How To Save A Bee Sugar Water. Once you’re sure that your bees can get to the sugar water, place a shallow super on the hive to protect the syrup from robbers and cover the hive. 2 quarts (8 cups) of white sugar (do not use brown sugar or other substitute) 3 cups of almost boiling water.
If it is below 50 degrees they will take the solid sugar (in the form of solid cane sugar, fondant, and even candy. I add some bleach to the storage jugs that get moldy and swish it around until the black stuff is gone and then dump the bleach out before pouring new syrup into a jug. Honey bees get hungry and can even starve to death rather quickly.
Then place the sugar/water mix on a plate or spoon.
Overheating (burning or carmelizing) sugar is bad for bees, moreso if the bees are confined when eating the overheated sugar. Lure them with a mixture of vinegar, water, dish soap and sugar, and you’ll have a contraption that will work for any kind of bee. Sugar water is full of empty carbohydrates whereas nectar contains amino acids, vitamins and other trace elements. Backyard beekeepers and small producers normally create a mixture of white granular sugar and water.