Feeding bees honey vs sugar

[snowglobe]

A concept that I cannot grasp....

The feed of bees, as far as I can understand by what I read is "sucrose".

I have also read that to feed bees their own honey will cause dysentery, and damage to them.

What I ponder is this.....before the meddling of man, who put the jars on top of the hives to help them survive?....and if no one did?....then why is it that they change their diet now, and why is it that the very product that they struggle to create, is considered now dangerous to them?

It seem to be really dumb, and I cannot understand the contemplate in the change in their diet!

I am a newbie, and I hope that others will help me to come to an understanding of this.

[Vabeeguy]

When I have some honey left over from the previous year, I feed it back to the bees. I have never had a problem so far doing this. But, I never feed store bought honey or honey from another beekeeper, I know my hives are disease free and prefer to keep them that way. I had a week hive this spring with little stores left so I put on 2 boardman feeders, one with syrup, the other with honey, kept them both full and now the bees are doing great.

[Michael Bush]

There have been and still are many beekeepers who believe that honey is better for bees than syrup. There have been and still are many beekeepers who will quote very short very inconclusive studies to "prove" that sugar syrup is better for them than honey. They, of course will not appreciate my characterization of the studies despite the fact that the studies themselves will say that there is no statistically significant difference.

Enjoy the fray.

[sqkcrk]

The feeding of sugar syrup or corn syrup is, to my mind, more easily done than feeding liquid honey. I was taught by Dr. Jim Tew that sugar syrup was somehting good to feed bees in the fall because it had fewer minerals in it, if I remember correctly. Therefore less Nosema(?).

The big no no about feeding honey is the extra possibility of exposure to AFB which is often found in store shelf honey. According to studies which I can't site.

Feeding your colony honey that came from that colony is probably alright. How were you going to do that?

[snowglobe]

Thanks to all of you! I had suspected differences of opinion, but I am grateful that all have left me my freedom to muddle through these difficult things! :-)

[snowglobe]

Micheal Bush!

The fray is the fray! It knocks....and it is our own choice, and our own will to let it in...or not!

Micheal Bush?....with no explanation, with no qualification....With no nuttin, ....................what do you do with your own hives?

Thanks in advance.

[snowglobe]

I conclude, by my very own self.......that I will allow/feed my bees (if someday that I shall have them)....honey!

[Michael Bush]

>Micheal Bush?....with no explanation, with no qualification....With no nuttin, ....................what do you do with your own hives?

My preference is to leave them enough honey in the fall for the winter and, if I have it give them frames of honey anytime they are low. If I don't have frames of honey and they are in need of food, I usually feed them syrup. It's cheap and easy and some of it will spoil and get wasted anyway, so why waste honey?

[Barry Digman]

A concept that I cannot grasp....

First, I think we have to separate the sideliners and commercial beekeepers from the hobbiests in order to understand the differences in feeding.

The folks who make a living from bees, or even manage a number of hives as a business, have to consider a couple of factors in their operations that are different than the factors someone like me has to deal with. The ones who have to transport hives for pollination can't easily manage for both honey and pollination at the same time, and are therefore forced into a situation where they're handling and transporting boxes of bees rather than complete stacks of hives which include several supers. There's also the economics of honey versus syrup. If it makes more sense from an economic stance to pull all the honey every fall, sell it, and then feed something that costs them less than what they'd gain from selling the honey, that's what they have to do in order to stay in business.

I can leave $100 worth of honey on a hive because I'm not relying on the income. I can also leave full supers on the hives because they're not going anywhere so I don't have to factor in the logistics of transporting something that isn't mission critical to pollinating.

I believe that, for me, leaving a large surplus on the hive makes sense given the my situation. I also believe that honey left on the hive is as good or better for the bees than anything else, so I make sure that they have what they need and more to get through the winter and spring. The commercial and sideliners don't have that luxury.

So, the answer to the question of which is better, syrup or honey, depends on what you're managing the hives for and what constraints there are on your pocketbook and your time.

[Robert Hawkins]

Snowglobe,

If you compare the price of a gallon of honey vs. a gallon of sugar water, You'll probably choose to feed sugar water. IMHO, the bees should bee feeding me. Not the other way around.

I feed after installation, early Spring, and late fall if the flow stops. But I hope for hives that will feed themselves and leave me some extra. The hives that need Spring feeding shouid bee re-queened from the hive that doesn't. Why breed more dependent bees?

Just in case you ran out of things to think about.

Hawk

P.S. Okay where's the spell checker on this site?

[hummingberd]

First, I think we have to separate the sideliners and commercial beekeepers from the hobbiests in order to understand the differences in feeding.


Coyote, this is such a valid point. I am quickly learning that the world of commercial beekeeping is much different from the world of hobbyist beekeeping. I don't begin to claim to have suggestions for commercial beekeepers when it comes to dealing with "problems" with their managment practices. And my husband and I consume plenty of honey each year!

I have heard only that feeding store bought honey to your bees is a
BIG NO NO because of the diseases it could be carrying. I have never heard that feeding your bees honey in the spring was bad. After all that's what they eat all winter anyway. Perhaps there is an issue with over heating the honey if you are feeding liquid honey. Some people may have harvested it and cooked it. Maybe that creates a whole list of problems? I don't know...