Syrup

[RogueDrone]

Looking at buying in syrup feed for this autumn . Not sure whether to go for inverted feed or non inverted. Seem to be little difference in cost , so what 2nd best for the bees after honey.

Cheers Colin

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[MuswellMetro]

My bka buys ambrosia by the pallot and the cost to members is less than £11 per 12.5kg can

 

[Finman]

Looking at buying in syrup feed for this autumn . Not sure whether to go for inverted feed or non inverted. Seem to be little difference in cost , so what 2nd best for the bees after honey.

Cheers Colin

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Second best is normal Sugar. Ambrosia or inverted Sugar give no advantage. They are just same sugars.

 

[Finman]

.
Normal Sugar price is this year very Low. I do not know the reason. It is 30-40% lower than 2 years ago.
So to me cheapest is best.

Link: Fatty bees, skinny bees. Nutrition report from Australia.

 

[oliver90owner]

Don't know how you do your costing, but with sugar at current prices and, as MM states, inverted feeds at around £1.25 per kg of sugar. But I don't count my time as a cost!

Bees simply convert their winter stores to heat energy, nothing else, really. So does it matter whether sucrose or mono-saccharides? They store pollen for spring brooding and need rather more than contained in these expensive feeds. Further, unwanted proteins consumed in winter need to be excreted, so more cleansing flights required? So any easily digestible carbohydrate is what they need. If you want to pay twice the cost of dry sugar, that is your choice. Keeps someone, somewhere in a job and making a healthy profit for the company. I reckon the money is better in my pocket.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Invert syrup has the sugar in a higher concentration than you can get your 2:1. It is claimed that you can feed it later in the season when the temperature is lower. Bees seem to forage and reduce Ivy nectar into November though.
Lots of feeding to be done this year I suspect

 

[Finman]

Invert syrup has the sugar in a higher concentration than you can get your 2:1. It is claimed that you can feed it later in the season when the temperature is lower. Bees seem to forage and reduce Ivy nectar into November though.
Lots of feeding to be done this year I suspect

Fairy tales for adults.

First,.British Winter is not bad at all. IT does not any special foods to survive.
It seems that British summer is more difficult.

Oliver wrote as it is.

High grade foundations, honey wintering, luxus cost Sugar. Nothing needed. Good business based on good faiths. And then same guys demand scientific latest information.. But dreaming is essential part of hobby beekeeping.

I have seen a German recipe, how to make artificial honey from sugar. The book was printed 1860. They boiled sugar with acid. Same book recommended to feed hives so in spring that boiled carrots in water and feed the water..

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[Finman]

[
Tupla again. This smartphone is not nice working pal.
.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Looking at buying in syrup feed for this autumn . Not sure whether to go for inverted feed or non inverted. Seem to be little difference in cost , so what 2nd best for the bees after honey.

Cheers Colin

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Invert syrup would be the better of the two, just ignore the drivel on here about sugar syrup, it's about convenience more than anything, not much difference between any of the options although I must say they take down invert a lot quicker. I buy a few pallets a year to share out between friends and association members - the biggest advantage? I can't be bothered to faff around mixing the stuff. Whereabouts in God's country are you? What association are you a member of?

 

[sipa]

You can order a pallet of Invertbee, that is 60x14kg cans @ £11 per can

That is 840kg @ 78p per kg.

Also bear in mind that this invert is @ 1.37kg per litre, so equivalent to 2.7:1

Seems like a better deal to me.

In bulk it drops to 67p per kg

 

[Finman]

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Is it dry stuff or liquid? That invert? Water content?

 

[sipa]

Liquid, 73% solids.

 

[Finman]

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So 1/4 water to buy.

 

[Thymallus]

That is 840kg @ 78p per kg.

If I read this correctly then ambrosia is approx 71% sugar solution at 78p/kg
If plain ordinary sugar at say 49p per kg is used to make a 60% feed solution it works out at 38p per kg.
And that is not a bulk price, just the ordinary supermarket price of sugar.
Non bulk ambrosia 12,5kgs costs around £19 well over a £1 per kg.
I guess it comes down to time and money and individual choice.
I'm a Yorkshire man so I know which one I'll be making this autumn.

 

[chrismcd]

There is a sugar glut at the moment

Apparently sugar has been in oversupply for the last six years, but that is likely to end soon

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/07/29/sugar-weather-elnino-idINKCN0Q328E20150729

Personally I buy damaged 25Kg bags from Bookers - works out at about 30p per Kg. Best use for the BBKA members card.

 

[sipa]

That's all very well if you only have a handful of hives, but try mixing a couple of thousand litres then see how keen you are to save a few pence.

Not me, got better things to do with my time.

 

[Finman]

That's all very well if you only have a handful of hives, but try mixing a couple of thousand litres then see how keen you are to save a few pence.
.

2000 litres. So you save not pences but 1000 pounds.

Mix water and sugar is easier than make 1000 kg honey and sell them.

 

[Thymallus]

Not me, got better things to do with my time.

And therein lies the rub.
I can't get the discounted stuff as a pallet load would last me years. I only need a few hundred liters which takes me little time to make.

 

[Finman]

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When I drive to get food from supermarket, I take 50 or 100 kg Sugar with me.I do not take all 400 kg at same time.

My friend 0.5 km away from me order ready 67% syrup and tank car bring it to him. Ready syrup is exactly double price. 400 euros is pure money to me. Same cost as new tyres to car.

 

[sipa]

It's not only the cost of the sugar, It's the opportunity cost of and amount of time it takes to make.

Not forgetting that the home made stuff ferments easily.