A delicious treat is honey, but not just a treat. It is an excellent remedy. To get it, you need to work both for bees and people. Those who are not engaged in beekeeping, it seems to him that everything is simple and easy. But this is not so, only a person who is knowledgeable in this matter knows that a small toiler must be fed during the winter. One of the commonly used types of top dressing is candi for bees, the recipe for its preparation will be given below.
What is kandy
So, we turn to the conversation about feeding itself. What is it? If you read books on beekeeping, then most likely you already know about it. And if not, now you will find out. Kandy is a solid, carbohydrate supplement for bees. It is prepared from:
This is the first option.
The second option:
- hydrolyzed cane sugar ;
- powdered sugar with additives.
Kandy is used to feed bees in the winter. It is placed on nesting frames in the form of cakes or on the bottom of the hive. Also, top dressing can be found in uterine or transfer cells.
Most often, feeding for Kandy bees is used for the spring or early autumn period, it is at this time that they contribute to the building of the bee family. A treat is being prepared only according to approved technologies. To maintain bees, certain medicinal products (bee pollen) are added to the mixture . The tool must be used strictly according to the instructions.
There are several ways to make candi for bees. We will talk about each of them separately.
Candy Kandy: Stage One
- Take a tinned basin or enameled dishes. Remember: in no case should you use a container made of cast iron.
- One liter of water is poured and heated to sixty degrees.
- Two kilograms of sugar are poured, and everything boils for twenty minutes. It is impossible to stir syrup, the foam is carefully removed.
Tip: the whole bottom of the dishes should be heated by fire. Only in this case, sugar crust does not form on the walls of the container, which then turns out to be fondant. It is best to cook the mixture on the stove without opening the burners. If you have to cook on a stove or kerosene stove, then put an iron sheet on the fire.
The readiness of the syrup is checked as follows: a spoon is lowered into a hot mixture, and then for a second - under cold water. If after this procedure you can roll a dough ball, then the syrup is ready. Otherwise, you will have to boil it further.
Kandy fondant: second stage of cooking
The syrup is ready, you can proceed to the second part of the preparation.
- Six hundred grams of liquid honey is added to the resulting mixture .
- Everything boils for no more than three minutes.
Remember! When honey is added to the syrup, boiling intensifies. If the dishes are not too deep, the mixture will pour over the edge. A treat for bees cannot be digested, it can become hard but brittle. You can fix the error only by adding water and starting to boil again.
After the mixture has boiled, it is poured into a tin dish, it cools down there, and you stir it with a wooden spatula in one direction. Once the mixture has become a thick white dough, it is placed in a wooden box or glass jar. Inside the walls of the container should be covered with a layer of wax. Kandy is covered with thick paper, also saturated with wax.
Not everyone can figure out correctly whether the mixture is ready or not. You can use a thermometer for this. With indications on it one hundred and twelve degrees, you can pour honey. After that, bring the mixture to a temperature of one hundred and eighteen degrees and pour into storage utensils.
Scholz feed mass
You can cook candi for bees, the recipe using the following. Honey prepared for the mixture, put in an enamel pan. As mentioned above, an aluminum container cannot be used. Warm up the product. Keep it on fire until all crystals have dissolved. You can’t bring it to a boil, it can burn.
Then cool the prepared mixture and pour powdered sugar into it. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until its consistency becomes like a dough for bread. After that, put the obtained treat on a board sprinkled with powdered sugar. Start kneading like dough on a pie. Add sugar powder until the mixture becomes soft, but does not blur.
As you can see, this method of cooking candi does not require many knowledge and costs. A little time, desire - and in winter your bees will not starve, which means that in spring and summer they will do a good job.
Feed mass of Komarov
If you decide to cook candi for bees for the winter, we will offer you another recipe.
- Take a large pot of water. The temperature of the liquid must be such as to be able to hold the hand in it.
- Put honey in the second container.
- Put the second pan in the first.
- Honey is constantly interfering with a wooden spatula. Water temperature should not be more than sixty-five degrees.
- After all the crystals have dissolved, stirring, add powdered sugar to the mass.
- When the mass becomes thick, they begin to knead it with hands.
- To get a good candi for bees, the proportions of honey and powdered sugar should be in this ratio: two and a half to one.
For the preparation of goodies for "hard workers" you will need high-quality honey. It should be taken from healthy families. Dry powdered sugar should be free of lumps and crystals. Only in this case, top dressing will bring benefits to the insects, not harm. Your bees will winter well.
And now about the proportions
Cooking Kandy for bees. The recipe is provided in proportions. Agree that in this case it is easier to cook the mixture. After all, it is not necessary to determine “by eye” whether one or another ingredient is enough.
To prepare goodies for insects, you should take:
- 26% liquid honey;
- 74% powdered sugar;
- 0.3 milliliter of 70% acetic acid ;
- 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil per 1 kilogram of powdered sugar.
Powdered sugar should be free of lumps. It will need so much so that you can make flat cakes of the size that you need.
Properly cooked candies should not be too thick and should not stick to your hands. In order for the sugar in the mixture to be inverted, you will have to put the cakes in plastic bags and keep them in a warm place. A little time will pass, and the prepared top dressing can be used not only in the winter, but, if necessary, in the summer.
Ways of feeding bees
Studying books on beekeeping, you can find out that there are many ways to feed these insects. Each period has its own delicacy.
- In spring, it is best to give bees gruel. It can be ordinary or yeast. This delicacy can revive the family after wintering.
- During the transition period, liquid syrup is used: sugar or honey.
- When fasting times come, the bees are given a substitute as a top dressing, which in composition is similar to nectar. It has one, but very important effect - antinozematic. In order to make this nectar even more effective, you can add citric acid to it. For one liter of syrup - about four grams of this remedy.
- Bees need protein nutrition. Most of all, it is required in the spring. As it is used dry shredder. Pour it into empty cells using a spray bottle and spray it with 30% sugar syrup.
- An excellent feeding for insects is albumin cottage cheese. It is prepared as follows: one kilogram of sugar is dissolved in 800 grams of water. Two hundred grams of cottage cheese is ground in a small amount of the obtained syrup, and then it is refilled to the norm.
We give top dressing
How to make candi for bees, you already know, now let's talk about how top dressing is used.
Kandy is given at any time of the year and in any weather. The main thing is to watch the bee families. They themselves will "tell" whom and when to feed. The beekeeper must decide when this moment has arrived.
Kandy is placed in a plastic bag with holes. It is installed on the frame. It is possible to give such top dressing when there is honey in the hive.
Sugar syrup should be given in the evening. Thus, you will reduce the "walks" that are harmful to insects. Sugar should be warm. Residues must be constantly checked. Remember: syrup will not be able to replace bees full nutrition. In the feeders should be: bee bread, honey, pollen.
Perga of bees is fed in the spring. After the honey has been pumped out, the honeycomb with the remnants of the beef is cut out and twisted through a meat grinder. Honey is added to the resulting mixture. Everything is stored in a glass jar. Before distribution, a little water, honey is added to the composition and a cake is made, which is placed on the frame.
Conclusion
Is feeding bees necessary in winter? Kandy to use for these purposes or other mixtures? These issues constantly torment beekeepers. There is no definite answer to them. Some believe that insects cannot get out of hibernation without help.
It is best if you provide your “workaholic” in advance with feed. Feeding should be used only when they are short of food.
Fertilizing is required in order to:
- replenish stocks;
- stimulate egg production;
- protect from disease.
Successful beekeeping!