🍯 Bee Sugar Syrup Calculator
Size bee feed syrup by hive count, ratio, and season with this calculator. Plan sugar, water, and feeder totals before you mix.
Choose a finished yield target and the calculator will back into the sugar and water amount after cook loss is added.
| Ratio | Strength | Use | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:1 | Light | Cocktails | Classic |
| 2:1 | Rich | Bars | Thicker |
| 3:2 | Mid | Tea | Smooth |
| 1.5:1 | Sweet | Fruit | Silky |
| 1:2 | Thin | Spritz | Fast mix |
| 4:1 | Very rich | Low water | Deep |
| Sugar | g/cup | Sweetness | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 200 | 1.00x | Clean base |
| Caster | 198 | 1.00x | Dissolves fast |
| Demerara | 220 | 0.97x | Caramel edge |
| Turbinado | 215 | 0.98x | Light molasses |
| Brown | 220 | 0.95x | Deeper flavor |
| Raw | 210 | 0.99x | Round finish |
| Use | Ratio | Temp | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old fashioned | 2:1 | Hot | Rich and bold |
| Mojito | 1:1 | Cold | Clean lift |
| Tea | 1:1 | Hot | Fast blending |
| Coffee | 1:1 | Hot | Easy mixing |
| Fruit | 3:2 | Warm | Round flavor |
| Brunch | 1.5:1 | Warm | Sweet finish |
| Storage | Temp | Life | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chilled | 34F | 4 wks | Best hold |
| Room | 70F | 1-2 wks | Watch clouding |
| Hot fill | 180F | 3 wks | Sanitize bottle |
| Rich | Cold | 4-6 wks | Less water |
| Infused | Chill | 2 wks | Strain first |
| Jarred | Cool | 3 wks | Label date |
Bee sugar syrup is a simple mix of sugar and water used to feed bees. Common ratios are 1:1 or 2:1 sugar to water. Others exist, for example 5:3 or 3:2.
Making sugar syrup for bees is easy but requires attention to detail
How to Make and Feed Sugar Syrup to Bees
1:1 syrup works for spring, because it is like nectar and helps lay eggs and build comb. During fall feeding, when honey is low for the winter after the flow, 2:1 syrup works best with two pounds of sugar in a pound of water. This ratio is like honey for food.
One gallon of such heavy syrup can expand the reserves of the colony by around seven pounds.
To make the syrup, warm the water on the stove until it is warm, but do not let it boil. Add the sugar and stir until the liquid becomes clear. Bees like liquid sugar water more than grains because it is more easy to proccess for them.
Avoid boiling the mix, because then some sugar caramelizes and creates a partially indigestible, maybe toxic solution for the bees. A thing called HMF forms during heat, and in higher temperature or for longer it grows more.
Use only clear granulated white sugar. Avoid brown sugar, molasses, sorghum or fruit juices. The syrup must cool entirely before giving it to bees.
A one-to-one mix of sugar and water gives energy to stimulate brood and base of comb building. Sugar water works well because bees use honey and nectar mainly for energy, so syrup you can use likewise. Give also pollen patties for protein together with the syrup.
1:1 syrup stays fresh more hardly than 2:1, which you feed typically in autumn. Because of little sugar in 1:1 it ferments quickly. Small amounts help against mold and fermentation.
Do not feed colonies when honey supers are on the hive, or the syrup will mingle in the honey frames instead of real honey.
After sudden cold under freezing, do not give more liquid syrup during winter. People once added cream of tartar to 2:1 syrup against crystallization, but now you do not do that, because it apparently shortens the life of bees that drink it. Sugar syrup helps also bees recover after unnatural stress, for instance after packaging.