In today’s beekeeping lesson we’ll be taking a look into pH. What is the pH balance of honey and how does that compare to vinegar, water, milk, coffee and other things in my kitchen. Is it important to raise the pH balance in what we feed our bees? Read on!
Hello, are David and Sheri Burns and here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we are a family business working hard to help more people discover and enjoy keeping honey bees. We manufacture beehives and sell everything related to beekeeping. Our hives are built according to our specific required specs right here in central Illinois.
It’s fall and if you are new to beekeeping you are just in time to get started keeping bees in the spring of 2015. We have 3 lb packages for sale now. Bees are so precious and essential to nature. We are excited to offer packages again this year. They will sell out fast. Last year we sold out within 45 days after going online. Click here to order your packages of bees. Packages include 3lbs, about 10,000 bees and one mated queen.
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LESSON 166: pH In Honey And What We Feed Bees
pH stands for the power of hydrogen. When you write it, the “p” is lower case and since hydrogen is an element, it is capitalized. Water has a pH of 7. Anything 7 and above is considered an alkaline and anything below 7 is consider to be acidic.
So I grabbed my pH meter and tested different things in my kitchen this morning. Remember, the lower the number the more acidic. I snapped some pictures below so you can see for yourself.
It’s hard to see, but there is a decimal point after the first number. So Coffee is 5.66. My ginger ale is a special kind that I buy that has real, fresh ginger so it is really tart and burns your throat when you swallow. Honey is close to that same pH level. Haven’t you noticed that honey does sometimes make your throat burn just a little. It’s because honey is acidic. That is what aids in preventing bacterial growth. Water is considered having no acidic trace and is around 7 pH. The higher the number the more alkaline.
I discovered that by adding sugar to water, it actually raised the alkalinity by.09 elevating it further away from the level found in bees’ natural food, honey. If bees eat honey at a pH of 3.52, then is it possible to increase the acidic content in sugar water to nearly match honey and still be healthy for bees? I found a great study about this and how adding vitamin C to sugar water increased winter survival by 33%. I explain this today in more detail on my main website at: www.honeybeesonline.com where I’ll show you how I increased the pH in sugar water. Be sure and read my entire article there on my website.
Thanks for joining us for another lesson in beekeeping. See you next time,
David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
217-427-2678