Winter is a relatively calm time for the beekeeper. But in order for the bees in the apiary to survive the winter well, they need to be properly fed in the fall. “Correct” means at the right time and in the right proportions. If you do everything “according to science,” in the winter not a single family will die.

Autumn feeding of bees

Feeding domesticated bees in the autumn-winter period is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Syrup for bees for autumn top dressing must be boiled, strictly observing the ratio of the main ingredients - sugar and water. If you cook it "by eye", the nutrition will turn out to be unbalanced, insects can die from an upset stomach.

Important!   According to statistics, the most common cause of bee death in winter is diarrhea caused by improperly organized last feeding.

• If you have to take hard tap water for the syrup, you must first pass it through the filter. The ideal option is water from a well or well.
• To obtain a 70% solution of water and sugar, you need to take 2 kg of sugar sand per liter of water.
• Before giving food to bees, it is necessary to warm the liquid to about 40 degrees.
• Fir oil can be added to the finished fluid. This will help enrich your diet with an extra dose of protein.

Autumn feeding of bees with sugar syrup

When and how to feed bees in the fall

Beekeeping in September-October (the timing depends on the region) is, first of all, the preparation of insects for winter. The main task of the apiary owner is to ensure that the bees leave for winter well-fed. To do this, you can not start feeding too early. But you should not be late, otherwise the bees will be already lethargic and will eat poorly. Each year, a favorable period for feeding occurs at different times.

When planning this important event, you need to consider the following:

• If the weather is favorable, it is better to start feeding in the first decade of September or in the middle of the second decade.
• Before starting work, it is necessary to pump out honey for the last time.
• Do not wait for the onset of cold weather. When the temperature drops sharply, insects do not fly out of the hive to send out their natural needs, and droppings that remain “in the house” can cause infection with dangerous infections.
• Before feeding, it is necessary to disinfect the hives.

When asked about when bees are fed in Siberia in the fall, experienced beekeepers answer: it all depends on what weather is in the yard, and when weather forecasters predict the final onset of winter, with snow and frost.

Attention!   Of course, you need to feed insects while there are warm, warm days - as experienced beekeepers say, you need to "catch" such days.

However, it should be borne in mind that, in connection with the early onset of cold weather, this event in Siberia and its regions should be held before the fall of the calendar, in the third decade of August.

Residents of the Middle Strip can safely wait until the end of August, and the owners of apiaries in the south of the country can attend to feeding in early September, and will not be late.

Honey full for feeding

Feeding bees in autumn involves, in particular, the use of honey. To add this food to the diet of insects must be strictly metered. A large amount of carbohydrates in this product will help bees to survive the winter safely. Also, such feeding will enrich the diet of insects with valuable amino acids.

Honey full for feeding bees

When preparing a honey full, you must keep in mind the following:

• It is possible to prepare syte with a different consistency, it all depends on the state of the bees.
• If all honey was taken from the bees, they should not remain hungry in the winter. In this case, you need a thick concentrated solution of honey - 4 parts of honey per 1 part of water.
• When a beekeeper is interested in the active reproduction of insects, it is necessary to prepare a top dressing of medium consistency - not very thick, but not liquid. For this, honey and water are mixed in a ratio of 1: 1, that is, they are taken equally.
• It happens that there is still honey in the house, but the beekeeper wants to stimulate insects to oviposition. In this case, you need a liquid feed, consisting of 2 parts of water and 1 part of honey. But it should be borne in mind that sometimes liquid fullness causes diarrhea in insects.

It is not worth adding various spices to the syta, as beekeepers sometimes do in the south of Russia. If the bees are healthy and active, they will eat food without any additional additives. If the insects are ill with something, first they need to be cured, and then they should be fed.

How to feed old honey to bees

Syrup for bees in the fall - a product of prime necessity. But in addition to syrup, other substances must be present in the diet of insects in the fall, it may be the honey of past “crops”.

How to feed old honey to bees:

1. Choose the moment when insects almost do not fly, approximately in the second decade of September.
2. When it starts to get dark, pull out the frames with last year’s honey.
3. Place the frames at a distance of about 17 meters from the houses.
4. The next day, pull out and give insects frames with last year's honey at any time of the day.

This can be done for several days in a row until there is nothing left of land.

It is necessary to observe how insects clean the land, and make sure that they do not perforate the honeycombs. A frame with the softer honey should be periodically placed up. Instead, a frame with a solid product is installed, insects are removed, the frame is placed to the side.

In the end, only those frames that contain the hardest honey can remain unrefined. Before giving such frames for cleaning to bees, in the evening they are slightly watered with water. Over night, honey becomes softer, and insects easily clean everything.

How to feed old honey to bees

Last year’s honey can be fed not only in autumn, but also in spring. This method is safer, because at this time of the year the insects will not “rob each other”. However, in spring, bees eat worse than in autumn.

Incentive feeding

Autumn feeding of bees includes the so-called incentive feeding.

Here are the basic rules for such feeding:

• the purpose of feeding is to activate the natural instincts of bees;
• incentive feeding is needed if the queen bee very early stopped laying;
• syrup is given in small doses, and insects take it for a natural bribe;
• the density and concentration of the syrup with stimulating feeding do not matter.
• instead of syrup, you can just as well use honeying.

