Addition of bees for winter with sugar syrup. Time and amount of top dressing

Breeding and caring for bees is a responsible and time-consuming process. After the summer season, the host of the hives should take care of the state of the insects and the food reserves. For successful wintering of bees, it is necessary to carry out feeding in autumn. This procedure will help to keep the maximum number of individuals in families in the cold season with good health and strength for a future flight.

Preparing bees for winter

After the summer season, the owner of the hives needs to carry out a family audit. How to properly prepare bees for winter? For this, he must calculate the age of the uterus and the amount of brood. These data will help him to determine the need for additional activities to prepare bee colonies for wintering.

If the farm has clues with different insects for "strength", then the bees must be fed with sugar syrup, because natural honey reserves usually go to weak families.

When all sorts of diseases are detected, insects are treated with special veterinary drugs. Thus, before the onset of cold weather, families can restore their health and grow stronger. Also, the necessary medicines are added to the dressing.

Do I need top dressing?

In the winter, bees experience two phases of life and development. The first half of this time of the year is completely calm and calm in the evidence. During this period, insects practically do not move in the nests and do not eat food. They are gaining strength and energy for the next stage.

The situation completely changes in the bee family with the appearance of the brood. At this time, insects begin to carry out an active activity:

• Feed brood;
• Maintain a certain temperature in the place of the broiler;
• Regulate the humidity.

In connection with such a stormy activity, they spend a large amount of energy, which must be restored with the help of food. Therefore, the autumn feeding of bees with sugar syrup can help families to produce quality brood.

Optimal time for the process of harvesting and using sugar syrup

Experienced beekeepers were divided in opinion. Some believe that fertilizing can be made in late autumn, others insist on a spring version of the use of syrup. When to start feeding bees for the winter?

Nevertheless, it is believed that it is better to conduct this process in late August and early September. Years of bees at this time noticeably decreases and the bribe period ends. Also, pay attention to the fact that near the hives there were no flowering plants. Otherwise, the bees will fly out to these flowers, and not to process the sugar syrup.

In southern regions of the country, bees for winter can be fed with sugar syrup until October 5-10. Here, at this time, the average daily temperature still rises above 10 ⁰ . In other parts of the country, it is better to complete this process by September 15-20.

Later, feeding does not allow insects to completely rework the feed before the birth of the offspring. And in the process of fertilizing, young individuals should not participate in any way. This occupation will simply destroy them. The main task in the winter of a new generation of bees is to gain strength and energy for the spring-summer season. Such insects just wait for the cold period in comfortable conditions.

Late brood detains the first hatchings of the young. This leads to the fact that the insects begin to emptying into the honeycomb. And such places do not use bees for harvesting honey. Thus, in the next season, the collection of nectar and processing it into honey can be significantly reduced, and individuals may be stricken with a bacterial infection.

Insects recycle syrup for feeding bees for about 14 days. During this period, the temperature regime on the street is extremely important. If this process is performed in the spring, then the process of uterine inking can be accelerated, which will lead to the loss of a large number of insects.

How to achieve the processing of sugar syrup first and the correct calculation of its amount

To do this, before carrying out the work on feeding, you need to put two empty frames inside the hive. Thus, the processed insect syrup will be placed in these honeycombs. By the way the bees begin to absorb the food from the middle of the hive. Then closer to the spring period, they will move to the honeycombs on the side, where there will be reserves of natural honey.

Addition of bees for winter with sugar syrup should be carried out in a certain amount. Calculating the right weight is easy enough. To do this, you need to determine the total amount of food for the whole winter for one family. According to estimates of experienced beekeepers, 3,000 insects (one side of the frame) need 2 kg of honey.

By the rules of beekeeping, the bulk should be made up of natural food. This is the honey that bees are harvested. The host of evidence at the end of the season leaves him on the inside. It contains all the necessary substances for the life of insects.

Honey, which insects produce from sugar syrup, can account for 30% of the total amount of feed. It should be noted that the calculation is made from the mass of sugar, and not from the weight of the syrup. Hence, 1 kg of honey bees produce from the same amount of sugar, rather than a ready-made sweet solution.

Features of syrup preparation

In autumn, individuals should not spend much energy on the process of splitting complex polysaccharides into monosaccharides. Also they should not spend a lot of time on printing cells. To do this, top-dressing bees for winter with sugar syrup should be carried out strictly according to the schedule, observing the exact proportions of the components when preparing the solution.

Sugar can be used beet and cane. It should not contain any foreign impurities. Water for making syrup must be cleaned. It needs to be boiled and defended for several days. In the container with water during this time a precipitate forms, which necessarily merges.

If sugar during the storage has absorbed a lot of moisture, then the ready syrup is cooked for 10-15 minutes. Thus, it will be possible to avoid infection of bees with fungal diseases. It is strictly forbidden to boil the syrup. Also, you must strictly follow that it does not burn, otherwise the insects will not be able to process it.

Cooking syrup should be in enamelware. It should be thick. To process a liquid sweet solution, bees spend a lot of energy and enter a wintering regime that is weakened. This will affect their health and quality of honey in the next season.

