People who are breeding bees should know how to feed them, when is it better to do what needs to be cooked. The now popular remedy for bees is kandy. It helps to increase offspring, has a beneficial effect on performance indicators. But in order for the product to give maximum results, it is important to understand how to cook it and how to apply it.
What is kandy?
Kandy is a special slurry, a source of carbohydrates for bees. The mixture is a plastic mass with sugar and honey. Mostly this food is used in the winter, when the main feed is not enough. You can feed the bees with such porridge in spring and autumn to increase their vitality.
This feeding method is very simple; Candy is easy to prepare. And most importantly, the beekeeper will be sure of the quality of the feed, because he independently selected all the necessary ingredients, followed the cooking process. Although some people, in order not to mess with cooking, buy candies in specialized stores, you can make an order using the Internet.
Kandy species
Beekeepers have created a lot of variations of this feeding. However, the classic version was and remains the most popular. It is used most often. The classic Kandy dressing is prepared on the basis of natural honey.
Some beekeepers are against this, because as a result, most of the insects can be lost. After all, honey can be of poor quality, have pathological microorganisms in it, which provokes diseases among bees. It is this problem that makes some people use invert sugar to make candies. Incidentally, it consists of natural components.
It is allowed to introduce sugar syrup into the top dressing. Its quantity is limited. After all, it makes bees overly active, increases the size of feed intake. There are special approved technologies for the preparation of Kandy. These technologies allow you to get a good result without causing harm to insects. It is useful to add medication, bee pulp to the disease for the prevention of diseases.
Sugar syrup can adversely affect bees, shortening their life. The process of making honey from syrup wears out insects. That is why such feeding can be given when the summer is coming to an end, early in the fall, until about September twelfth, to unload the bees before the onset of cold weather. And already in winter, when there is less feed, sugar is not so effective, and candi saves the situation.
Cooking recipes
Feeding is sold in specialized stores. It is manufactured in compliance with all standards and technologies. However, if there are a lot of bee families, it will be cheaper to cook food for them on their own. Highlights of cooking:
- Top dressing consists of four parts of powdered sugar and one part of honey.
- It is better to prepare the powder yourself, in order to exclude the ingress of impurities into it. Further it is advisable to sift the powder through a sieve again.
Its composition must be homogeneous, otherwise larger parts have a risk of crystallization and then harden. - It is important to use high quality honey. It is produced by healthy bee families. Before adding honey to the dressing, you need to give the correct consistency, having previously melted in a water bath.
- When honey has become liquid enough, it is added to powdered sugar, stirring constantly. This must be done slowly. As a result, you should get a homogeneous mixture.
- Check the finished mass by putting it on the table. If the dough does not spread on the table, does not change shape, and most importantly, does not stick to your hands, then everything was done correctly and the dough is ready.
- Balls of one kilogram each are made from the resulting mass and placed in plastic bags. Then, carefully, so as not to disturb the bees, you need to open the hive, put candies over the club, close the hive. Previously, small holes are drilled in the bag.
Can make fondant. For its preparation, thick-walled enameled dishes are useful. Two kilograms of sugar should be dissolved in one liter of water. Water is heated to sixty degrees, only then sugar is poured. Syrup is prepared for about 20 minutes, there is no need to stir. The bottom should be heated with the same strength so that then a crust does not form on the fondant.
You can check the readiness of the product by lowering the spoon initially in a container with syrup, and then in cool water. The resulting ball, indicates the readiness of fudge. Syrup is poured onto wax paper. In advance, you need to attach sides to it so that the syrup does not spread. When the mass cools, it is cut into small squares. The finished product is similar to amber tiles, the thickness of which is 0.5 cm.
You can cook candi using flour. It is recommended to use soybean flour, as it contains more protein than wheat flour. Flour should be gradually bred in water. Three parts of sugar need to take one part of flour. When cooking, the syrup constantly needs to be mixed, cooked at a low temperature.
Candy with honey recipeas well as milk powder. To do this, it is recommended to take three kilograms of honey, ten kilograms of powdered sugar, one kilogram of milk powder, a small amount of liquid (water). It is necessary that the honey melt, then gradually add it to the powder, stirring. The next step is to add water and milk powder.
The dough is kneaded from the mixture, which is wrapped in cloth, gauze, and sent to the refrigerator for 24 hours. Then the bee can be fed with the resulting product.
Kandy without honey. If you know the option of cooking candi with honey, then you can cook candi without honey. They resort to this recipe if the honey is over, or does not meet the quality standards. Both options are prepared in the same way. But honey is replaced with sugar syrup, to which icing sugar is added, then everything is mixed. The powder is added until the syrup is absorbed. Other ingredients can be added to the mass. Such top dressing is just being prepared, but not as useful as honey.
This video talks about how to cook candie for bees, what ingredients to choose, and what benefits you can get from this tool:
When to feed?
The most important is feeding, which is carried out in the spring. It affects the future offspring and the volume of honey produced. Spend it after the spring flyby, the first time. Before this, it is advisable to verify the welfare of the uterus. Feeding is completed with the end of the springtime.
Some beekeepers feed during the winter. This is done in cases of depletion of feed reserves. Sometimes this is done deliberately in order to enrich the uterus with nutrients. The main thing is to use high-quality candie, which is prepared with the implementation of all technologies. It is not recommended to introduce complementary foods in the winter for several reasons:
- Bees begin to fly, and they are strictly forbidden to do this in winter and autumn.
- The uterus lays eggs more actively.
- Syrup has to be reheated often because it quickly solidifies.
How to give candi to bees?
Kandy give after cooking complementary foods. It is advisable to put the cake under the canvas. Before this, of course, a package with kandy is being prepared. The bag is placed on a metal, plastic grate. This must be done so that the dough does not fall. Kandy quickly put into the hive. It is advised to lay up polyethylene to increase humidity.
This attracts bees to eating food. The ventilation of the hive should be sufficient, despite the good warming of the bee house. With a lack of food, the amount of fertilizing can be increased to two kilograms. Usually it lasts for a long time, nothing else needs to be added.
Everyone makes candi differently, the perfect recipe simply does not exist. It is enough to know the basics of cooking in order to successfully apply Kandy dressing. It has excellent properties. And its main goal is to prevent the death of bee families. Kandy is a simple and useful invention by beekeepers. Such food is simple and quick to prepare, and all the ingredients are quite affordable.