In the southern regions, where the period of uterine activity lasts longer, inducement is rarely necessary. However, in the Russian Middle lane and in the more northern regions, this event must be included in the beekeeper's annual calendar.

Beekeeping in September: feeding bees with wormwood

Experienced beekeepers often advise less experienced companions to feed insects not only with sugar syrup or honey fed, but also with plant ingredients. Most often, wormwood is used for this. It is not difficult to prepare a “dish” with wormwood for the inhabitants of an apiary. To do this, you must:

1. Collect wormwood, separate the leaves from the stems.
2. Chop the leaves finely and place in a clean glass jar so that half the jar remains empty.
3. Pour with rectified ethyl alcohol.
4. Close the vessel tightly, leave in a cool dark place for three days.

Wormwood feeding of bees

For 2 liters of regular sugar syrup, you need to take 4 tablespoons of wormwood tincture. Such an additive has an antiseptic effect. Wormwood also contains valuable vitamins and minerals, normalizes redox processes (prevents oxidation) in the body of wintering insects. If all proportions are correctly observed, the bitter taste of wormwood and alcohol will be almost invisible to insects.

In winter, the death of bees is not a rare phenomenon, especially in the northern regions. However, the proper organization of feeding, in accordance with the climatic characteristics of a particular region, will help to avoid this trouble.

A child is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.

Guests decorate the table, and children decorate the house.

He does not die, who does not leave children.

   Be truthful even in relation to the child: keep the promise, otherwise you will teach him to lie.


- L.N. Tolstoy

Children need to be taught to speak, and adults to listen to children.

Let childhood ripen in children.

   Life must be disturbed more often so that it does not turn sour.

- M. Gorky

Children need to give not only life, but also the opportunity to live.

Not the father-mother who gave birth, but the one who drunk, nourished, but taught good.

Old Russian drinks

The history of Russian drinks has its roots in hoary antiquity. Pickles, fruit drinks, kvass, honey, forest teas - their path to our modern table has been estimated for many centuries. All of them are not alike and have different purposes. Some have a warming effect (spicy teas, honey, sbitnits) and therefore were used mainly in the winter, others (kvass, fruit drinks) have a cool tonic effect on a hot day.
However, there is a common feature in Russian drinks - always natural raw materials and nutritional value.

Full (Full)

Syt or Syto is a drink that was used before the advent of tea and other modern drinks, performing their function during pagan Russia. It was thanks to satiety that such concepts as “satiety”, “satisfying” and, of course, “satiety” appeared - thereby signifying not only an abundance of food, but good appetite, which is a sign of good health. Unlike tea, it does not change its properties when cooled and soaked in time, and has its splendor when cold.

Simple fed

Ingredients: 50-60 g of honey, 1 liter of water.
Dilute honey with water, boil, removing foam, then strain and cool. The amount of honey, if desired, can be increased to 150-200 g per 1 liter of water. To prepare spicy stuffed with water, add a few spices to taste.

Tongue lemon

Ingredients: 50-100 g of honey, juice of 1 lemon, 1 liter of water.
Dilute honey in boiled warm water, cool, add lemon juice, grated zest and let it brew in a cold place.

Fruit full (berry)

Ingredients: 50 g of honey, 1/2 cup of fruit or berry juice, 2 cups of water.
Dilute honey in boiled warm water, cool, add fruit or berry juice. You can add a little citric acid to the syt.

Tasteful aromatic

Cook syta on a decoction of oregano, St. John's wort or other fragrant herbs.

Beaten

Sbiten was cooked and delivered in vessels resembling a samovar in shape, and poured into pot-bellied glasses with the edges turned out to prevent them from getting burned. A copper vessel for whipping was called a sakla or a baklag (depending on the area where it was cooked), in the middle of the vessel, like a samovar, was a wide pipe filled with hot coals. These containers served as a prototype of future samovars.
How to cook a real sbiten that our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers loved so much? There are a lot of recipes for sbitniya, they differ in their constituent parts, cooking technology. Only honey always remains the same component of the drink. In addition, a hot honey drink was an excellent sedative, improved mood, facilitated falling asleep, boosted immunity, and promoted longevity.
Sbitni are divided into simple and custard. The latter is obtained by fermenting wort from honey and molasses with various seasonings. They drank sbiten usually with kalach and gingerbread.

Beaten simple

Ingredients: honey - 500 g, white molasses - 700 g, spices (cinnamon, cloves, hops, mint) - 5-10 g.
To boil water. Add all ingredients, boil for 30 minutes. Drink hot like tea.

Subital Suzdal

Ingredients: honey - 150 g, sugar - 150 g, spices - 15 g each of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, bay leaf, water - 1l.
Mix honey with water and boil for 20 minutes. Add spices and boil for another 5 minutes. Then strain the drink through cheesecloth and tint with burnt sugar.

