Last night at our monthly bee club meeting a guy gave a presentation and part of it included the tip that to avoid spending so much money on sugar to feed his 25 hives, he has started using off brand grape and orange soda he gets at the dollar type stores for 79 cents for a 2 liter bottle. He said to be sure not to get the diet stuff, but look at the label to make sure it is sweetened with HFCS. He said this is a lot cheaper and easier than mixing sugar syrup (he added 3/4 bottle of soda to 1/4 bottle of water), the bees drink it right down, and he even thinks the caffeine in it makes the girls work faster.
Is this guy nuts or what?
I did some searching and there is about 1/2# of sugar in a 2 liter bottle straight not mixed 75-25. If they would take it I think it might give them something to do but as far as a food substitute, its mostly water.
Quote from: danno on July 29, 2011, 02:20:32 PM
I did some searching and there is about 1/2# of sugar in a 2 liter bottle straight not mixed 75-25. If they would take it I think it might give them something to do but as far as a food substitute, its mostly water.
That 1/2# sugar costs 79 cents, so it's $1.58 per pound. Cane sugar is 50 cents per pound, so I don't think he's getting a bargain. Sugar is easy to make if you do it in large batches. ( I mix 25 lbs sugar with 2 gallons water to get a 3:2 mix). If you make concentrated sugar, it will not go bad for months... even in hot weather.
What about the food coloring & the sodium content in the soda, just asking. Orange & purple honey not very appealing.
sounds pretty crazy to me. i don't think that would be very healthy for the bees. i think he's trying to take a short cut but i think he's going to run into a dead end with that one. bees need a good healthy sugar tea if your going to feed them sugar water. little off subject but this is a recipe i use for feeding my bees 1/1 sugar water 10 sage leave, 3 dandelion roots about 3 inches long , good hand full of dried needle leafs, 5 or so lemon balm leafs and dash of salt. boil water put all ingredients in water let simmer for at least 1/2 hour, stain, add sugar cool and feed. try it i bet your bees will love it. and its very healthy. good for gallon batch. takes a little longer to make but you want you bees to eat good!
Call me picky but I would never feed my bees that stuff. And think of the additives and the coloring.
I fed my bees organic sugar water last spring for their first feeding. I wanted the best start for them. Regular cane sugar didnt impress me .....but Im new and only have one hive to feed right now.
I had heard of bees being attracted to discarded soda cans and bottles before, and I know they occasionally drink water from what looks like fairly nasty water sources, but feeding them soda on purpose as a fairly steady diet over days/weeks just doesn't sound like a very healthy way to go.
So if I start feeding the bees Mountain Dew or Jolt Cola or Red Bull, will they sleep less, get a faster start, work harder, collect more? (Or act crazier like my 4 year old on that stuff?)
Quote from: ldaxon on July 29, 2011, 02:10:33 PM
Last night at our monthly bee club meeting a guy gave a presentation and part of it included the tip that to avoid spending so much money on sugar to feed his 25 hives, he has started using off brand grape and orange soda he gets at the dollar type stores for 79 cents for a 2 liter bottle. He said to be sure not to get the diet stuff, but look at the label to make sure it is sweetened with HFCS. He said this is a lot cheaper and easier than mixing sugar syrup (he added 3/4 bottle of soda to 1/4 bottle of water), the bees drink it right down, and he even thinks the caffeine in it makes the girls work faster.
Is this guy nuts or what?
very big nut :-D oh boy.
Sugar is an energy store for wwinter. Bees do not live with sweet taste. Have you seen "low energy drinks"
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I agree with Finski; a very big nut.
Isn't it kind of sad that people buy this juice stuff and feed it to their kids when most of us wouldn't even feed it to a bee!
I worked at a Fire Dept for 9 years, and we saved cans for burned children. There was a recycle bin right beside the Coke machine.
The neighbor to the station was a Beek, and his bees loved the recycle bin. Each empty can tossed would stir up several girls. Either way, I would not "feed" soda.
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I prefer holy cows urine if I want to color the honey better.
If i color hen eggs, I put brown onion chells into boiling water.