Protein spring feeding for bees  cooking recipes

Protein feeding for bees in the spring is no less necessary than carbohydrate food. The presence of complete protein feed in the bee colony is a guarantee of a good development of the bee colony to the main honey collection and one of the guarantees of a good main honey collection. Often in nature, in early spring, protein food is either absent or of insufficient quality. Therefore, beekeepers have come up with a lot of recipes for protein supplements for bees in the spring, using substitutes for natural bee pollen. This category contains recipes for various protein supplements for bees, which can be used both in spring, to build up a young generation of bees, to the main honey collection, and during the summer and autumn, if the area is poorly saturated with good pollen, to build up a full-fledged generation of bees, which will go into winter.

Content

 

• Why bees need protein supplements in spring
• What are protein supplements for bees
• Preparation of top dressing for the early spring development of bee colonies.
• How to prepare spring feeding of bees with artificial protein
• How to make protein bee food with pollen
• Liquid protein feed for bees in spring
• Milk sugar supplement
• Protein top dressing for bees in the spring on whole milk
• Protein top dressing for bees in the spring on powdered milk
• How to give protein supplements to bees for brood in early spring based on milk
• Liquid honey-pollen mixture as a protein supplement for bees in spring
• Yeast protein feeding of bees in spring
• Another recipe for protein feeding for bees with yeast
• Soy-corn protein feeding of bees in spring
• Protein feeding of bees in spring - homogenate for feeding bees manufacturing recipe
• Homogenate for feeding bees - a recipe for making by a beekeeper in his own apiary
• How to give bees protein supplements in the spring from a drone homogenate

 

Why bees need protein supplements in spring

In spring, bees need protein food in addition to carbohydrate food in order to grow brood. As a rule, the source of protein for bees is bee bread or fresh pollen. However, if they are absent in the colony, the number of brood is reduced, the growth of the colony slows down, and defective, or rather, lighter bees are bred in large numbers. This can also lead to a phenomenon called bee cannibalism, when the bees eat the remaining larvae to feed a small part of the brood, and some of the larvae can be thrown out of the hives. It is especially difficult in the spring period for bee colonies located in areas where there are very few early-flowering pollen-bearing plants (hazel and others). This happens especially often in the steppe regions. In this case, the beekeeper needs to feed the bees with protein. It is also advisable to carry out protein feeding of bees in the spring during bad weather, when a large number of overwintered bees die aimlessly in search of fresh pollen, especially if its sources are located very far from the apiary.

What are protein supplements for bees

Protein feeding of bees in the spring can be divided into two types - it is either solid protein feeding for bees, namely protein dough, or liquid protein feeding for bees. Each type of protein supplement for bees will be discussed below.

As well as protein feeding of bees in the spring, one can separately note the feeding of bee with the help of bee bread.

How to stock frames with bee bread and honey in the apiary

 

Preparation of protein supplement for the early spring development of bee colonies

Spring feeding of bees with artificial protein - protein dough, is a universal food. Solid protein bee food is a clean source of energy for bees. Properly prepared, it is able to take any shape, and at the same time, the candy does not spread. solid protein food for bees is used for feeding bee colonies, mаtіng nukes and splites. Solid protein food for bees consists of powdered sugar, honey and water, mixed until smooth.
The finished mass should be soft, but should not spread in the warmth of the bee colony. The amount of water is an important component. The amount of water determines whether the dough will be hard, sticky or soft. If everything is cooked correctly, then even in a cold room it will not be too hard, but it will not spread at a temperature of 35 ºС.
There are many recipes for preparing a solid protein food for bees in the spring, both pure and with additives to replace pollen.

How to prepare a spring feed for bees with artificial protein

Composition of protein feeding for bees in spring. Honey is dissolved in a water bath, water is added to it, one dessert spoon of sunflower oil (per kilogram of honey), acetic acid.
Powdered sugar is poured into a large enamel bowl. Add dry perga or flower pollen (10-20% of the taken amount of honey). Everything is well mixed with a wooden spatula or spoon, then the resulting mixture is sieved two or three times through a mesh colander and warm and liquid honey is poured into it, stirred until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
Then, in small doses, approximately 250-300 cm³, powdered sugar is added and stirred again until a homogeneous mass is obtained. This is done until it becomes difficult to stir with a spoon. After that, they take a kitchen wooden pusher and continue to knead the dough until a homogeneous mass is obtained. This is repeated until all the powdered sugar allotted for the preparation of top dressing is used up, and the protein food for bees reaches the desired consistency.