Common beaten

Ingredients: water - 1l, honey - 1 kg, 4% vinegar - 2 tbsp. tablespoons ground ginger - 1 hour. spoon, ground black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon, grated horseradish root - 1 hour. a spoon.
Boil hot water with vinegar, ginger, pepper, horseradish for 15-20 minutes, add honey, mix quickly, bring to a boil. Serve hot.

Condensed sbiten

Ingredients: honey - 500 g, molasses - 200 g, water - 1/2 cup, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg - 1 tbsp. spoon, bay leaf - 2 pcs.
Chopped cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, bay leaf in hot water, bring to a boil and insist under the lid for 40-60 minutes. Add molasses to the filtered broth and boil the mixture until dark red. Cool to 30-40 ° C, add honey, mix thoroughly. Pour sbiten into glass jars, cover with lids and store in a dry, dark place. To prepare a hot drink, add condensed sbiten to boiling water, mix and serve. The amount of slimming is adjustable to taste. Sbiten can be served with lemon, cranberry juice or cream.

Dry beaten

Composition: 1 tbsp. a spoon of red and black ground pepper, ginger, coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, bay leaf.
Spices and bay leaves, crushed and sprinkled in a dry jar, close tightly with a lid and store in a dry place. Before use, pour the prepared powder into boiling water, bring to a boil and insist without heating for 10-15 minutes. Strain the broth, add honey and serve.

Fragrant beaten

Composition: 3-4 kg are taken per 1 kg of honey. water.
Honey is dissolved in hot water, boiled, foam removed. Then put spices wrapped in a clean rag and boil. A set of spices may include: hops, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, mint, oregano, etc.

Sbiten Taiga

Composition (per 1 liter of bitumen): honey - 100 g, sugar - 75 g, lingonberry juice - 100 g, water - 0.8 l, cloves - 2-3 buds, cardamom - 10-15 pcs., Bay leaf.
Squeeze the juice from lingonberries and filter. The pulp is poured with water, boiled, the broth is filtered. Cloves, cinnamon, cardamom are poured with hot water and boiled for 12 minutes. 5 minutes before the end of cooking lay the bay leaf. Filter the broth, add sugar, honey, lingonberry juice and bring to a boil.

Mint

Ingredients: honey - 3 tbsp. tablespoons, water - 2 cups, dry mint - 1/2 teaspoon, dry leaves of raspberries or currants - 1/2 teaspoon. dry leaves of mint, raspberry or currant pour boiling water, leave for 25-30 minutes. Strain the broth, add honey to it. Mix the drink and serve. If desired, you can add lemon. In the hot season, sbiten can be served cold.

The beaten with oregano

Ingredients: honey - 200 g, oregano dry - optional.
Honey is diluted in hot water, boiled, removing foam. Then they lower a dry oregano wrapped in a bag into it, and insist 2-3 hours.

Fruit drinks and berries

The basis of fruit drinks and vodits has always been berry juice mixed in various proportions with water. It is known that juice from natural berries tastes very sour. For everyone to enjoy the product, they will have to dilute it with water or add sugar, which changes the initial useful vitamin-mineral composition. Our ancestors found a solution to this problem. The Slavs began to make fruit juice from wild berries, into which natural honey was added for sweetness.
Voditsy and fruit drinks can be consumed both hot, especially in the winter, and in the form of soft drinks in the summer. The nutrients contained in their fruit and berry base perfectly quench thirst, invigorate, relieve fatigue, give strength and energy, increase immunity and slow down the aging process of the body.
In folk medicine, fruit drinks are not used chilled, then a sweet-sour drink will help strengthen immunity. Vitamins of group B, E, PP, A, folic acid and vitamin C, as well as an increased content of potassium, calcium, iron and phosphorus in the chemical composition, perhaps this is the main benefit of fruit drinks for the human body. Fruit drinks from berries of wild-growing lingonberries or cranberries are recognized as the most useful: lingonberry enhances health, and cranberries help with colds. Blackberry or blueberry fruit drinks will help those who suffer from digestive problems.
What is distinctive, when preparing fruit drinks based on several types of berries, only the energy value increases, and not the calorie content of fruit drinks.

Berry drink

Ingredients: 150 g cranberries (lingonberries, black currants, strawberries, strawberries or raspberries), honey, 1 l. water.
Rinse fresh berries and squeeze juice. Squeeze the squeezes with hot water, boil at low boil for 5-8 minutes and let it brew for 25-30 minutes. Strain the broth, squeeze the pulp, add honey to the broth and stir it until completely dissolved. Then pour in the juice, strain and cool again.

Citrus Drink

Ingredients: 1 orange or lemon, 120 g sugar, 1 liter of water.
Finely chopped zest from citrus fruits, add hot water, cook for 5 minutes at low boil and leave for 3-4 hours. Add sugar to the strained broth, bring to a boil, pour in the previously squeezed juice and cool.

Apple Lemon Drink

Ingredients: 2-3 apples, honey, 1 lemon, 800 ml of water.
Peel the apples from the core and peel, grate and squeeze the juice. Squeeze and peel apples, add water, add lemon zest, boil 3-5 minutes, leave for 10-15 minutes. and strain. Add honey and bring to a boil. Cool and pour apple and lemon juices.

