Foxhound Bee Company

Sugar Syrup Math for Beekeepers

During the spring, a beekeeper’s thoughts turn to thinking of an immensely successful upcoming year. As eternal optimists, beekeepers expect a great season with plenty of sweet victories to be had.

But yet, as in much of life, the start of a new venture is the hardest. The same goes for honey bees starting their new home. Whether in a tree or in a beekeeper’s box, they have to build a lot of honeycombs from scratch. The energy to build the comb comes from flowers.  When bee colonies can no longer find sufficient amounts of nectar due to natural or artificial factors, a nectar dearth or honey dearth occurs

When there are no flowers in bloom, bees, who have keepers, are usually given sugar syrup. It’s not ideal, but it is often a necessary evil. The beekeeper is the bee’s best help when it is time to provide extra food for the bees when they can’t collect it themselves. 

Feeding Sugar Syrup

The Question Always Comes Up, "Do I Mix Sugar And Water By Weight Or By Volume?".

The ratio for the mixture of sugar to water varies, but there are rules of thumb for beekeepers to follow. 1 part sugar to 1 part water is what beekeepers will give their brand-new bees in the spring. It attempts to mimic thin nectar as best as possible.

And the other mixture is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, which is a thick syrup used traditionally in the fall.

The answer is often, “It doesn’t matter”.

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QUICK MATH ON FEEDING BEES

2 cups water = 1 pound

1 pound of water = 2 cups

1 pound of white sugar = 2.25 cups

2 cups white sugar = .875 pounds or 14 oz or 396 grams

2 cups 1:1 / Thin sugar syrup = 1.1875 pounds or 19 oz or 538 grams

2 cups 2:1 / Thick sugar syrup = 1.3125 pounds or 21 oz or 595 grams

2 cups honey = 1.5 lbs or 24 oz or 680 grams

2 cups capped sugar water = 1.5 lbs or 24 oz or 680 grams

1 medium frame of honey = 85 square inches of honey (both sides)

1 deep frame of honey = 136 square inches of honey (both sides)

1 medium frame of honey = 3.45 pounds of honey on average (from 10 frames in a 10 frame box)

1 deep frame of honey = 5.5 pounds of honey on average (from 10 frames in a 10 frame box)

What Happens If I Feed My Thin Syrup In The Fall Or Winter?

When feeding syrup during the fall or winter, the goal is for the bees to store the syrup quickly so it can be stored before winter comes. This syrup is for the bees to eat during the winter, not for them to build comb or to raise bees.

So because the goal is for the colony to store the syrup and not to use it, you will want to give them thick syrup. The thick syrup is more easily processed by the bees before they store it. At a time when you want the bees to process it quickly, you don’t want them working too hard. And if you give them the thin syrup, they will have to work harder to process it.

What Happens If I Feed My Bees Thick Syrup Or 2:1 In The Spring

If you end up feeding thick sugar water to your bees during the spring or the summer, they will process it quickly and place it in their hive just as they would the 1:1 or thin syrup. So if you feed thick on accident, it’s ok. Bees are going to store it quickly in their nest and could possibly backfill their nest with the syrup quickly.

When feeding bees thin syrup, they are supposed to feel like spring is in the air, and it will encourage them to build comb and raise bees. They will still do this with thick syrup, but possibly not as quickly. The bottom line is that it isn’t a quick and straight answer, but at the very least, the bees will take it just fine. There are enough bees and warm weather in the spring that the bees will process the thick syrup quickly.

The same is not true of feeding bees thin syrup during the fall or winter, though.

It does not matter whether you weigh the sugar and water or you measure the sugar and water. The reason is not that they are the same thing. Weighing vs. measuring does yield different amounts of water and sugar, but it doesn’t matter because it has the same result. Bees turn the energy in sugar syrup into honeycomb either way.

If you are mixing together more than a gallon of syrup together at a time, a paint mixer like this makes mixing it together quick and easy. Trust us; it makes making sugar syrup almost enjoyable.

To help you figure out how to make sugar syrup and to understand what it costs you and how it affects your bees, we made this guide for you. This will help guide you to how much sugar and water it takes to make sugar syrup. And more importantly, how much it cost.

This chart was designed based on data from a hive scale and is a good guide for knowing how much feeding sugar syrup will help a colony of bees. There is some variation from hive to hive, but this should help you know how much to feed your bees. The current price of sugar will change significantly from when this graph was created.

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