Bee Suger Blocks

Ingredients:

• 11 ½ cups  Baker’s granulated sugar or pure cane sugar, about 5 pounds of sugar(1)
• 1 ½ tsp  Citric acid from canning supplies section of the grocery store
• ⅛ tsp  Electrolytes, example: Save A Chick Electrolyte Packets
• ¼ tsp  Probiotics, example: Save A Chick Probiotic Packets
• ¼ cup  Real Apple Cider Vinegar, not apple ‘flavored’ vinegar (check the ingredients)
• ¼ cup  Water
• Splash  Honey B Healthy (2)

(1)  Do not use confectioners sugar (which contains corn starch) or organic/brownish/brown sugar all of which cause bee digestive issues.

(2)  Honey B Healthy is a feeding stimulant with natural herbal oils. Smells splendid and provides some herbal nutrition too.

How to make:

Put the sugar in a really big mixing bowl or a clean bucket and add the ingredients. Use a large spatula or your hands to mix the ingredients together.

You must get all of the sugar damp, till it's more like snow than sugar grains.  When it is all thoroughly mixed together, because of how our boxes are configured, we shoot for 1" in thickness. Most of our boxes take 1" but if you can make them thicker the better. Too thin and it will fall apart.

Line the tray parchment paper and back in the mixture. Press it down in the mold as tight as you can, firm up the edges.

IMPORTANT  You must score the blocks to the size you want while they are wet! I use a metal spatula and just cut lines all the way to the bottom so the blocks will come apart clean.

This was derived from Feeding Bees in Winter:  How (& why) to Make Sugar Blocks

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