More Feeding Question...Candy and such?

[DayValleyDahlias]

I stumbled upon a lot of posts in re:to making candy.  Is this to be used only during Winter...I am going to offer the bees some sugar syrup here in a few days ( as soon as the feeder arrives )...

Is it too early to offer candy?

Also I have read where some people put the syrup into a zip lock baggie, then cut an x on top...the liquid really stays in the baggie?

Besos~*~ :-*

[TwT]

when you get your feeder and feed 2-1 you should have plenty of time for them to store enough to winter, you can put fondant on the hive once it starts getting colder if you are not sure you have enough stores , the baggie feeders are fine and work well, but it again is something that is emergency feeding in winter, baggies feeders work fine anytime of the year you are trying to feed a hive....here's the baggie info site.  Robo has a good fondant recipe also..

http://www.beesource.com/eob/baggie.htm

[DayValleyDahlias]

Neato, thanks!

[TwT]

here's some candies recipes from Robo site

http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/emergency-feeding/

[DayValleyDahlias]

Excellent TwT...thanks for the link to Robo's recipe....

[carol ann]

Yeah!
I'm so happy this came up. I will be feeding my hive this winter, and possibly another that is a new swarm to be removed on Saturday, maybe. Anyway I was concerned about the water in the feed. I am so glad you posted about the candy and the link to the recipe!
Carol Ann

[Michael Bush]

The don't seem to take candy and store it.  They take syrup and store it as capped honey.  They will eat candy when they are starving or when there is a dearth, but capped stores are best.

[BeeJay]

Ok Just wondering, does everyone feed? What if you leave lots of honey do you still feed?

[Robo]

Ok Just wondering, does everyone feed?

Not everyone feeds.  There are two camps of thought.  One is to leave the bees enough honey to make it thru the winter on their own, and only feed those bees that do not have enough.  The other camp is to take as much honey as possible and feed back sugar to the bees for their survival. The basis for this is purely econimical.  The price of honey is substantially more than honey,  so one can steal all the honey, buy sugar to feed, and still make a profit.

What if you leave lots of honey do you still feed?

Nope,  feral hives survive just fine on their own :-P

[Robo]

here's some candies recipes from Robo site

http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/emergency-feeding/

I just updated it with the sugar board information from my old site.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/emergency-feeding/

[Michael Bush]

>One is to leave the bees enough honey to make it thru the winter on their own, and only feed those bees that do not have enough.

Another is to feed all of them so they don't rob each other.

Another is to feed just the strong ones and steal the capped honey for the weak ones.

Feeding just the weak ones is almost a guarantee of a robbing frenzy.

[bluegrass]

Or feed off of the hives in the fall so they store enough to make it through the winter.