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Help! Best natural feeding options

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asfodeltreegiver:
Hi everyone! I'm a new beekeeper about to establish my first colony. I've been studying and preparing for over a year and have apprenticed with two local beekeepers.

One question I still have is this - what is the best food for bees in the spring and fall? I have a hard time believing that sugar water is the most nutritious and most viable option... To me, it feels like humans eating candy or processed sugars rather than fruit. Is it truly unsafe to give a colony honey from another healthy hive as they get established if the beekeeper have enough to spare on hand? Is there no better option than store-bought inverted sugar syrup or homemade sugar syrup?

If sugar syrup is truly the best option, would an unprocessed sugar like coconut sugar be more nutritious than white granulated sugar syrup?

Thanks in advance! I'm so excited to be here and to be starting on this amazing adventure!

The15thMember:
I consider myself to be a natural or at least naturally-inclined beekeeper (the definition of "natural" varies so much amongst beekeepers that I sometimes hesitate to use the term without context).  I personally see sugar as emergency feed only.  Is it the best thing for bees to eat?  No, certainly not, and your goal is always to leave the bees enough honey so you don't need to feed sugar.  But sometimes things don't go as planned.  Maybe the fall flow doesn't come in.  Maybe a weak colony is robbed out by a stronger one.  Maybe you have a package or nuc that is getting a late start and needs a boost.  In these situations, if you have extra honey frames squirreled away somewhere, or a big colony with a surplus you can donate to the other colony, that is what you'd do.  But if you don't have any extra honey, then sugar is what you can fall back on.  It's not the best, but it will keep the colony alive and prevent them from starving to death until they have access to nectar again.  Personally, I would be wary of purchasing honey to feed to bees, unless I could get it from a beekeeper who I would trust to have healthy bees.  I also feel like the extra expense of a different sugar isn't worth the price for the purpose, since I only use it when something goes wrong, which hopefully is rarely.  So I would just use whatever sugar I had on hand in the kitchen. 

asfodeltreegiver:
Thanks so much for your reply! Yes, I was most interested in what to supplement bees' foraging with when getting a new colony established since honey stores will be empty (first hive!), and then of course it's also important to think ahead to potential food shortages for them as well. I'm fortunate enough to have about 100 jars of quality honey I helped to harvest myself from healthy bees last summer, so although it's not still capped in a frame I do believe it's a safe source of nutrition.

I was just reading that raw sugars contain elements that are undigestible to bees, so it's best to stick with white pure cane sugar (organic, if possible) in an ideal world. I'm not sure if anyone here can corroborate that or offer more insight into types of sugars when needed, but this is already very helpful.

The15thMember:

--- Quote from: asfodeltreegiver on May 06, 2024, 09:17:57 am ---Thanks so much for your reply! Yes, I was most interested in what to supplement bees' foraging with when getting a new colony established since honey stores will be empty (first hive!), and then of course it's also important to think ahead to potential food shortages for them as well. I'm fortunate enough to have about 100 jars of quality honey I helped to harvest myself from healthy bees last summer, so although it's not still capped in a frame I do believe it's a safe source of nutrition.

--- End quote ---
There is nothing wrong with feeding honey from a jar, I've done it myself several times, just so long as you can trust the source and it's not too cold.  I just put one of my feeder lids that has holes punched in it on the jar, turn it upside down over the inner cover, and away we go.  With a setup like mine though, if the ambient temperature is low, then the honey will be cold since it's not in with the bees, and they will refuse to take it because it would lower their body temperature.  But for helping a new colony build up in the spring, that shouldn't be a problem.   

Kathyp:
What I found helpful is to be familiar with what is blooming in my area and when.  A short period of feeding sugar water until the bees find natural sources will not hurt them.  It only takes them a few days to orient on their hive and then go out and find food.  If you have lots of things blooming around you,  you shouldn't need to feed for long.

There are periods of time here when there's little for them to collect and it's important to keep a close eye on what they have stored.

You also need to figure out whether or not you want honey.  Some people just keep bees for pollination and pleasure.  If you want to gather honey, your management toward buildup might be different.

You helped harvest some honey so you have a mentor or someone who can help you evaluate the food possibilities for your area?

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