Feeding with dry sugar

[philat98]

I was watching a video by Trevor Swales in Yorkshire and I saw that he feeds his bees with dry sugar poured onto the crown board. It saves a lot of messing about making syrup. He is a professional and has been beekeeping for years so I suppose he knows what he is doing. Any thoughts?

 

[Swarm]

I was watching a video by Trevor Swales in Yorkshire and I saw that he feeds his bees with dry sugar poured onto the crown board. It saves a lot of messing about making syrup. He is a professional and has been beekeeping for years so I suppose he knows what he is doing. Any thoughts?

I like his videos and honest approach. In fairness he used dry sugar in an emergency.

 

[philat98]

I like his videos and honest approach. In fairness he used dry sugar in an emergency.

I didnt know bees would take dry sugar. I have consumed a lot of his heather honey over the years so I was curious to watch his beekeeping.

 

[Garry R]

Dip a bag of sugar into water for a minute or so and take it out and let it dry. It forms a crust. Cut a square out of the bag and put it against the top of the frames. Save the sugar crystals spilling everywhere.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Dip a bag of sugar into water for a minute or so and take it out and let it dry. It forms a crust. Cut a square out of the bag and put it against the top of the frames. Save the sugar crystals spilling everywhere.

I’ve heard of this before from an elder dipping bags of sugar in warm water.
Wouldn’t the bees need to collect water to process the dry sugar ?
I’d much prefer to use fondant for feeding bees.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

it's OK for emergency feeding but not much use for autumn feeding when you want them to load in the stores - I doubt dumping twenty pounds of sugar on the crownboard is going to look very pretty

 

[RogerIvy]

Early this year we were concerned that a few hives were on the brink of starvation and decided to do a little experiment.

We made sugar bricks with:
5kg sugar
250ml water
Tbl spoon honey
Tbl spoon white or cider vinegar

Basically used a paint mixer with a drill in a bucket, really easy.
Let the bricks dry for a few days in a heated place (on top of the boiler).
Simply plonked them on the top of the frames (we have ekes).

It was really easy and very cheap, most of the bricks were consumed and all the bees came through in good numbers.

 

[Garry R]

I’ve heard of this before from an elder dipping bags of sugar in warm water.
Wouldn’t the bees need to collect water to process the dry sugar ?
I’d much prefer to use fondant for feeding bees.

Absolutely agree - just for a temporary emergency

 

[Eyeman]

Early this year we were concerned that a few hives were on the brink of starvation and decided to do a little experiment.

We made sugar bricks with:
5kg sugar
250ml water
Tbl spoon honey
Tbl spoon white or cider vinegar

Basically used a paint mixer with a drill in a bucket, really easy.
Let the bricks dry for a few days in a heated place (on top of the boiler).
Simply plonked them on the top of the frames (we have ekes).

It was really easy and very cheap, most of the bricks were consumed and all the bees came through in good numbers.

Omit the honey & vinegar: not necessary. Folk use too much water. 3% water works so for 5kg use 150ml. I dry mine in the oven at 60C for 1hr.