If, standing next to the hive, you hear a hum and buzz, and when you knock on the wall of the house, the bees respond in unison, then wintering is going well. When the insect's response to tapping is weak, the bees are starving. In this case, they need food. How to feed bees in winter and what?
Instructions
Step 1
Start preparing your bees for the cold season in August - early September. Leave up to 20 pounds of honey in the house to keep the insects through the winter. They need fifteen of them for food, and five for the reserve. Honey is the main source of strength and energy for the life of bees. Some beekeepers recommend increasing bee stocks of this product to 35 pounds. More food means better and safer wintering.
Step 2
The supply of honey must be correctly positioned in the nest. The layers should not impede the movement of bees and restrain air circulation. Do not fill the middle of the nest with honey, but place it on top, above the bees, on the side and at the back of the hive. As they eat honey, insects will easily move in the nest along the free cells. There should also be space above the frames in the hive.
Step 3
If the natural stock of honey in the hive is low, start artificial feeding in August. Give a small dose of sugar syrup daily, about two hundred grams. To prepare it, use a kilogram of sugar per liter of boiling water. In August, the syrup will be processed by old bees, which will die off with the onset of cold weather.
Step 4
Complete wintering nests in September. If honey is still in short supply, use a high concentration syrup. Three kilograms of sugar are dissolved in two liters of water. Feed large enough. A portion can be up to four liters to fill the honeycomb sooner. If there is a lot of food, and the flow of nectar has stopped, then the queen bee stops laying eggs. This has a beneficial effect on the subsequent wintering, since young insects do not wear out during brood rearing.
Step 5
It is better not to feed the bees directly in winter. This disturbs insects, badly affects their safety. The addition of food in winter is necessary in extreme cases when the bees are starving.
Step 6
In the spring, at the end of wintering, it happens that there is not enough honey. In this case, the insect family needs to be fed. For this, a frame is taken, into the honeycomb of which warm sugar syrup with honey is added. You can also serve candy wrapped in cheesecloth or sugar-honey dough. A frame measuring 435 x 300 mm holds up to two kilograms of food. For feeding, remove the empty combs from the hive, and place the filled ones in the nest. Cover with a warm pillow.
