Ahoy! Robin and the Gang:

I have yet to give raw sugar to my bees even for emergencies, as often
suggested, at the tail end of winter; I’d rather feed the weak ones in the
fall.  The following method, I have discovered, works best for my locale
[zone 7].

I cheat by mixing a ten-pound bag of sugar [$3.99] into a five-gallon or
four and half-gallon bucket, mixed with one measuring cup of white vinegar
to stabilize the PH content essential in Oklahoma’s plus 100 F summer
weather.  Being lazy and dumber n’ dirt, I refuse to change the ratio,
especially since I like my bees to focus on brood-rearing, like right now
between flows, rather than on winter storage, a task that can be
accomplished, though often not necessary, in late fall.  I use HOT, not
boiling, tab water for good-mixing and purity.

Depending on the size of the bucket, this syrup will fill about four and
half, and sometimes five, one-gallon jars, which I then place on top of
the outer cover, in which I have already carved out a snug-fit inner
circle.  The jars will tell me when to refill--with minimum disturbance.
When feeding, I always carry a water-sprayer to disperse the bees along
the waterhole as I replace the jar.  A few squirts will push them down in
a hurry, thus not crushing them.  I do all this in shorts and often
topless.  This is how I feed my home yard.  For the ones in the alfalfa
field and elsewhere, I give them each a three-gallon hive-top feeder,
which I start liking simply because I want to feed 'em and forget 'em for
a while.  I am NOT feeding all the colonies though; I am just feeding fall
splits [July] and late-summer swarm-captures, which will graduate by
goldenrod bloom.  Since I have only 46 cott’n pick’n colonies, I found my
method close enough for government work.

Cheers!

Yoon

I see my bees start working on fall flow already: I might be able to
collect some fall honey for the first time after this devastating drought.

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