SUGAR CANDY RECIPE (BEE FEED)
MATERIALS NEEDED:
*This recipe will make one candy tray.
- Feed Tray (16 ¼ x 20x 1 ½ inch rails). Cut 2 x 4 inch hole in bottom.
- Wax paper
- Pot, large enough to hold sugar and water. A soup pot or stock pot. No lid. Mixture will expand while boiling.
- Strong, large mixing spoon with long handle as mixture will become very hot while stirring.
- Candy Thermometer.
- 15 pounds (30 cups) of granulated sugar.
- 1 to ¼ quarts of water (32 – 48 fluid ounces)
DIRECTIONS:
- Cover hole in candy tray with wax paper.
- Mix sugar and water thoroughly with mixing spoon.
- Heat to 240 degrees. Do NOT stir after boiling begins.
- Let mixture cool to 190 -195 degrees.
- Then, stir mixture until it becomes cloudy like boiled starch.
- Pour immediately into candy tray.
- Let cool until hardens. Depending on temperatures may take overnight.
- This tray replaces your inner cover. Scratch paper with hive tool.
ADVANTAGES:
- Cold weather feeding. Can put candy tray on a hive anytime.
- Eliminates robbing.
- Can add pollen substitutes before stirring.
- Candy trays can serve as your inner cover year round.
- Stores well, can make in advance and take to the bee yard as needed.
- It is a “slower” feed so it will not promote swarming as much if used in late spring.
Offered by Tim Scheer