Composition of syrup for feeding bees for the winter

Beekeepers have tried many different recipes for feeding. Now we use proven and quality compounds:

1. The most optimal ratio is 3 (sugar): 2 (water). Thus, 60% of the sugar content in the syrup is obtained. For example, to prepare 10 liters of finished feed, you need to take 6 kg of sugar and 4 liters of water. In order not to crystallize, acetic acid is added to the mixture in the proportion of 0.3 ml per 1 kg of sugar. This ingredient has a good effect on the quality of bees wintering. They have more developed fat body, and they give an excellent brood in the spring.
2. Increase the immunity of insects with the help of an additive in cobalt dressing. This component has a favorable effect on young animals. Bees increase resistance to diseases and in the spring with good forces go to flight. You can buy this component in the pharmacy. There the substance is sold in the form of tablets of cobalt chloride. Such 2 tablets should be added to 2 liters of the finished syrup.
3. Honey from the processed syrup does not have enough nutrients for the bees. To maximize the composition of the natural, in the sugar solution is added to cow's milk. Thus, bees can use 76% of the necessary nutrients. To make such a syrup you need to take 20% less water. After cooling the finished syrup to 45 ⁰ , add milk in the amount of water that is missing before the proportion. So, to prepare 10 liters of syrup, you need to use 3.2 liters of water and 0.8 liters of milk. Such a solution is fed into the hive in a warm state.
4. Often used in cooking recipes baker's yeast. In this case, the syrup is brewed in a ratio of 1: 1. For 10 liters you need to take 250 g of pressed yeast. They need to grind in half a liter of finished syrup and then add to the entire solution, mixing well. Such feeding of bees for the winter with sugar syrup will supply insects with a sufficient quantity of trace elements and vitamins. When using dry yeast, they should be soaked in advance at a rate of 12 g per 1 liter of ready-made syrup.
5. To avoid nosematosis, you need to add "Fumagillin" in the syrup at the rate of 250 ml per 12.5 liters of the finished food. Before application, the drug must be diluted in clean water.
6. To protect the hives from the ticks, a small amount of needles needs to be added to the feeding. Also, such an additive will provide families with additional vitamins and add a pleasant smell to the solution.
7. You can supplement the protein in the diet of bees with the help of a chicken egg. To do this, you need to beat the egg well with a whisk or a mixer and strain it through gauze. The ingredient should be added to the finished syrup. For 1 family of bees will be enough 1 pc.

All additional ingredients are added to the cooled syrup. Ready food can not be boiled and overheated. If necessary, boil the finished syrup, you need to periodically remove it from the heat before the moment of boiling.

Preparation of syrup

Water in the required amount is defended in advance. Then it is brought to a boil in enameled dishes and is set aside from the fire. Only in this case is added the necessary amount of sugar and thoroughly mixed.

When using a liter jar to measure the amount of ingredients, you need to remember that only 800 g of bulk substances are placed in it. After the sugar is completely dissolved, the syrup is allowed to cool to 40 ⁰ .

Now in the food you can add the necessary additional components to increase the amount of vitamins and trace elements. Also in the finished mixture, you can pour in natural honey in an amount of 10% of the total amount of solution.

Bees seal the honey honey from the syrup, process it, reduce or add the necessary amount of water. Therefore, you need to carefully prepare sugar syrup for bees. Proportions of 3: 2 should be strictly observed. So, we get a syrup with the optimal density, and its insects can easily be processed into sugar honey and do not spend too much energy.

How to carry out the process of fertilizing

It is important not only to correctly prepare the syrup, but also to distribute it correctly. In the other case, all preparations will be in vain. An experienced beekeeper knows exactly the time and amount of feeding bees for the winter for his farm. Young owners should familiarize themselves with the main methods. Feeding bees with sugar syrup is done:

• Small amounts at a time (up to 1 liter);
• A large amount (1-3 liters).

The first way is more acceptable and justified. In small doses, bees quickly and better process sugar syrup in honey. The produced enzyme for digesting sugars (invertase) is enough in sufficient quantity for the entire portion of feeding.

The second method can be used under the condition of a large and strong family. Also, it is relevant under the condition of good brood in the hive. The feeding of bees for winter with sugar syrup is carried out with the help of upper feeders and sometimes lateral ones. In advance, clean honeycombs are removed from the hives. From the upper feeders, insects quickly pick up the syrup and process it, because it cools down there more slowly.

Autumnal feeding of bees with sugar syrup is done in the evening. Drops of a sweet solution should not fall on the walls of the hive or on the ground around it. Otherwise, the bees will fly out and perform additional collection activities, and the feed will not have time to process.

What should be used packaging?

Sugar syrup for bees (proportions must be strictly observed) can be placed in a hive in several ways:

• Ceiling or side feeders, which are covered with bridges of wood or straw, to avoid the immersion of insects in the syrup;
• 3-liter cans;
• Packing bags;
• Filling empty cells.

In small farms often used improvised devices, when the autumn feeding of bees is carried out with sugar syrup. So, the prepared mixture is placed in a 3-liter jar, in which then the neck is covered with gauze, folded into several layers. The bank is turned upside down and placed in the upper sections of the hives. The syrup should not flow out of the container. Bees suck food through gauze protection.

Use of packages for top dressing

The cheapest and most convenient way is to use filling bags for packing. They differ from polyethylene by greater strength and the presence of microscopic pores that allow the smell of syrup to spread well throughout the hive. Thus, you do not have to pierce the packages yourself.

With such a container the bees will spend minimal effort on puncturing the packets, and the sugar solution will not drip onto the walls and floor of the hive. This method is often described by many professionals in the beekeeping section. Feeding bees for the winter with the help of packages takes a minimum of time and physical effort.

Packages are filled with ready-made syrup and tied. They are added in the evening to the upper frame carefully, so as not to press down the bees. This design is insulated and closed. Within a few days, the bees will completely take the top dressing and will process it.

To insects did not refuse to take food in this way, a little bit of natural honey should be added to the syrup for the smell. This method is considered the most common and convenient.