Pureed currant drink with honey

Ingredients: 200 g of blackcurrant rubbed with sugar, 120 g of honey, 1 g of citric acid, 800 ml of water.
Put honey in warm water, stirring, bring to a boil and remove foam from the surface. Cool and add citric acid. Put currants with sugar, put into a chilled drink, mix and strain.

Drink "Forest aroma"

Ingredients: 1/2 cup mountain ash, 1/2 cup cranberry, 5 g. Of sweet peppermint, 4 cups of water, sugar to taste.
Rinse cranberries, rinse with cold boiled water and squeeze the juice. Boil cranberry pulp and mountain ash in boiling sugar syrup (with the lid closed), add mint at the end of cooking and let it brew for 4-6 hours. Then strain the infusion, add the squeezed cranberry juice and cool.

Apple drink with honey

Composition: 1 l. apple juice, 1/2 l. water, 1 tbsp. spoon of honey, 1/2 lemon.
Stir the honey with boiled, slightly chilled water, add sliced \u200b\u200blemon and apple juice.

Amber drink

Ingredients: 150 g honey, 250 ml birch sap, 650 ml water, 1 g citric acid.
Dissolve honey in boiled hot water, cool, add juice and citric acid.

Old Russian julep

Ingredients: 25 g mint, 150 g sugar, 600 g birch juice, 100 g lemon juice, 200 g honey.
Add sugar, honey, lemon juice and mint to the birch sap, close tightly and put in a cold place for 2-4 hours, then strain. Serve with pieces of ice.

Rowan apple drink

Composition: 5 tbsp. tablespoons mountain ash, 2 apples, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of honey, 1 liter of water.
Cut the apples into small cubes (along with the seeds), put in an enameled pan, pour boiling water and leave for 20 minutes. Mash mountain ash, also pour boiling water and leave for 10-15 minutes. Then strain both, strain and add honey. It is possible to cook from both forest and aronia.

Jelly

The Slavs used jelly, which was prepared on the basis of cereals, while the most popular was oatmeal jelly. For its preparation in a modern interpretation, oatmeal, yogurt and water are needed.
The recipe for Old Slavic jelly is as follows:
In warm water, add a spoonful of fermented milk, shake it, then pour oatmeal (used oat flour or oatmeal before) and leave it in a warm place for about a day (depending on the amount of yeast and temperature).
Then the fermented oats are crushed (by a pusher or mixer) and thrown into a colander. It turns out a paste in the form of a thick kefir with a sour-milk flavor - oat concentrate.
This liquid is diluted with warm water to the desired consistency and the same oatmeal jelly is obtained. It has good taste and excellent nutritional qualities, which are more clearly expressed in its raw form. This is a truly magical drink to which you can add anything you like.
The obtained raw oat concentrate is very well preserved (in the refrigerator for up to three weeks).
It is very versatile in application. It can be used as jelly or yogurt, as mayonnaise in salads, as sour cream in soups or okroshka, etc. In addition, sour oatmeal can be made from fermented oats. By the way, such porridge was in high esteem among the ancient Slavs. Making it is very simple. Do not cook oats, but simply pour boiling water. So it will be much tastier and healthier. In this form, oatmeal (if desired, with the addition of honey, raisins, vegetable oil, etc.) is the best breakfast (completely different from ordinary oatmeal). So our ancestors drank oatmeal kissel not in vain, and in many tales it is deservedly mentioned. Try it and you! As you can see, making it is very simple.

Oatmeal jelly

Mash the rolled oats in the oven until golden brown. Transfer to a cast iron, pour cold water and cook on low heat for half an hour. Then carefully pour the jelly from the settled thick into a clean dish and let it cool. Kissel should have a density of sour cream. You can add honey for sweetness.

Surya

The Surya drink was considered among the Slavs to be divine-cleansing of the spirit of man. The combination of herbs used for its preparation was very diverse and useful. Surya has a beneficial effect on literally all the internal organs of man. It is also interesting that steamer was steamed in the oven, which also made it a healthy and rich drink. Here is a set of herbs and berries of one of the recipes: sorrel, Crimean iron (Crimean lemongrass), frankincense leaves, young leaves of burdock (big burdock), cloudberries, young golden root (Rhodiola rosea), pharmacy chamomile, succession, sea buckthorn or lime.

Ancient version of cooking Surya

Ingredients: 1 tsp. milk (not subject to heat treatment, NOT from the store) is brewed in a small amount of water. 1 tsp elecampane (herb), 1 tsp. Chernobyl, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tbsp. l honey.
Let the herbs brew. Add to the milk (you can not cool) a couple of tbsp. spoons of pure broth. Cork tightly so as not to disrupt (screw cans). We put in a dark warm place. The drink roams about 3 days. During the fermentation, the drink should be shaken 2-3 times a day.
Simplified recipe: 1 liter of milk, 1 tbsp. l honey, 1/4 tsp wormwood, 1-2 tsp daisies. At the request and taste, you can add 6-7 berries of wild rose, 1/2 teaspoon of birch leaves, 1/4 teaspoon of lemon balm. We make grass in 0.5 cups of water. Strain the broth and pour into milk (you can not cool the brewed grass, antimony will ferment faster and be more tender). Leave for 2-3 days. The drink is ready when, when pouring into a mug, it hisses a little.

