sugar syrup, fondant or sugar

[dexter's shed]

was having a conversation with a few other beeks at my out apiary regarding feeding in winter, I would normally use sugar syrup, but found it sometimes goes moldy, my friend stated he uses bakers fondant bought in 12.5kg boxes, whilst searching youtube on other feeds, I came across this what our american cousins do, seems an ideal solution as I have a contact who can get me 25kg bags of sugar, now it must work otherwise they wouldn't do it, would they ??


https://youtu.be/E_WLCc21-Hk

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Americans do a lot of thing to their bees, and continue to do so - does it mean it all works though?

 

[BeeJayBee]

No need to bother with all that messing about and special boards, you could try what some of the old guys in my association do, it works for them and for their bees. Just cut an x on the flat side of a bag of sugar and fold back the flaps. Pour a cup of water inside. Leave for a little while for the sugar to set a bit, and then invert over the bees. Cover with insulation if you have any.

I've never tried it because I prefer to use fondant, if needed.

 

[Tremyfro]

I guess sugar is sugar......bees will store it for winter. Certainly an easy way to feed it.
I'm not so keen on the open hole in the board.
Garden Fork also have some recipes for this...a bit easier to hear the narrative and you don't have to have dedicated boards for it...an eke would suffice. The trays can be made up ahead of time.
Cheaper than fondant and you can pick up sugar really easily...no special journeys or paying for postage.
I used the Garden Fork recipe last year. The bees ate it all.
I also used some fondant...it is messy to cut up...and very sticky!
In the spring...I wanted lots of comb...so I fed some syrup....they took that very quickly and built the comb...fabulous ....but they did fill it with the syrup! It didn't matter too much as I needed stores to make my nucs.
So I tried it all ways.
Just seen the bag of sugar plus a cup of water...see there is another way to do it!...useful tip.

 

[protheroe]

I always carry a few bags of sugar for emergencies.put a small slit in bag and add some water.I never seem to have any room in the discovery for a bucket of syrup,apart from dedicated feeding times.

 

[Jonathan]

"Sometimes goes mouldy" - just put some thymol in per Hivemakers recipe, when making up then it won't go mouldy. There are instructions here on how to do it. Easy enough.

 

[Finman]

was having a conversation with a few other beeks at my out apiary regarding feeding in winter, I would normally use sugar syrup, but found it sometimes goes moldy

htt][/quote] Reason is that syrup ...feeder, you notice that it does not get mold.

 

[dexter's shed]

Reason is that syrup gets dirty from outside. Pure syrup I slow to ferment. There is no food for micro organisms.

Second reason is that you keep too long feeder on the hive. They cannot store syrup because brood fills the comb. And vain to keep feeder on the hive then. Moist air condensates to the feeder and dilutes the surface of the syrup. It start fermenting .

Strong syrup, over 50% does not get mold or ferment but condensation water dilutes it.

Keep a break after proper time and feed again, about week later. And give such dosage that they take all in two days.

Wash the feeder if it has dirty.


It is not rare that I have black mold on the surface of empty feeder. I wash it then.

- keep feeder clean
- fast feeding happening, couple of days.

If you have solid sugar on the bottom of feeder, you notice that it does not get mold.

cheers finman, totally ignore the question asked, that's the way to go

 

[sipa]

Wild yeasts are swirling all around us, they are everywhere. That's why dilute sugar solution ferments !

 

[ga5321]

I use both sugar syrup and fondant. I add lemon juice to the SS to increase the acidity and help reduce any mould build-up. Last year i did think about trying to make a candy board but used fondant as late winter feed.....seemed simpler solution!

 

[Finman]

cheers finman, totally ignore the question asked, that's the way to go

And what was the question.
How to feed bees...

Dexter, I tried to help that your syrup does not get mold. What funny did you see in it?

Syrup is best way to feed the bees. Isn't that funny.

 

[Erichalfbee]

was having a conversation with a few other beeks at my out apiary regarding feeding in winter, I would normally use sugar syrup, but found it sometimes goes moldy, my friend stated he uses bakers fondant bought in 12.5kg boxes, whilst searching youtube on other feeds, I came across this what our american cousins do, seems an ideal solution as I have a contact who can get me 25kg bags of sugar, now it must work otherwise they wouldn't do it, would they ??


https://youtu.be/E_WLCc21-Hk

Why don't you have a go and post back how it goes

Me.....I put thymol in my Invertbee and feed in a rapid feeder. I visit the hives once daily, anyway.

 

[dexter's shed]

And what was the question.
How to feed bees...

Dexter, I tried to help that your syrup does not get mold. What funny did you see in it?

Syrup is best way to feed the bees. Isn't that funny.

had I wanted an answer to mold, the post title would have read,

"how to stop sugar syrup going moldy"

rather than, does the damp sugar idea work, mainly as my out apiary only gets a visit once a week, so the idea of loading up a top eke type board is appealing, as doubtful it would all get taken within a week, unlike syrup that could be taken in a few days, a few comments have made me decide to give it a go this year, normally I don't feed, but thought for the price of sugar, it's a simple idea that might be the difference between a colony getting through winter or not

thanks for all the replies, even your's finny

 

[Finman]

had I wanted an answer to mold, the post title would have read,

"how to stop sugar syrup going moldy"

rather than, does the damp sugar idea work, mainly as my out apiary only gets a visit once a week, so the idea of loading up a top eke type board is appealing, as doubtful it would all get taken within a week, unlike syrup that could be taken in a few days, a few comments have made me decide to give it a go this year, normally I don't feed, but thought for the price of sugar, it's a simple idea that might be the difference between a colony getting through winter or not

thanks for all the replies, even your's finny

Oh dear.

Damp Sugar is really stupid because bees need to carry huge amount of water to handle and dilute the stuff. Not difficult to are with your eyes. If you give 66% syrup, bees start huge traffic because they need drinking water

When you give 20 kg dry sugar, bees carry to the hive 10 litre water. What is so good in that?

I have worked in Helsinki 150 km away from my bees. i have visited in my yard only at week end. So it has went 40 years I have never had to ask how to feed bees, or what to do if my syrup has got mold. Nothing mystery to solve the problem.

I cannot understand what funny is in that, if I want to help you.

I understood very well your question. Syrup does not get mold if you do as I told. Fit your systems do that they work.

i can tell that syrup feeding is the most simple task in beekeeping.
IT is forum which makes it a mystery.

.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Why don't you have a go and post back how it goes

Me.....I put thymol in my Invertbee and feed in a rapid feeder. I visit the hives once daily, anyway.

I meant to add.
Some folk put on a whole block of fondant in one go

 

[Karsal]

Add thymol as per Hivemakers recipe. Have a jam jar full of syrup from last year on the shelf in the garage as a control sample and it's still not got any mould in it. The bees don't seem to mind the thymol either.