well-established as in the spring and summer. With the onset of cold weather, as soon as the uterus stops worming, worker bees begin to form a winter club, which is designed to keep warm in the hive for the winter. While in the club, the insects become less active and only move to keep the nest warm or to feed.

Under natural conditions, bees use bee bread and honey for the winter. This food is considered the most useful and nutritious supplement to maintain the health of the bee colony, as it contains many different vitamins and minerals. However, not all honey can be used to feed bees in the winter.

Honey will provide health for the whole winter for the family of bees:

• meadow forbs;
• cornflowers;
• white acacia;
• dogwood;
• thistle;
• linden;
• snake catcher;
• creeping thyme.

At the same time, honey obtained from some other plants can harm the bee community, weakening insects and provoking the appearance of diseases. So, the danger for the winter is feeding bees with honey:

• from plants of the willow family;
• cruciferous crops;
• rapeseed;
• buckwheat;
• heather;
• boys’
• swamp plants.

The honey of these plants tends to crystallize quickly, which makes it very difficult for the bees to process it and they begin to starve. Therefore, for the winter, frames with such honey must be pulled out of the hive, replacing it with other varieties.

The process of honey crystallization directly depends on the color of honeycombs. For the longest time in a liquid state, it is in light brown combs, therefore, when preparing top dressing for the winter, it is necessary to focus on this feature.

Honeydew honey left for feeding for the winter is a great danger. Pad is a sweet liquid mass, which is secreted during the life of small insects, for example, aphids, and some plants. If there are favorable conditions and a large number of honey plants in the apiary, the bees do not pay attention to the honeydew, but if there are too many pests or it is impossible to collect honey, the bees have to collect the honeydew and carry it to the hive, where it is then mixed with honey. Feeding with such a product, due to the lack of necessary substances, can cause diarrhea in insects and lead to their death. To avoid such a development of events, you should carefully monitor the regimen and check honey for winter feeding of bees for the presence of honeydew.

Do I need to feed the bees for the winter

Studies show that the lack of nutrients in winter causes many disturbances in the life and work of the bee colony. Bees wear out faster, become less active, which leads to a decrease in the amount of honey and brood.

However, many experienced beekeepers frown on the practice of feeding bees for the winter and try to resort to it as little as possible. Instead, since the summer, apiary owners have been paying attention to ensuring that their pets have enough food in the cold season.

Winter top dressing is appropriate only in special cases, if required:

• replace poor-quality or crystallized honey;
• replenish food supplies in case of shortage;
• prevent the development of certain diseases.

How to feed the bees in winter if there is not enough honey

For various reasons, sometimes it happens that there is not enough honey and perga for top dressing in winter. Under such a set of circumstances, it is imperative to provide the bee colony with the missing food in order to increase its chances of survival. To do this, you should inspect the bees and introduce the appropriate type of feeding for the occasion. Before feeding, you should calculate the amount of feed needed and make sure that the timing for the procedure is favorable.

When to start feeding bees for the winter

If the bees still need additional nutrition, then the timing of feeding in the winter should fall at the end of February – the beginning of March, but not earlier. During this period, insects are already gradually moving away from stasis and anticipate the coming spring, so human intervention will not be as stressful for them as in the first winter months.

But earlier feeding will not bring anything but harm, as the insects will be disturbed and may get sick due to temperature fluctuations. In addition, an abundance of food will provoke a scarring of the uterus. Brood will appear in the cells, and the usual way of life of the bees will be disturbed, which can be fatal in winter.

How much food to leave bees for the winter

Regarding winter food, perhaps the most burning question is how much food bees need for the winter. Usually the amount of food depends on the strength of the family and the number of frames in the hive.

So, one nesting frame with an area of ​​435×300 mm, which includes up to 2 kg of food, will be enough for one bee family for a month of wintering. Upon completion of the preparatory work for the winter, namely – in mid-September – a family of bees sitting on 10 frames should have from 15 to 20 kg of honey and 1 – 2 frames of bee bread for feeding.

How to feed bees for the winter

When honey and bee bread cannot be used for feeding, experienced beekeepers use the following food options that allow bees to survive until spring:

• sugar syrup;
• candy;
• sugar candy;
• perga substitute mixture.