Spring feeding of bees is important - the strength of the apiary during honey collection will depend on it to a significant extent. Of course, it is necessary since the fall to provide the bee colonies with the necessary food. But often the feed ends before the onset of sustained heat. In this case, you will need to make fertilizing.

Each beekeeper selects the timing of spring dressing independently, depending on weather conditions and the beginning of mass flowering of honey plants. However, feeding insects most often in march-April, that is, during the first flyby.

General characteristics of spring feeding

Winter top dressing is necessary to prevent the death of bee colonies. Feeding the bees in the spring, in addition to providing insects with obvious nutrition, has other purposes. It promotes enhanced oviposition of the “Queen” and, consequently, an increase in the number of families and an increase in honey collection.

Also, such top dressing inhibits the bees from flying out and their possible death as a result of this, since in early spring the weather is still unstable and there are often frosts. It can also have the opposite effect - to stimulate the flight. In addition, if necessary, drugs are added to it to prevent the development of diseases.

Depending on the purpose, the composition of the feed will also vary. Usually, if you want to replenish feed, give honey. If necessary, stimulate reproductive abilities, bees are fed with syrup. To increase productivity, you need protein feed.

Sugar Syrup Nutrition

Feeding bees with sugar syrup is the easiest and most convenient option. Typically, such food is given at a steady temperature (within 10-15 ° C), as it stimulates insects to fly. Also, syrup enhances immunity, facilitates the fight against diseases and prevents the formation of rot.

To prepare sugar syrup for bees, sugar is diluted with boiling water in equal proportions. Then the resulting solution is cooled and poured on a frame or in a feeder.

This recipe is classic. But, depending on the weather, the proportions may vary. With a sharp cooling and a strong wind that can destroy bees, it is necessary to increase the concentration of syrup so that it becomes thicker and does not provoke flying. But often giving thick food is not recommended, as it requires additional moisture. Do not use highly liquid syrup. Digesting it will require a lot of energy from insects and can provoke the extinction of the whole family.

If the beekeeper notices after the first flight that the bees suffer from nosematosis (diarrhea is its sign), then a special agent should be added to the feed Nozemat. Add to the syrup (kilogram) will help prevent the development of the disease acetic acid   (3 grams).

Inverted syrup will bring special benefits to insects, in which, in addition to sugar, honey is placed. For such a feed, 40 grams of honey per kilogram of sugar is enough. It is much more nutritious than regular syrup, as it facilitates the conversion of sugar to glucose.

Do not cook a lot of syrup in advance - the food should be fresh. In addition, the bees eat the cold delicacy with reluctance, because of which it will have to be warmed up regularly. You should not give a product that has been burnt, fermented, or stored for a long time: it can be harmful to bee health.

Usually, sugar syrup is poured into overframe or subframe feeders, which should be washed well. You should choose such a quantity of food so that the bees completely eat it. The sub-frame feeder is filled with no more than half. Weak families are given food in small portions, but more often.

Recently, packages have become especially popular among beekeepers. And this is no coincidence. First of all, packages are much cheaper than feeders. In addition, it is not necessary to maintain their cleanliness (feeders often serve as a brood for bacteria that infect insects): after use, the packets are thrown away.

If the food is intended to stimulate departures, then it can be placed in small packaging bags. One bee will have enough of a liter of feed. If the product is used to replenish food supplies, then you will need to find more durable packages, the capacity of which is 3-4 liters.

First, syrup is poured into the bag, and then air is removed from it and the knot is knotted. The top of the bag is sprayed with syrup to attract insects.

Protein dressing

Protein fodder, to which beef, pollen and their substitutes (soy flour, milk powder and cow) will help increase egg production and accelerate brood development.

Feeding with beef

Perga is the main and irreplaceable type of protein food. If it is lacking, then the uterus stops egg laying, which leads to a halt in the development of the bee colony. In order to prevent such a situation, it is necessary to ensure that the hive always has frames with a feather. If in the summer period the bees prepared a lot of bee bread, then it can be partially removed, and returned in the spring as top dressing.

Before storage, the bee bread is cut from the frames and rubbed through the sieve. From the resulting mass make balls, put them in a jar and pour honey.

First, the neck of the cans is tied with gauze, which after some time is replaced with paper. If the bee bread is not subjected to sharp temperature changes, then it retains its properties until spring. Before cooking, it is placed in a water bath to melt. An aqueous sugar solution is optionally added.

If the beehive in the hives is not left and its stocks are absent, and the bees cannot fly out due to bad weather, then substitutes will come to the rescue.