 

How to make protein bee food with pollen

To prepare a protein supplement for bees, powdered sugar is mixed in the spring; cake of peeled pumpkin seeds, which are ground to a state of flour; lactulose; honey and pollen
The components are taken at the following ratio in parts: lactulose - 1, powdered sugar - 1, pumpkin cake - 2, flower pollen - 1, honey - 2.
To prepare protein food for bees, the components are mixed as described above. If necessary, medicinal preparations are added to the protein feed.

Protein feeding of bees in spring with milk

One of the most common protein supplements for bees in the spring is milk-based protein supplements, most often powdered milk is used, but sometimes whole milk is also used. Separately, it is possible to single out the preparation of protein supplements for bees using whey, how to do this is described in a separate article on the preparation of whey syrup - Whey syrup as protein food for bees.

Powdered milk is able to give the bees a complete set of substances that are necessary for the growth of larvae. However, milk is not a complete substitute for pollen. So milk replaces pollen by only 20%. Now we will consider what recipes are - protein top dressing for bees in the spring on powdered milk and whole milk. And also how to make your own protein food for bees in the spring.

Protein top dressing for bees in the spring on whole milk

Heat 1 liter of fresh milk to +60C Dissolve 1 kg of sugar in it, boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sugar from burning, you can add 100-200 g of honey. Give warm syrup 200-300 g per family every other day for a month.

There is another recipe for spring stimulating protein feeding of bees using whole milk. To prepare a protein supplement for bees, take 200 g of milk, boil it, and then mix it with syrup, which is prepared at a concentration of 1 kg of sugar per 0.5 l of water. This milk protein supplement for bees in spring is a protein stimulating supplement for bees for the early explosive development of bee colonies. At the same time, such top dressing will not turn sour in the hive.

Protein top dressing for bees in the spring on powdered milk

One of the recipes for preparing protein supplements for bees in the spring with milk powder is the following - 250 g of milk powder is taken for 800 - 850 g of water, after diluting the milk powder in water, the resulting milk is added to the already prepared sugar syrup. 10% of milk is added from the volume of sugar syrup, in the subsequent feeding of bees is carried out as follows, every day the family is given 200 ml of the resulting mixture with an insufficient supply of pollen to the hive.
Another protein stimulating feeding of bees for the early explosive development of bee colonies using powdered milk. How to make protein feeding for bees, for this they take honey, heat it up to 40-50 degrees. 100 g of milk powder (skimmed milk) is added to 1 kg of honey, after which honey and milk powder are stirred until smooth. Then, a syrup prepared at the rate of 4 kg of sugar per 2 liters of water is added to the resulting mass. Such protein top dressing for bees in the spring on powdered milk stimulates the uterus well for enhanced oviposition.

How to give protein supplements to bees to increase brood in early spring based on milk

How to give protein supplements to bees to increase the brood in early spring based on milk. To do this, the prepared milk syrup is poured into feeders of 300 g each. Start feeding the bees with protein supplement in the spring in the southern regions from the first days of March, at this time the bees are already active, and in nature there is still usually no protein food and the bee family feels a lack of protein, and the number of brood is increasing every day.

Important!

When using milk protein top dressing, top dressing should not be allowed to ferment, so every day giving the bees a new portion of top dressing, the old top dressing must be taken from the hive.
Subsequently, the feeders should be washed well.

Liquid honey-pollen mixture as a protein supplement for bees in spring

A liquid honey-pollen mixture is prepared with the addition of hot water, and a thick honey-pollen-sugar mixture is prepared with the addition of liquid honey, bee pollen, powdered sugar in equal parts. if necessary, add a small amount of salt and water.

