Feeding Bees Outside the Flowering Season
Not only harvest beekeepers honey which is the bees´ natural food. But also, regional and seasonal variations in honeydew conditions may make it necessary to provide supplementary feeding to cover the bees´ food requirements. Supplementary feeding is also required during brood formation and queen raising. Feeding season starts now as flowering season for most plants and flowers is about to end and bees need to be nourished.
Alternative feeds have an impact on the health and productivity of bees. Choosing the right product is therefore of great importance. The natural bee food, honey, consists of 80% sugars – any alternative food should therefore contain this important component. At Südzucker, we have been active in the field of bee feed produced from beet sugar over 40 years to support beekeepers in their work.
A trustful partnership with our beekeepers has been a valuable basis for developing quality bee feed for decades.
Today, we would like to put two of our partners, users of our API bee feed range into the spotlight.
Meet Adrian from Germany (Karlsruhe) and Mathieu from France (Lavaur).
A: : My name is Adrian Obhof and I am 39 years old. I got into beekeeping by chance more than five years ago. A school friend told me that he had started keeping bees in Munich. Keeping bees in the city fascinated me. I immediately applied for a place on a beginners’ course and went straight into beekeeping. The bees have been with me for more than four years now and I am still fascinated by this hobby, the exchange with beekeepers and the work with the bees.
M: : I am Mathieu Domecq, beekeeper & trainer. I became passionate about bees, by conviction, when I was only 12 years old… Over the last 10 years, after having been very active in training for beekeeping syndicates and professionals, I have made this my profession, with the honour of accompanying nearly 30 companies in France: large groups, small shops and municipalities. You can read my whole story in my book: The passion of a young beekeeper.
A: : I have been using APIINVERT® and APIFONDA® since the beginning and I am very satisfied with the products. Above all, I find the new, smaller packages easier to handle. The ready-made bee feed is a considerable relief for me and the bees take both the syrup and the feed dough very well. Of course, I have also had my experiences with home-made food. My conclusion is: APIINVERT® and APIFONDA® are better for me.
M: I have been using APIFONDA® candi in winter on all my colonies since I started beekeeping ten years ago. The quality, the good conservation and the practicality of the product won me over. The brand has always been recommended to me by the beekeeping structures I have assisted.
A: This year got off to a promising start and I was already able to harvest the first honey in mid-May. I am satisfied with the yield. I have a very small hobby apiary and only produce multi-flower honey for this reason.
M: The 2022 season started very early with good development and strong honey flows. The harvest made this May is in the order of 8 to 10kg of honey per hive.
Based on a natural bee diet, our ready-made bee feed products meet all the requirements for a healthy bee food alternative and are ready-to-use without time-consuming preparations.
Our convenient, ready-to-use products are based on the bees own natural food, making them a healthy alternative that easily assimilates to the bee diet.