Feeding with a substitute for beef

Several recipes are known for making substitute for perga:

• Last year’s pollen (kilogram), honey (200 grams) and water (150 milliliters) are mixed well. The resulting feed is placed on the frame and, if necessary, added.
• Milk powder (200 grams) and sugar (kilogram) are diluted in boiling water (800 milliliters) and placed in feeders, but little by little, as the mixture quickly soups. In the absence of milk powder, you can take the usual.
• Honey (kilogram) and bee bread (half kilogram) are well mixed in hot water (half a liter) and filtered through a sieve. Leave the mixture for 2 days to insist. Each family is given half a liter of such food every 3 days.
• Fat-free soy flour is mixed with pollen in a ratio of 3: 1 and knead on sugar syrup to a pasty state.
• A full-fledged replacement for perge will be protein dough, called the Gaidak mixture. To prepare it, soy flour, milk powder and dried brewer's yeast are mixed in a ratio of 3: 1: 1. It is advisable to add pollen. Knead the dough, make cakes out of it and lay on the frame.

Honey dressing

Honey is the main food for bees. For the winter, one bee family needs 20-30 kilograms of honey. If, by spring, its stocks run out, then it will be necessary to provide insects with fertilizing, for which you can take old stocks, having first melted them.

Honey is full

Another undeservedly forgotten, but very effective form of food is honey full. So called an aqueous solution of honey. It is believed that such top dressing is economically disadvantageous, since it requires more costs compared to syrup. But it is full of vitamins, minerals and biologically active substances, which makes it as close to nectar as possible.

It has a beneficial effect on bees: strengthens the immune system, stimulates the body. It is used to activate oviposition, and also, if necessary, quickly build up a bee family. You can add medicine to it.

The effect of honey fed depends on its concentration. It is liquid, medium density and thick.

A dense mass is usually used as food, medium-liquid is given, if necessary, to stimulate the bees to reproduce and fly. Insects from different families are sprayed with well-fed liquid so that they get used to each other faster.

If the sytu is made from crystallized honey, then it is first dissolved with a water bath, and then stirred in water. To prepare a liquid product, honey is diluted with a double volume of water. For a solution of medium consistency, equal proportions of the components are used. For a thick feed, honey is dissolved in water in a ratio of 4: 1.

At a time, the bee family eats 1-1.3 liters full. Feeding is most often placed in ceiling feeders, in which a raft should be installed so that the bees can sit on it.

Kandy dressing

If the supply of honey is running out, then you can take a dough-like carbohydrate feed for the bees to feed, the recipe for which was developed by Scholz. Several Kandy recipes are known. It is in this food that drugs are usually added.

It’s best to make honey candies.   For it, honey (26%), powdered sugar (74%), water (0.18%) and acetic acid (0.02%) are mixed. In the absence of honey, the food is prepared a little differently, mixing powdered sugar (70%), inverted sugar (29.8%), water (0.18%) and acetic acid (0.02%). Do not replace the powder with sugar. As a result of such a replacement, the mass will thicken and become inaccessible to insects. The resulting dough in one piece (weighing 200-300 grams) is placed on top of the frames.

Many beekeepers prefer syrup, believing that candi loses in comparison with it. But, in reality, this is not so. Syrup is preferable when it is necessary to send the inhabitants of the hive in search of nectar. Kandy acts differently. It improves the immunity and performance of insects.

If you pay due attention to feeding the bees in the spring, then worries will pay off handsomely and will allow you to get a large and high-quality bribe.

Any person who is engaged in bees or just plans to get them needs to know one very important point: if you want to get honey in the summer - do not spare it in the spring!

What's the point? I will give an example.

Nectar for a bee (feed) is like gasoline for a car. The more fuel, the farther, more confident, faster the trip. If there is an empty tank in the car, then the driver is unlikely to plan a long trip, right? Yes, and it will be somehow scary to drive, because at any moment the engine may stall. By remembering and always keeping in mind this simple association, you can make life easier for your wards.

In spring, especially early, in nature there are very few plants that secrete nectar. And our beloved insects need to eat continuously, and even feed the children. So, the beekeeper is obliged to help them. In general, I believe that the role of a true, real beekeeper is "as simple as a rake" - to help bees always and in everything! This is one of the principles of my beekeeping philosophy.

Honey is full

I really hope that my opinion on food for bees coincides with the opinion of the vast majority of beekeepers: the best food is honey. Of course, we understand that in many situations there is simply no way to feed the bees with honey for a variety of objective reasons. And then other feeds come to the rescue that can replace honey relatively qualitatively: honey is full, sugar syrup, candi, sugar candy, etc. But it is most similar in composition and basic qualities to the natural carbohydrate original - honey.

Honey is full of honey. Concentration may vary. It depends on the purpose of feeding. For example, if the bees are fed in early spring, then the amount of water will be minimal, since at this time liquid food can provoke bees to fly out of the hive in search of fresh nectar and, accordingly, these bees will be doomed. In this case, honey is simply dissolved (if it is crystallized) in a water bath, preventing it from overheating and mixed with water in proportions of approximately one to ten (one part of water to ten parts of honey). Such honey fullness is obtained of moderate density and is easily transferred by bees from the feeders to the nest. At the same time, the feed reserves in the nest are replenished and the uterus begins to work better.

