Beekeeping Tools & Playbooks
FeedingPlanningFREE+PRO

Bee sugar syrup calculator & feeding planner

Calculate exact sugar syrup ratios and volumes for your colonies and generate a simple feeding plan tailored to your season and climate.

Simple sugar syrup calculator

Your calculation

Enter an amount to see your calculation.

This calculator assumes room-temperature water and standard white sugar. Exact volumes can vary slightly.

Stop guessing how much syrup to mix for your colonies. This tool helps you calculate exact sugar syrup ratios and volumes – then turns that into a simple feeding plan based on your season and goals.

Simple sugar syrup calculator

Use this when you just need the numbers.

Syrup ratio
Choose the sugar-to-water ratio you want to use.

  • 1 : 1 – light syrup, often used for spring build-up and stimulation.
  • 2 : 1 – heavy syrup, often used for autumn feeding and winter stores.
  • Custom – set your own ratio.

What do you already know?

  • “I know how much sugar I have.”
  • “I know how much final syrup volume I want.”

Amount
Enter the amount of sugar or final syrup you want to work with, and select the unit (kg, lb, L, gal).

The calculator will instantly show you:
– how much sugar you need,
– how much water to add,
– an approximate final volume.

Use this to avoid half-filled feeders or leftover syrup in buckets.

Feeding plan (coming soon)

When you want more than just numbers, this upcoming plan will turn your situation into a simple, season-aware guide. We are still tuning the logic and layout, so join the waitlist on the tool page to get notified when the gated plan is ready and can be generated for your apiary.

About your apiary

  • Climate / region
    Select the general climate your bees live in:
    Cold (long, hard winters), Temperate, or Warm.

  • Hemisphere
    North or South – so we know which months mean spring or autumn for you.

  • Current month
    The month you are planning from. This helps us understand where you are in the season.

  • Number of colonies
    How many colonies you want to feed (up to 50).

  • Average colony strength
    Weak / Average / Strong.

What is your goal right now?

Select one or more:

  • Build up colonies in spring
  • Support or stimulate during a flow
  • Build winter stores
  • Emergency rescue feeding for light colonies

Your feeding plan

Based on your inputs, the finished plan will show:

  • Recommended syrup ratio
    For your climate, season and goal (for example, 1:1 in early spring or 2:1 when building winter stores in autumn).

  • Suggested amount per colony
    A realistic range, not a single magic number - with notes if your colonies are weak or very strong.

  • Suggested frequency
    How many rounds of feeding and how often (for example, 2-3 rounds, 3-4 days apart).

  • Caution notes
    Short reminders about robbing risk, fermenting syrup, chilling bees, and very late feeding.

Example (for illustration only):

In a cold, northern climate in late September, with average-strength colonies, aim for heavy syrup (approx. 2:1). Feed around X-Y kg per colony over 2-3 rounds, watching for robbing and nighttime temperatures.

We will share early access with waitlist subscribers when the plan is ready and drop a note once the printable version can be created for your apiary.

Download a printable plan (optional)

Once you're happy with the plan, you can request a short PDF with:

  • a summary of your inputs,
  • a per-colony feeding target,
  • a simple checklist of what to do over the next few weeks,
  • space for your own notes.

We are still tuning this export, so we ask for your email and will send the file once the feeding plan is live and drop a short update when we add the next improvements. No spam, no daily campaigns.

How this tool works

This calculator is designed for hobby and small-scale beekeepers with up to about 50 colonies.

It:

  • focuses on temperate and cold climates first;
  • assumes you are feeding standard white sugar syrup;
  • gives ranges and suggestions, not absolute prescriptions.

It does not:

  • replace local recommendations or regulations;
  • tell you how much to feed in extremely hot or tropical climates;
  • know the exact weight of your hives or the quality of your honey crops.

Use this tool as a planning helper and sanity check, not as a rigid rule.

FAQ

Do I have to use exactly these syrup ratios?
No. The tool suggests common ratios used in many temperate climates. Always adapt to your local advice and experience.

Can I use this for fondant or dry sugar?
The calculator is built for liquid sugar syrup. The feeding plan can still give you a sense of how much food you may need, but the exact amounts and format should follow your preferred method.

Is this safe to use in very cold weather?
In deep winter, many beekeepers switch from liquid syrup to fondant or dry sugar. The tool will warn you when it’s very late in the season and you should be careful with liquid feeding.

Can I use this for more than 50 hives?
The math will still work, but the planning logic is written with small apiaries in mind. For larger operations, your logistics and equipment will look different.

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