Sugar and water for feeding syrup, by weight, the way Canadian beekeeping guides give the ratios.
Good to know
- The ratios are by weight: 1:1 is one part sugar to one part water, 2:1 is two parts sugar to one part water. A litre of water weighs a kilogram, so 5 kg of sugar with 5 L of water makes 1:1 (Ontario Beekeepers' Association guide).
- Use white sugar. The BC Ministry bulletin on bee nutrition advises against brown sugar.
- Do not boil the syrup: Perennia's fall guide warns that heating forms HMF, which is toxic to bees. Warm water helps the sugar dissolve.
- Clean up spills and do not leave syrup in the bee yard: it starts robbing (Ontario.ca, Perennia). The OBA guide also warns that overfeeding can cause robbing.
- Guides call 2:1 syrup "70 %" sugar; the exact share by weight is 67 %.
How much colonies need for winter
The guides give different figures, so here they are side by side:
- Perennia (Atlantic Canada), fall management guide: about 27–36 kg of honey stores to winter a colony; about 23 kg for a nuc.
- Ontario Beekeepers' Association feeding guide: feed at least 15 L of syrup per colony in fall (a volume; this tool gives weight, and sugar syrup is denser than water); total hive weight about 70–90 lb for a single box, 100–120 lb for a double.
- Ontario.ca: total hive weight at least 32 kg for a single box, 45 kg for a double.
- BC Ministry, Bulletin #401: feed 30–45 kg (60–90 lb) of sugar syrup or honey in the fall.
Perennia's figure is honey stores; Ontario's are the weight of the whole hive. Syrup fed is not the same as stores in the comb, because bees have to process it. Perennia and the OBA guide both suggest hefting or weighing the hive to check.
Sources
- Ontario Beekeepers' Association Tech Transfer Program, A Guide to Feeding Bees.
- Perennia, Fall Honey Bee Management Guide.
- BC Ministry of Agriculture, Bulletin #410, Nutrition and its Effect on Bee Management.
- BC Ministry of Agriculture, Bulletin #401, Spring Management.
- Ontario.ca, Best management and biosecurity practices for beekeeping in Ontario.