Liquid honey fullness can be prepared using the proportions one to one or two to one (two parts of water to one part of the feed). In the first case, the consistency is medium in density, and in the second - more liquid. The second recipe is just an option to encourage bees to fly after nectar. Thus, giving the bees liquid food, we kind of tell them: “Girls, the flowers were filled with nectar! Go! ”And the uterus also understands this signal and begins to intensely worm. Moreover, liquid feed brought to the hive by working bees has a greater effect on the worm than a thick one. That is, if the beekeeper sees that the weather has become less warm, more often sunny, and the bees for the most part, as they were sitting in the hives, are sitting, then an incentive feeding is simply necessary. I am a supporter of the annual incentive feeding for all families without exception.

Also, with regard to the preparation of honey full, I want to add the following: honey should be taken only that which was prepared by healthy families. In no case do not use honey from sick families, as this can lead to very serious consequences and if it does not kill, it will very weaken the bee colonies. Also, you should not take honey from other, not verified beekeepers.

Sugar syrup

Next in line in our list of the most popular spring dressings is sugar syrup top dressing.

The first thing you should pay attention to is sugar itself. Although in the spring, the quality of sugar does not play a special role, but when feeding in the winter, this issue should not be overlooked.

A little distracted and a few words on the autumn-winter theme. Often, beekeepers complain to each other that they prepared families for the winter according to all the rules: they properly assembled the nest, fed plenty of sugar syrup for fear of crystallization of honey in the combs, treated it from a tick, properly insulated, properly organized ventilation, carried it to the winter house, and in the spring found that weak families showered and traces of nosematosis everywhere. Question: what is wrong?

Perhaps the answer lies in low-quality sugar. In winter, bees do not have the ability to periodically fly around and thereby release their intestines from feces. But it is likely that during the cold winter such a need may arise more than once. Sugar syrup made with yellow sugar, and even worse with brown, has a mixed effect on the digestion of bees. As well as the addition of medicinal and, as it seems to us, stimulating top dressing to the syrup, it causes a violation of the digestion of bees and a desire to quickly empty the intestines. Hence diarrhea with all that it implies. The conclusion is this: when replenishing feed reserves for the winter, exclude all kinds of additives and use only high-quality white sugar or honey that does not crystallize.

In the spring, since bees have the ability to make periodic fly-by, the quality of sugar does not play a special role, and preventive, therapeutic, stimulating additives can be used, but in some cases it is necessary.

The density or consistency of sugar syrup can be different and, as in the case of honey full, is determined by the beekeeper based on goals. If you feed in the early spring - thick. To feed "to the worm" and provoke a mass flight to search for nectar and pollen - liquid.

Thick syrup is prepared on the basis of one to two proportions (one part water and two parts sugar). Liquid - on the contrary, two to one. The average concentration is achieved by mixing sugar and water in equal proportions.

To prepare sugar syrup, you need only in a clean bowl, it is better that it is enameled, but it can also be in aluminum. Bring the water to a boil and immediately pour sugar. Then stir vigorously for several minutes until completely dissolved. After dissolving, remove from heat. Do not cook! Do not boil! Avoid burning sugar! Then cool, but not to the end, but up to 20-30 degrees, since the bees will not take cold syrup willingly.

For the prevention of nosematosis, you can cook acetic acid syrup. Dissolve a kilogram of sugar in a liter of water and add three grams of acetic acid. That is, equal in volume of the amount of sugar and water, and for every kg of sugar, three grams of acetic acid. Give families a mixture of three to four times a little (300-500 grams) with a frequency of several days.

It is better to use small feeders in the spring, because the longer the feeding (the total duration) takes place, the better, and less likely, that the syrup will have time to acidify in such a volume.

In general, there are no special tricks in the spring feeding of bees. Although ... there is an interesting natural way to stimulate the laying of eggs and accelerate the development of families. It is natural, it is very important! And it consists in the use of coniferous infusion for spring dressing.

So, now, regarding protein feed.

Protein dressing

In the spring, the main goal of the beekeeper is to increase the total mass of bees by creating all the necessary conditions in the nest. One of such conditions is the presence of protein feed   in sufficient quantity. To grow brood, not only honey, water, but also bee bread and pollen are required. As long as there are no pollen bearers in nature that could uninterruptedly provide families with the right amount of fresh pollen, the beekeeper should take care of this.

Since the fall, based on the total number of families going to winter, the beekeeper must prepare the framework with the bee bread. The number of these frames should at least coincide with the number of bee colonies going to winter. It is better if there are more pergovy frames.

During the main bribe, if along with nectar, the bees bring a large amount of pollen to the hive (and this happens most often), then the beekeeper needs to remove these surpluses with the help of pollen traps. If this is not done, then the framework will be heavily covered with pollen and this can adversely affect both the volume of the brood nest and the amount of honey in general, since the uterus will not have space for sowing, as well as the bees will be forced to store freshly brought nectar into cells that are partly already occupied by pollen.

I know that it is not rare that you take out a heavy, sealed, full-time frame for pumping, print it out, put it in the honey separator, pump out the honey, and when you take it out of the honey extractor, you realize that the frame didn’t feel any better. You look into the cells - full of bee bread. This is how the bees pour honey on the bee bread and seal it because of the lack of free space for nectar, and because of the beekeeper’s little control over the total amount of pollen entering the hive. Although, in this way it is possible to preserve the bee bread and it will be much better and longer stored without losing its properties.