Each type of winter feeding has its own advantages and characteristics of the bookmark, but all of them will help maintain the viability of the bee colony before the warming comes.

Preparing food for bees for the winter

Sugar syrup is a fairly common way to feed bees in the winter, but without additional inclusions it is not nutritious, so it is often enriched with herbal supplements. Some beekeepers do not recommend using it before a cleansing flight, as it requires too much energy for insects to process.

Much better for feeding bees in the winter has proven itself candy – a specially prepared mass mixed with honey, pollen and powdered sugar. Often, its composition includes medicines, which not only saves bees from hunger, but also serves as a preventive measure against various diseases. The advantages of candy as a top dressing are that it does not excite the bees and makes it easier for the insects to adapt to the new season. In addition, it is quite possible to make it at home. For this:

1. 1 liter of purified water is heated to a temperature of 50 – 60 ° C in a deep enameled bowl.
2. Add powdered sugar to the water, stirring regularly to get a homogeneous mass. The powder content in the final product must be at least 74%, which is approximately equal to 1,5 kg.
3. Bringing to a boil, the mixture is stopped stirring and boiled over medium heat for 15 – 20 minutes, periodically removing the foam.
4. To check readiness, a spoon is lowered into the syrup and immediately transferred to cold water. If the mixture instantly thickens and is easily removed from the spoon, then the product is ready. The mixture of liquid consistency is continued to boil until the desired consistency.
5. The finished mass, which has reached 112 ° C, is combined with 600 g of fresh liquid honey and boiled to 118 ° C.
6. Next, the product is poured into a tin container and cooled, after which it is stirred with a wooden spatula until a pasty texture is acquired. A properly made candy should be a light, golden yellow hue.

Sugar candy is also a good way to feed the bees for the winter. Prepare it as follows:

1. In an enamel pan, combine water and sugar in a ratio of 1:5.
2. For improved consistency, you can add 2 g of citric acid per 1 kg of sugar to the mixture.
3. After that, the syrup is boiled until completely thickened.

Another option for feeding bees for the winter is a substitute for bee bread, or a mixture of Gaidak. It is recommended to use it to build a bee colony in the absence of natural perga. As a rule, it includes soy flour, whole milk powder, as well as a small amount of chicken yolk and yeast. Often, beekeepers mix it with perga so that insects feed more readily.

Laying food in the hives

When placing top dressing in the hive, special care is required, since any awkward action can provoke a premature flight of bees and their death. Therefore, they try to lay food for the winter, trying not to disturb the nest once again.

So, candy is packed in plastic bags of 0,5 – 1 kg and flattened a little, forming kind of cakes 2 – 3 cm thick. Several holes are made in the cellophane, after which the hive is opened and the cakes are placed under the canvas or ceiling board directly on the frames. In this form, the top dressing will not dry out for a long time and will feed the bees for 3-4 weeks.

Sugar candy for feeding bees is placed as follows:

1. On a surface covered with paper, lay out frames without sushi with wire arranged in three rows.
2. Pour the caramel mixture over the frames and wait for it to harden.
3. Then replace the extreme frames with frames with candy.

Lollipops are best prepared in advance so that they are enough for the whole winter.

Do I need to feed the bees in winter

As mentioned above, it is better not to replenish food supplies of bees in the winter without special need, as this is a very strong stress for insects, due to which they may not endure wintering. If the beekeeper is firmly convinced that the honey prepared for food is of the proper quality and is available in abundance, and the bees are healthy and behave peacefully, then it is not necessary to feed such families.

Watching the bees after feeding

After 5 – 6 hours after making top dressing for the winter, it is necessary to observe the bees for some time in order to assess how they took in additional food.

If the bee family is excited or refuses to eat the prepared food, it is worth waiting another 12-18 hours and, if there are no changes, switch to another type of food. It is also worth changing the feeding when the insects have diarrhea, and this must be done immediately, otherwise the bees will quickly weaken.

If the bees remain peaceful and calmly react to feeding, then the bookmark can be considered successful. In this case, the introduced feed is renewed at intervals of 1 time in 2-3 weeks.

Conclusion

Although feeding the bees for the winter is an optional procedure and its implementation is a personal choice of the beekeeper, under certain conditions it can bring a lot of benefits and even increase the productivity of the family in the subsequent spring period.