Sugar Syrup:

Make some 1:1 sugar syrup. 1:1 syrup means a syrup made from mixing water and granulated white cane sugar in a mixture that is one part sugar to one part water, by weight. This recipe is one of the reasons you often hear beekeepers repeating the phrase “A pint’s a pound the world around.” What that means is that a pint of water weighs one pound—so that if you take one pound of sugar, and one pint of water (which is two cups) —you have created 1:1 sugar syrup. In slightly more logical (or at least American-sounding) units, that means ten cups of water and a five pound bag of sugar. This is for spring “emergency” feeding. Bees that come to you in packages have got no resources to work with, and no comb to begin storing nectar in. Making wax takes carbohydrates— so they will need to be fed in order to get them started, or they are likely to starve. Boil ten cups of water, take it off the heat, wait a few minutes, then stir in five pounds of sugar until it’s all dissolved. Voila! Bee “junk food”!