By the way, you must store pergovye framework in a dry place. Otherwise, the bee bread grows moldy, wanders and there will be more harm than good from such food. In winter, the framework needs to be eliminated from possible severe freezing. It is good if you have an underground wintry with good ventilation, in which temperature differences are minimized. It is advisable to place all feed reserves there for storage.

In the spring, you can also cook protein candi, in the event that there are no pergovy frames, and the cuttings prepared in the summer are enough. It is prepared as follows: 400-500 grams of honey, one kilogram of pollen, and 3.5 kg of powdered sugar. How to cook candi is described in detail in the article ““. Distribute in the same way as usual. We pack it in packages (400-500gr), make flat cakes, scratch the cellophane on one side with a fork and put this side on the frames on top, then canvas and insulation.

Caring for bees is a laborious and responsible job. A highly organized family in the summer feeds itself. However, for better pollen collection performance, bees need to be supplemented with additional vitamins. The quality of pollen nectar, the performance of a highly organized insect directly depends on the spring feeding of bees.

Beginning in late March, early April, that is, with the arrival of early spring, toilers begin to prepare for collecting pollen.

At this point, it is necessary to feed the bees with the addition of medicinal products to the feed.

Adding additional components to the feed:

• promotes the stimulation of the uterus egg, which subsequently leads to good offspring;
• helps to cure sick insects, prevent the spread of the disease to a swarm;
• will ensure brood seeding before pollen begins to bloom.

What drugs can be added to complementary foods?

We will separately consider the issue of which preparations can be added to complementary foods, at what temperature can bees be fed in the spring, and from which they develop.

After the winter, the hive needs to be disinfected, and it is better to change it with a new one. Be sure to check the offspring for the presence of diseases that often arise due to increased humidity and lack of food.

The main diseases of bees include:

•   . It is formed due to ticks that settle on the bees themselves and feed on their lymph. Infection quickly spreads through the hive, which can lead to the death of the family. Veterinarians for the treatment of the antibiotic Apifin. As well as red pepper, the recipe is very simple: ground or capsicum is diluted with water (8 g per liter). This solution is sprayed with infected toilers;
• Salmonellosis. A disease of the digestive system of bees caused by helminths. Indicative signs of the disease are frequent bowel movements of the insect and bloated abdomen. They are treated with Streptomycin and Tetracycline, adding them to complementary foods;
• detected by the condition of the walls of the hive. With this disease, the mellifer defecates on the overlap with a loose stool of a permanent nature. Infectious, as it is formed by unicellular organisms. They treat the disease with the drug Furmaggelin, adding it to complementary foods.

On a note! For the prevention of diseases of workers, pounded garlic (separately on a substrate) is added to complementary foods. One slice is enough. It will act as an air disinfector.

It is fed to workers in early spring. This stimulating feeding stimulates the young generation of bees to actively collect honey, so you should not give it if the weather is cool.

On a note! It is also necessary to feed a well-fed family of honey in the fall, when honeycombs are removed from the hive.

Feeding is prepared from melted honey with the addition of water.

• If you add 250 grams of water to one kilogram of honey, you will get a thick full;
• When mixing equal proportions per kilogram of honey, add one liter of water, then you get an average full;
• If you dilute the same proportion of honey with two liters of water, you get a liquid top dressing.

Thick well-fed bees are best fed in the fall, and medium and liquid in the spring. If necessary, add wormwood or spices.

This top dressing serves as a substitute for honey satiety. It is used in winter when honey is running low.

Sugar syrup is made very simply:

1. drinking water is brought to a boil and white sugar is added there, in equal proportions;
2. then cook for several minutes until the bubbles disappear and remove from heat;
3. after, the sweet water is cooled and distributed into packets.

On a note! For a more saturated feeding of sugar, more (3/1) is added.

You can read more about the use of sugar syrup at

Kandy is a dense nutrient mass, the composition of which is optimally suitable for insects during downtime.

Kandy is made as follows:

• The liquid component (honey or syrup) is dissolved in a water bath at a temperature of 55 ° C and cooled to 37-40 ° C.
• Powdered sugar is gradually added to the molten mass and mixed with hands on a cutting board. Too tight a clogged mixture is recommended to be diluted with a small amount of water.
• Add medicines and knead the dough for 20-30 minutes, until it becomes elastic and homogeneous.
• The mixture is divided into pieces weighing 1 kg and packaged in bags, gauze or paper.

You can read more about recipes for candi at

Salted water

Salted water for feeding highly organized insects is given as top dressing. 0.01% of sodium chloride is added per liter of water. This is only 100 mg per 1 liter of water, and 1 gram per bucket (10 liters).

Water is poured into drinking bowls and placed in the center of the apiary on a horizontal platform 40cm from the ground. It is advisable to find a place protected from the wind and well lit by the sun.

Next to salted water, you must definitely put a drinking bowl with fresh spring water.