By Tom Garcia

For the Daily News

Since I heard that many of you found my last article very informative, I will try to give you something similar in this edition. Perhaps I should turn this into a Q&A forum. Let me know what you think.

The question for this article is: How do fluctuations in fall and winter temperatures affect honeybees?

The answer is simple, but requires some explanation. Perhaps we can say that this may be effects of our changing climate that in an immediate way affects all of us? Whatever the cause or claim, the fact of the matter is that fluctuations in temperatures like we have recently experienced are not very good for honeybees.

Since bees do not hibernate, fluctuations in temperatures in the fall and winter seasons cause the bees to consume more of their food and honey reserves than they otherwise might. The bottom line is that the warmer temperatures make the bees more active than they would be if the temperatures turned and stayed cold. Of course, you may be thinking back to the last article where I said that bees do their business outside the hive, when the temperature is at around 50 degrees. Well, consider that bees in the northern states, Alaska, or even Canada, will be in their hives for months because of freezing temperatures. This means that they are adapted to handle the long, cold winter months without relieving themselves. Weird, but true.

Ultimately fluctuations in temperatures make the bees consume more food that they would under “normal” conditions, which can easily threaten their survival. The rule of thumb is that the average wintering colony will consume at least 30 pounds of honey over the winter. When the temperatures are warm, bees instinctively forage. However, there is not much, if anything at all, that is blooming during the winter months. The bees end up wasting a lot of precious energy searching for food that isn’t there. They return to the colony and end up eating more than they would if winter came and stayed. Now, I am not advocating for winter, but this is clearly an instance where consistent seasonality matters.

While the bees may face potential threats of starvation during times of strange weather patterns, which seem to be becoming the new normal, we can help. Please understand that what I am about to say is the opinion of the author. There is no scientific evidence to support my suggestion. However, I make this suggestion based on my knowledge of bees, which I am constantly improving. That being said, I suggest that anyone who wants to make an effort help the honeybees during the fall and winter can do so by simply feeding them.

What do bees eat? Well, they love sweet things, of course. While it may not be the best food for them, you can supplement their food supply to help honeybee colonies get through the winter. The recipe is simple and relatively inexpensive.

You can feed bees with sugar water. During this time of year, you can mix 2-3 cups of white granulated sugar for every one cup of water. The sugar is the cheap stuff — pure cane, white granulated sugar. I suggest making larger batches. You can heat the mixture on the stove over very low heat to help dissolve the sugar. This will make a thick syrup, much like honey. This is what you want during this time of year since it will reduce the amount of work and energy the bees have to expend evaporating the moisture from the mixture in order to cure it into “honey.” That’s right, bees will make a honey-like substance from sugar water. This supplement can help get them through the winter.

Please understand that what bees make from sugar water IS NOT HONEY. There has been a lot of controversy over this distinction, especially in the Asian import markets. Real honey is made from natural nectar and nothing else.

You may be asking, how do I know if the honey I am getting is real, or otherwise, if beekeepers (or other people) feed honeybees sugar water during the winter. Well, the honest answer is that you cannot really know. We consumers are left to trust the honey industry. Further, I would suggest that you can really only know by trusting a local beekeeper. While beekeepers may feed their bees sugar water at times, they can also identify where the unnatural “honey” is in the colony. This means that they are able to cull the “honey” as necessary. However, it will likely not come to that because chances are the unnatural stuff will most likely be consumed by the bees as food, and the honey that the beekeeper offers will be fresh and pure, 100-percent natural honey.

If you choose to feed the bees during the fall months, I will give you a simple method to create a bee feeder. There are a number of ways that you can create a bee feeder. The primary concern is keeping them from drowning. I have found that the easiest way to do this is to use an empty jar, like a spaghetti sauce jar, or a mason jar — or anything with a lid that will not leak. Whatever kind of jar you use, put the lid on it. Then pierce the lid with several small holes (say, 12 or so). You can use a pushpin, a small nail, or an awl, to pierce the small holes. Keep in mind that a bee’s tongue is about the size of a human hair, so you do not have to make the holes large at all. If fact, you do not want to make them any larger than necessary. You want to make the holes big enough for a bee’s tongue.

Now, remove the lid and fill the jar with your sugar-syrup mixture, leaving about an inch gap or so. Then, put on the lid and take the jar outside. You will want to find something that will create an inch or two clearance, like some scrap wood, bricks, rocks, etc. You need something that you will hold the jar in place. Once you find something with a flat surface that provides a bit of clearance, turn the jar upside down. A little bit of the sugar mixture will escape from the holes you punched, but the dripping should largely stop fairly quickly. Place the upside down jar on the stand you created. Make sure the holes you punched are not covered by the stand. Once you do this, you are set. Step back and wait a little while and come back to check the feeder in about an hour. It is very likely that when you return the feeder will be covered with honeybees, all struggling to gain access to the syrup.

This is a simple way to help supplement the honeybees’ food supply during the fall and winter months when the weather is above 50 degrees and not projected to dip below freezing within a few days. If the temperature is expected to rise above 50 degrees and not fall below freezing for three or four days, it should be fine to feed the bees a 2-3:1 mixture of sugar to water. This is an easy way to help our precious and important little bugs. Also, don’t forget your camera because you will be taking a lot of photos of your bee feeder and sharing them with your friends. I will give you a similar recipe for the spring and summer. Thanks for helping!

As always, to learn more about honeybees and beekeeping, visit our website, or attend one of our meetings. Please visit the Beaufort County Beekeepers website to learn more about honeybees and beekeeping: https://sites.google.com/site/beaufortcountybeekeepers.

Tom Garcia is the president of the Beaufort County Beekeepers Association.