Sugar Notes
I’ve been struggling with sugar water. I tried Rapidura in water but didn’t pay attention to the concentration. I used tap water. The bees didn’t drink it. About that time the population was shrinking, I saw small hive beetles (SHB) in there (maybe). I switched to Domino at a 2::1 ratio and the bees started to drink. Then the SHBs disappeared and I had large black ants… and the bees drank more and the ants were gone. Maybe it’s coincidence.
The current recipe:
- One Feeder
- Two empty 5lb honey jars
- 12 cups Domino white sugar from Costco
- 6 cups of tap water filtered through a Britta filter
- boil the water
- add the sugar
- stir until it just begins to boil and the sugar is dissolved
- cool the pot in the sink in a water bath
- ladle into 2 honey jars using a funnel
The 5lb honey jars hold just over 6 cups of water. 6 cups of water + 12 cups of sugar filled two jars for me.
I hope that sugar water doesn’t ferment. I screw on the tops and set the jars aside for later use. They’ll cool off in their own time.
Right now, the bees seem to have settled in to a cup of syrup a day habit.
Tags: Bees