Beecomplet spring 14kg (carboy)

01 · WHY BULK

You pour it and you are done, with no bags to slit one by one

The contents are identical to the box of bags; what changes is how it reaches the hive. With a top, frame or tray feeder the bag is in the way: you end up cutting it, emptying it and binning the plastic at every hive. From a 14 kg jerrycan you pour it straight in and that is that. The box of bags still makes sense if you put the feed directly over the frames, because there the bag acts as the container and stops bees drowning. Choose by the feeder you use, not by the format.

02 · THE CONTAINER ARITHMETIC

Two kilos per colony per cycle: 7 colonies

The maker's guidance is a maximum of 2 kg per colony over an interval of 15 to 30 days, and that is how you size the purchase: a 14 kg jerrycan covers 7 colonies per cycle. In practice consumption depends on population — in strong summer colonies a kilo routinely disappears in five or six days — so that number is the ceiling of the guidance, not how long it will last in the apiary.

03 · WHAT IS IN IT AND WHAT IS NOT

Assimilable sugars, plant extracts and nothing else

Carbohydrates make up 75 % — of which 18.79 % reducing sugars — and water 20 %. These are directly assimilable sugars, with no polysaccharides or starches, which in a bee feed are a bad sign because the bees cannot use them. The rest are plant extracts supplying potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and iron, plus 17 amino acids and 12 vitamins. It contains no pollen, preservatives or industrial additives.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The maker formulates three versions — spring, summer/autumn and winter — and the declared composition is the same in all three: what changes is the moment recommended for each. This is the Spring one, meant for stimulating ahead of the flow. And it is energy, not protein: if what the field lacks is pollen, a syrup does not solve it. The standing rule: do not feed during a flow if you are going to harvest that honey for sale.