FREE FIELD CALCULATOR
Plan a user-selected amount of establishment feed across packages or nucs and calculate the sugar, water, bag count, and sugar cost.
Calculator + methodology reviewed September 17, 2026.
NEW COLONIES
Choose the number of new colonies, how much finished feed you want to offer each, and a syrup ratio. The calculator scales the batch and sugar purchase.
Feed batch
The amount of feed per colony is your planning input. This calculator does not prescribe how much a package, nuc, or split must consume.
ESTABLISHMENT FEEDING
Penn State and Utah State Extension both describe 1:1 sugar syrup as a common establishment feed for packages, and Utah State also recommends 1:1 syrup for a small nuc after splitting. This calculator uses 1:1 as a convenient default but leaves the ratio and total feed amount under beekeeper control.
Packages arrive without comb or stored food and are often fed aggressively while establishing. Nucs already contain comb, brood, pollen, and honey, so their needs can be different. Forage and weather matter too.
See Penn State Extension — Installing Packaged Bees and Utah State University Extension — Splitting a Beehive.