# Sugar water - how long will it keep fresh outside on hive?



## Hoosier (Aug 11, 2011)

I was expecting two 3# packages of bees last Tuesday, April 3rd; however, they were coming from Louisiana. Louisiana has been having and will be having so much rain that they will not be able to package the bees for shipment. I put a half gallon of sugar water in my feeders on April 2nd, and am not expecting the bees now until at least April 18th at the earliest. Should I dump the old 1/1 ratio sugar/water mix and start over?

ETA Doesn't it start to ferment at some point?


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

a teaspoon of clorox will help keep it fresh. the warmer it is the quicker it will spoil.


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## BoBn (Jul 7, 2008)

It will not spoil if it was not inoculated with bacteria or yeast, but there usually are some from the containers and from handling. The cooler it is kept, the longer it will take to spoil, Also, the cleaner everything was, the longer it will take to spoil. 

I would not ever use bleach with dissolved sugar. Some of the chlorine from the sodium hypochlorate (bleach) will react with the dissolved carbon compounds and form trace amounts of trihalomethene compounds such as chloroform.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

Put it in the fridge till the bees get here.


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## Hoosier (Aug 11, 2011)

Okay, thanks, everyone, I'll just dump it all and start over next week


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## Live Oak (Oct 11, 2008)

Add some Mannlake Pro Bee Health or Honey Bee Health (pretty much the same stuff) to your sugar syrup and it will keep for months. The essential oils in the feed stimulant will retard pretty much any bacterial growth.


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## BoBn (Jul 7, 2008)

*Re: Sugar water - how toxic can I make it?*



BoBn said:


> I would not ever use bleach with dissolved sugar. Some of the chlorine from the sodium hypochlorate (bleach) will react with the dissolved carbon compounds and form trace amounts of trihalomethene compounds such as chloroform.


Sugar provides carbon compounds that will react with Chlorine. These chemicals that are formed are mutagens. They are compounds that are regulated in drinking water. The trihalomethane compounds are regulated such as acceptable amounts of the contaminants are below the 10^5 level of being carcinogenic to humans. (A predicted one in a 100,000 chance of getting cancer from the particular chemical). 

Many of these chemical compounds have effects as endocrine disruptors at extremely dilute concentrations much lower levels than at the point of being carcinogenic. It is also unknown what the effects of these compounds would have on insects and if there are synergistic chemical effects with other contaminants that honey bees may be exposed to.

These compounds are a problem with drinking water containing carbon in the parts per million range. Sugar water water has carbon in the parts per thousand range.

Here is a link (pdf) to a basic overview of TTHM formation:
http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/thm.pdf 

Bob


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