How and why to prepare kandi for bees
Caring for bees is a difficult task as it has a number of nuances that need to be understood.
Experienced beekeepers should know when to feed bees and what preparations will be required for this.
Today, dough containing sugar and honey has become common. They call this feeding kandi. It is important to know the recipe for this test.
Preparing kandi for bees does not take long and is easy to do.
Content:
- What is this supplement?
- Cooking kandi with honey and granulated sugar
- Sugar Kandi Recipe
- Other recipes
- How is kandi given to bees?
What is this supplement?
Kandi is a sweet mixture that resembles dough. When the owners begin to feed the bees with this supplement, the birth rate of the little workers does not increase.
This is an important advantage of this mixture. For example, bees are also given syrups, but it is they that influence the birth rate to increase. And this is not advisable in winter.
If the population increases, then the workers may not have enough of all the supplies they have prepared for the winter.
Therefore, the task of the beekeeper is to prevent the bees from starving. Feed You can use Kandy in both winter and spring.
It should not be forgotten that the main component of feeding is natural bee honey.
But experts say that such an ingredient can carry a variety of bacteria, which in the future can destroy most of the inhabitants of the hive.
Therefore, they recommend using invert sugar instead of honey. Among its components are glucose and fructose, which makes it almost a complete analogue of a product of natural origin. But sugar contains less minerals.
Cooking kandi with honey and granulated sugar
Initially, you should prepare powdered sugar; granulated sugar is used for this.
It needs to be ground well and then sifted using a sieve. The end result should be a homogeneous mass, without unnecessary details. This will affect the final result.
If you make poor powdered sugar, then the prepared fertilizer will quickly become hard, like a stone.
You should also carry out the correct preparation honey, which should not contain crystals. You can use a water bath for this.
After this, you should perform the following procedures:
- honey is taken
- then gradually add powdered sugar, which should be taken 4 times more than honey
- the mixture should be stirred well
If the dough comes out stiff, then you can add a little water. All this is mixed well until the mass becomes homogeneous.
At the end you can check whether the dough is ready or not. To do this, it is placed on the table. It should not stick or spread. If this does not happen, then we can say with confidence that the dough is ready.
After this, flat cakes are made from the kandi, the weight of each of them should be about 1 kg. Next, you can feed the bees. This procedure also needs to be done correctly.
Sugar Kandi Recipe
First you need to put a pan filled with water on the fire. It needs to be warmed up. After this, you need to gradually add granulated sugar, while stirring the water.
After some time the mixture should thicken. Even before the water boils, you need to dissolve the sugar. Otherwise, it may burn, which will negatively affect the taste of the kandi. This will create inconvenience and harm bees.
After this, you need to try the prepared mixture. A small amount is taken and then placed in cold water.
If the dough has been prepared correctly, then the mixture will harden. If you then put it in your mouth, it will become soft.
Next, you should get paraffin or wax paper. It is placed on a flat table, and wooden sticks are placed on the edges. This will prevent the product from spreading.
After this, the prepared mixture is poured. It will begin to gradually harden. Until this happens, you should make several cuts in different places.
This will be necessary in the future when the dough is divided, so initially you need to make the cuts correctly to get even squares.
According to this recipe, kandi turns out to be light in color, and sometimes even transparent. If the mixture burns during cooking, then it should be thrown away, since bees should not be fed such food.
To prevent this from happening, you should systematically reduce the fire. After a while, the mixture becomes sticky so the bees can taste it.
Other recipes
There are other bee feeding recipes that you can also use. This will require flour. Cooking in this case will be much more difficult.
When the syrup boils, you need to gradually pour in the flour.There should be 3 times more sugar than flour. Soy flour is ideal because it contains a lot of protein.
It should be remembered that this entire mixture must boil slowly. And throughout the entire time it needs to be stirred.
Today, many beekeepers have encountered a problem when their bees began to get sick, so they began to add certain medicines or vitamins for insects.
How is kandi given to bees?
After the feeding has been prepared, it should be given to the bees. It is often placed under canvases. First, prepare the candy bag.
You need to make cuts and release a quarter of the mass. Next, you need to place it on a metal or plastic grill. This should be done to prevent the dough from falling.
After this, you need to open the top of the hive and quickly put the prepared kandi inside. It is better to do this quietly so as not to disturb the bees.
Beekeepers advise placing polyethylene on top, this will increase humidity. These conditions are ideal for bees to eat candy.
But the ventilation in the hive must be sufficient, and it must be systematically insulated.
If there is not enough food supply for bees, then you can increase the amount of candy to 2 kilograms.
If the winter goes well, then the feeding will last for a long time. The bees will not need additional food. The main thing is to prepare the kandi correctly.
Video about making kandi:
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