Softened water in syrup

[Tia]

I just made up another batch of 2:1 for my girls and I was thinking: I use kitchen tap water, i.e., filtered, softened water rather than outdoor, untreated well water. Would the be better off or like the syrup more with untreated water?

[dp]

Tia, I have used well water, bottled water and county water. It doesn't seem to matter to the bees I have. If the water is safe for me, I think that it is safe for them.

[Tia]

Thanks. That's what I figured, but just thought I'd check.

[jfischer]

Water matters.

Untreated water can contain bacteria that can cause syrup
to ferment or become rancid. The good news is that chlorine
or chloramine in municipal water will kill the bacteria,
but the bad news is that fluoride in municipal water is said
to be toxic to bees over time. Water filters will block most
all of the fluoride and the chlorine or chloramine.

A well can have trace levels of bateria that won't make you
sick, but can turn a large tank of HFCS into an expensive,
rancid, useless mess (one most often dillutes HFCS-55 with
water down to reach a concentration of between 60% and 70%
for feeding.)

[Dick Allen]

City water containing fluoride is used here in Anchorage for mixing syrup and making bee candy. So far no bee colonies have succumbed to fluoride's reported fatal effects. Also, as a matter of fact, none of the bees had mandible decay either. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Tia]

Actually, it was the water softening salts I was worried about. Our unfiltered well water is full of iron and (phew) sulphur. I know my dogs prefer to drink the unfiltered stuff and that the bees seem to like the water in their "watering hole" after it's sat for a couple of days and gets a little scrungy. The point of the syrup "turning" is a good one, though, and one I never thought of. The filtered water didn't seem to hurt them last year (my first beekeeping year), but as I was filling the feeder yesterday, I got to wondering. Always looking for ways to make my girls happier. They really have become an obsession!

[Beemaninsa]

Is there a practicle bacteria killing self treatment that I use to on my untreated well water that is safe for my bees?

[Michael Bush]

I don't think there is enough research on minerals and bees to know if they need minerals from water and other sources or not. I'm sure they need minerals in some amounts, but their needs may be adequately met by the nectar or it may not.

As for bacteria, if you boil the water, which most do when making fall syrup, it shouldn't be a problem. I use my own well water out of the hot tap in the spring to make syrup without boiling with no more spoilage than I have when I boil it in the fall, but it's just that black fungus that gets going in it. I try to keep the feeders cleaned out when they get bad with some vinegar water but I don't worry about it too much.

[magnet-man]

Tia, you don’t need to worry about the salt from the water softener getting into the treated water. Is is a common misconception that a water softener adds salt to the water. It does not. A water softener uses a material that hold ions and as water goes through this material some of the ions are picked up by the water and thus softens it. Once the material has lost all of its ions it needs to be recharged. This recharging is done by flooding the material with salt water. Salt has an extra ion that it can give up to the material and thus the material becomes recharged with ions. The filter is then flushed washing all of the salt out of it leaving the material saturated with ions for another cycle. No salt is added to the water and is safe for plants and people with high blood pressure.

[This message has been edited by magnet-man (edited November 26, 2004).]

[Dick Allen]

Here's a link to a few comments about minerals in water given to bees:
http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/apis95/apmay95.htm

[Tia]

Magnet-man, that makes so much sense! I should've thought of the fact that if the salt were in the water, it would be detrimental to people with high blood pressure as well. But then again, I don't worry about people with high blood pressure; I do worry about my bees--too much, I think. Little did I know two years ago how much of an obsession this would become!

[The Honey House]

When I had some bees up at the dairy farm, they had two local sources for water. One source was a half acre pond and the other was hoof print puddles out side the barn in the waiting area.
The pond has some of the sweetest cleanest water God put on this earth. The foot print puddles were filled with everything that can pass through a cow. Guess which source the bees preferred?

[This message has been edited by The Honey House (edited November 26, 2004).]

[Dick Allen]

Unless the syrup is going to remain untouched by the bees for a number of days, it seems to me, any microbes from water that is healthy enough for you to drink won't matter much anyway. It's not going to spoil overnight. Once the bees have gotten it processed it into artifical "honey" bacteria won't grow in it. Giving the bees only enough syrup to finish off in a reasonable time should prevent any spoilage.

[This message has been edited by Dick Allen (edited November 26, 2004).]

[magnet-man]

Bees always seem to want the dirty water. Don't ask me why.

[Dick Allen]

Those little amoebas swimming around are probably rather tasty to them.