Sugar Candy

[JordanM]

Is there a recipe to make sugar candy for the summer time. I have herd of making it in the winter time and feeding sugar water in the summer time like Robo made for the winter. And would you add vinegar to it in the summer time to.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/emergency-feeding/

[Robo]

The vinegar is part of the chemical process needed to make the candy, it is not added as a treatment for the bees.  So if you decide to make candy in the summer, than yes you still need to use the vinegar.

[KONASDAD]

If you are attemtping to draw out new foundation, sugar candy won't work. You need syrup or a nectar flow for that.

[Dick Allen]

Sugar candy can be made simply with sugar and water. The addition of vinegar and/or cream of tartar is not needed. Many beekeepers do add either vinegar or cream of tartar to their mixture, but it has been reported by at least one reaearcher-Leslie Bailey that vinegar and cream or tartar shoretens the life of bees. He doesn't say by how much and it may be very little, so the shortened life span he mentions likely goes unnoticed by beekeepers.

[Kev]

The point of making candy is so you can set it on the frames where the bees can get to it in winter. In the summer they can walk up to a hive top or Boardman feeder can get to syrup, which is a lot easier to prepare.

[NWIN Beekeeper]

Dick Allen is on the mark.

Vinegar is added to adjust the pH to prevent molding.
You can do the same thing by adding mint oils like those found in honey-b-healthy.
You can mix those yourself - just do a search for the recipe here.

Konasdad is correct, it is not ideal for drawing foundation.
Feeding a thinner syrup will require more cell space for evaporation.
Your bees know this and will make more combs to compensate.
I have had bees draw new comb because of the stimulation caused by candy however!

And Kev is right, you want it on the frame with little need for movement.
It is also important to point out it is DRY.
Syrups can provide moisture that the bees can track across the cluster and cause them to freeze.

From what i have read, cream of tartar results in a shorter life span by days (I think 3-5) but in a bees short life span, that's plenty too much (imagine a decade or two off your life).