Bees

Organizations & Ideas

• SOBA: Southern Oregon Beekeeper's Association

• Verti Comb: Interesting idea for a hive.

Spring and Summer Feed

• Sugar Syrup:  50% Sugar, 50% Water

Fall/Winter Feed

• Sugar Syrup:  75% Sugar, 25% Water

Bee Sugar Blocks

Ingredients:

• 11 ½ cups Baker’s granulated sugar or pure cane sugar, about 5 pounds of sugar (1)

• 1 ½ tsp  Citric acid from the canning supplies section of the grocery store

• ⅛ tsp  Electrolytes, example: Save A Chick Electrolyte Packets

• ¼ tsp  Probiotics, for example: Save A Chick Probiotic Packets

• ¼ cup  Real Apple Cider Vinegar, not apple ‘flavored’ vinegar (check the ingredients)

• ¼ cup  Water

• Splash  Honey B Healthy (2)

(1) Do not use confectioners' sugar (which contains corn starch) or organic/brownish/brown sugar, all of which cause bee digestive issues.

(2) Honey B Healthy is a feeding stimulant with natural herbal oils. It smells splendid and provides some herbal nutrition too.

How to make:

Add the ingredients to the sugar in a big mixing bowl or a clean bucket. Use a large spatula or your hands to mix the ingredients.

You must get all the sugar damp till it's more like snow than sugar grains.  When thoroughly mixed, because of how our boxes are configured, we shoot for 1" in thickness. Most of our boxes take 1", but if you can make them thicker, the better. Too thin, and it will fall apart.

Line the tray with parchment paper and put it back in the mixture. Press it down in the mold as tight as possible and firm up the edges.

IMPORTANT You must score the blocks to the size you want while they are wet! I use a metal spatula and cut lines to the bottom so the blocks will come apart clean.

This was derived from Feeding Bees in Winter:  How (& Why) to Make Sugar Blocks.