proper sugar water ratio?

[wildbeekeeper]

When feeding newly hived bees, what is the proper ratio of white granulated sugar to water?  how many cups sugar per quart of water?!   Also, is this the same ratio that I could use to spray them with if need be?  thanks!

[Greg Peck]

1 to 1 by volume. How I do it is to fill a bucket half way with sugar then fill it the rest of the way with hot water. This has worked well for me.

This works well for spraying them also.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#ratios

I do 2:1 all the time.

[stinger27]

     I have the beekeeping video "A Year in the life of an apiary" with Keith Delaplane.  He recommends 2 parts sugar to one part water.  I always fill a one gallon bucket with sugar 2 times and dump it in a 5gal. bucket then fill the gallon bucket once with water and mix.  Takes time to dissolve it you dont boil it.

[Scott Derrick]

When feeding newly hived bees, what is the proper ratio of white granulated sugar to water?  how many cups sugar per quart of water?!   Also, is this the same ratio that I could use to spray them with if need be?  thanks!

I typically mix 1 pound of sugar to 1 pound of water. I have found that when I can buy 25 pound bags of sugar from Sams Club that when I put it into a 5 gallon bucket and add water that the ratio is about right. I use regular old water out of my hose and I mix it with a paint mixer and a drill motor. This is the type of mixer I use with my drill motor

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=176765-995-3410121&lpage=none

[Two Bees]

I'm using a 1:1 syrup mixture all of the time.

I mix 5 quarts of water, bring it to almost a boil, remove it from the burner, and add 10 pounds of sugar.  Sometimes, I will throw a peppermint in the mix just to make the bees happy.  Makes almost 2 gallons that I put into plastic milk jugs (after washing them throughly) and store in the fridge.

A 2:1 mix would be the same water with 20 pounds of sugar.  Whoa!  Better have a big pot!

[Moonshae]

A 2:1 mix would be the same water with 20 pounds of sugar.  Whoa!  Better have a big pot!

I've done a 13 qt + 50 lbs sugar batch. I have a couple big kettles. :P

[Two Bees]

Great Googly-Moogly!  That's a lot of syrup!  Sounds like about a 2:1 syrup.

Why do I get the image of you standing beside a cauldron and I hear.............

Bubble, Bubble,
Toil and trouble!

(Or something like that)

[Shawn]

I use a 2:1 ratio and it seems to work fine. Here is SE Colorado there is no flow and I am feeding every 4 days plus a patty. If we dont start getting rain I think the flow will never come

[Moonshae]

Great Googly-Moogly!  That's a lot of syrup!  Sounds like about a 2:1 syrup.

Why do I get the image of you standing beside a cauldron and I hear.............

Bubble, Bubble,
Toil and trouble!

(Or something like that)

Heh. It was 2:1. I used it in the fall, figuring giving them more was better than not enough. I don't know that I'll do the same this year...I'll wait longer and see what the goldenrod does. No need to feed in the beginning of September unless they're empty.

[lowlander]

Yikes,  I'm using 4:1 for syrup in the brood box and also have a dry sugar board on top - the bees have to pass over the dry sugar to get down.  We are in a rainy spell here on the west coast so the bees are staying close to home right now.  Hmm, no wonder I go through so many 100 lb sacks of sugar.
Brian

[doak]

I don't have to mix much. I fill a 2 ltr coke bottle half full of sugar then fill almost full with water from the hot tap at the kitchen sink, "shake it up baby", till it dissolves, then finish filling with water.
w-o-r-k-s  e-v-e-r-y  t-i-m-e.
doak

[Moonshae]

Yikes,  I'm using 4:1
Brian

I can't imagine that it's necessary to use something so concentrated, but it does allow you to get a lot of food to the bees with a smaller volume (and number of refills). Dry sugar is an emergency feed for cold weather, it's not necessary in the warmer months. The bees have to forage water to use it, whereas in the winter, the condensation from the hive in the sugar renders it easy for them to eat.

I do the same thing, Doak for 1:1, but use a gallon jug...half full of sugar, hot tap water, shaken until it's all dissolved.

[lowlander]

Hi Moonshae,

Yes, you are right, a concentrated mixture means a lot of food fast.  A side benefit that I have found out is: If I want to have an emergency 2 litre bottle handy, I can pop a mixed bottle in the freezer - AND IT DOES NOT FREEZE!! I give the bees dry sugar as well, because I am not with them full time (I am about 60% with them and 40% away).

Brian

[Michael Bush]

4:1 isn't syrup.  It's candy.

[Brian D. Bray]

I hardly evr use 1:1 or 2:1, I've had better luck using something in between.  More like 1.5:1.  It works well regardless of the time of year winter, spring, summer, or fall.  Thin enough so they can use it to make wax and thick enough to build up stores.

[Two Bees]

Moonshae, if you believe what George Imirie says about feeding, the following is quoted from one of his pink pages:

In Maryland, a colony should have about 70 pounds of honey (not thin nectar or syrup) to make it through the winter. 70 pounds honey ='s about 12 FULL deep frames or 18 medium, 6 5/8" frames. Don't wait until October or November to start feeding 2:1 sugar syrup. Bees do NOT store heavy sugar syrup! Bet you did not know that! They treat that 2:1 syrup just like nectar, where they inject the enzyme invertase into it to convert the sugar sucrose into the simple sugars fructose and glucose, evaporate the excess water from it and store it as honey made from sugar. Your bees need time and weather above 50° to do this, so start feeding in September.

For what it's worth!

[lowlander]

"4:1 isn't syrup.  It's candy."
Pretty thick candy.  I makes that tell/tale "bloop, bloop" sound (that's when you know it is thick enough)!
Brian