Sugar Syrup Ratio Calculator

Pick a ratio, enter how much sugar you have, get the water amount and finished volume. Covers 1:1 spring stimulation, 2:1 fall feeding, and thin medication syrup. Free, no signup, all math in your browser.

Spring buildup, package installation, light flow gaps

Use granulated white cane or beet sugar. Avoid brown, raw, or organic sugar — molasses content harms bees.

Recipe

Sugar
10 lb
(4.5 kg)
Water
4.8 qt
(4.5 L · 10 lb)
Approximate finished syrup volume
7.4 qt (7 L)

Mimics natural nectar viscosity. Stimulates brood rearing because bees treat it like an incoming flow. Use February–June and during light summer dearth.

How to mix

Heat the water to near-boiling but do not boil — boiling caramelizes sugar at the temperatures required to dissolve heavy syrup, and caramelized sugar can cause dysentery. Remove from heat, add sugar, stir until fully dissolved, cool to body temperature before feeding.

For 2:1 syrup, hot water dissolves much faster than cold. Adding a teaspoon of Honey-B-Healthy or lemongrass + spearmint oil helps with feeder uptake and discourages mold.

Related tools and reading

Stop guessing at fall feeding

HiveSense logs feeder fills and consumption per hive so you can see which colonies are still light heading into winter.

New to feeding? Read the starter kit guide