Yeast protein feeding of bees in spring

It is believed that protein yeast food for bees is more suitable not so much for spring as for autumn growth of bees, since protein food for bees from yeast helps to build up the fat body of the bee.
For protein feeding of bees, brewer's or baker's yeast is used. Yeast contains easily digestible proteins, as well as many useful elements. Yeast provides bees with a complete set of vitamins, so yeast is often included in protein supplements for bees in the spring. In general, dry yeast replaces pollen by 50%.
Recipe for protein feeding for bees - boil 450 g of water and 600 g of powdered sugar for two to three minutes, cool and add 50 g of baker's yeast (diluted), bring to a boil again, add 100-150 g of honey. Feed the bee family 150-200 g every other day for 15-20 days.

Another recipe for protein feeding for bees with yeast

How to prepare protein feed for bees with yeast. For the preparation of protein feeding of bees, it is necessary to initially prepare a syrup, which is boiled at the rate of 1 kg of sugar per 1 kg of water. The next step is to grind 250 g of fresh baker's yeast with 0.5 l of sugar syrup until a homogeneous mixture is formed. The resulting mixture is diluted with sugar syrup to 5 liters and boiled, resulting in a protein-sugar-yeast top dressing containing 50 g of fresh yeast in one liter of syrup.
You can also use dry baker's yeast, for this they are taken in a ratio of one to four, that is, 4 times less than ordinary baker's yeast. Therefore, 12 g of dry yeast is required per 1 liter of top dressing. To prepare a yeast protein supplement using dry yeast, first stir it in lightly sweetened water. And leave for one day in a warm place so that the yeast can multiply quickly. After a day, the resulting solution is poured into the syrup and, after cooling, distributed to the bees.

 

Important!

Baker's yeast must undergo heat treatment in order to kill the yeast itself by boiling, leaving proteins and vitamins in the top dressing.

Soy-corn protein feeding of bees in spring

Take one part of soy and corn flour, four parts of ground bee pollen, 6 parts of sugar syrup (concentration 1:1). They feed 400-500 g per bee colony in 4-5 days for a month.

 

Protein feeding of bees in spring - homogenate for feeding bees manufacturing recipe

All beekeepers know about the importance of protein food for bees in spring. Why this is important is discussed above. In addition to the traditional bee pollen, beekeepers can, and in some regions simply must, feed the bees with protein feed. For protein feeding of bees in the spring, in addition to traditional pollen substitutes: brewer's yeast, mustard powder, soy flour, dry cow's milk, you can use a homogenate for feeding bees.

Homogenate for feeding bees - a recipe for making by a beekeeper in his own apiary

Appearance and taste of drone homogenate. Drone homogenate is well suited for protein feeding of bees with varroatosis, as it contains a wide range of amino acids, proteins, fatty acids. Homogenate for feeding bees helps to increase the protein content in the body of bees, which stimulates the development and productivity of bee colonies.
How to grow drone brood.
How to use building frames can be found in the article How to use building frames in different types of hives, as well as What are building frames.
Drone homogenate is obtained during the entire period of growing drones.

In order not to repeat, you can learn how to get a drone homogenate, as well as how to store the homogenate.
Fresh homogenate for feeding bees is fed with sugar syrup, which is prepared in hot (60 ° C) water in a ratio of 2: 1, the syrup is cooled to a temperature of 34-35 ° C.

To prepare a protein supplement for bees, take 1-1.5 liters of drone homogenate and bring the volume with syrup to 10 liters. mixing thoroughly.
To prepare a protein supplement for bees, 2-3 kg of homogenate are taken from a canned homogenate and sugar syrup is added, heated to 34-35 ° C, bringing the volume to 10 liters, mixing everything thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved.

How to give bees protein supplements in the spring from a drone homogenate

Homogenate for feeding bees is distributed to bees in the hive early in the morning or late in the evening. Freshly prepared homogenate for feeding bees is poured into the feeders and distributed to the nests. Each bee colony is given 300-500 g of homogenate.
Homogenate for feeding bees is given after one day in the period from growing drones to the start of the main honey collection.
Thus, beekeepers receive several benefits at the same time:
bees receive a complete protein food, and develop well for the main honey flow.
upon receipt of the drone homogenate from the building frame, a large number of varroa mites are destroyed, which positively affects the strength of the colony.
unlike purchased high-protein top dressings, only the beekeeper's labor is spent on preparing protein top dressing for bees from drone homogenate, which reduces the cost of apiary production.
There are several more recipes for preparing protein supplements for bees.