It is useful for every beekeeper to know - is it possible to feed bees with old honey

Tell me, is it possible to feed the bees with old honey? I inherited a small apiary from my grandfather. It was a pity to sell, I decided to try it myself. The other day I looked into the hives and saw many empty honeycombs. I heard that it is not very good to feed with sugar syrup, then the honey will not be of high quality. And we have last year's products at home, however, candied. Can you use it for feeding and how to do it correctly, because honey is very thick?

The amount of honey taken from the apiary directly depends on the health of the bee family, and for this they must have food supplies. In the summer, during the flowering season, bees have no problems obtaining food, while in winter and early spring they feed on what they have collected in the hives. Therefore, the help of a beekeeper will be very useful, but beginners may have a question whether it is possible to feed the bees with old honey. If we are talking about autumn feeding, then by this time beekeeping products are still quite fresh, with a viscous liquid texture. By winter and spring, honey has time to thicken and crystallize well. And sometimes the farm has very old honey, which is already several years old. Will it harm bees and is it suitable for feeding?

Is it possible to feed bees with old honey

There is an opinion that the longer beekeeping products are stored, the more nutrients it accumulates. Such a “seasoned” product is very popular with some gourmets, who even specifically look for and buy it. Therefore, it is wrong to say that old honey is not suitable for bees. It is better to give them such a natural top dressing than to prepare sugar syrup, which can change the taste of future products.

For feeding, you can use both honey stored in jars and unsealed leftovers left in the hives.

How to feed your bees with honey

For each frame with bees you need at least 1 kg of feed - honey. If there is not enough of it in the hives, uterus lays fewer eggs, brood rearing stops. In addition, frames with honey also serve as heat stabilizers during spring frosts. Therefore, feeding is an important part of beekeeping.

There are two ways to feed the family with honey in spring or autumn:

Open - frames with honey left over from last year are taken out of the hives and hung at a distance of 10-15 m from the apiary. In order for the bees to completely select the combs, they are sprayed with water. At night, the frames are removed.
Gentle - honeycombs are installed behind a dividing board at the top of the case. It is advisable to take frames from someone else's apiary so that the honey spreads better. If they contain a sealed honeycomb, they are pre-opened.

It is better to feed the honey remaining in the jars in winter, if necessary. To do this, they put it in a bag in which small holes are made. In the hive itself, slats are installed on top, on which a bag of honey is placed. With such winter feeding, honey cannot be moistened so that it does not ferment.

How to feed crystallized honey to bees in autumn