Herve`

First, one MUST understand that the FAVORITE food of the honey bee is NOT
honey,
but NECTAR.  Honey is just their winter survival food when there is no nectar
available.  Honey, to a bee, is like "hardtack" to a sailor, or beef "jerky"
to a hunter.

Bees do NOT want their queen to lay eggs until they sense that spring and the
nectar of flowers is approaching.  The first appearance of POLLEN alerts them
to
the fact that blooms are getting ready to bloom.  This first nectar is going
to be
very thin in sucrose (sugar), and be very diluted with the water rising from
the
roots of the plant; but it is this SWEET taste that gets the worker bees very
excited
who in turn begin to heavily feed their queen so she will lay eggs
abundantly.  This
is why a ratio of 1 pound of sugar to 2 pounds of water, 1:2, is the ideal
feed to
stimulate queen laying.

After the queen is laying, stores are being used up like mad, and bees now
need
more energy, so the best food then is !:1 sugar syrup.  They can really use
this in
their brood feeding without evaporating any water as they have to do with
early
nectar.  Lastly, 2:1 sugar syrup is a substitute for honey, the bee's winter
survival
food, and NOT their choice of food in the summer.

I hope I have explained the differences between 1:2 sugar syrup, 1:1 syrup,
and
2:1 syrup.

George Imirie
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper

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