Feeding honey bad?

[Clark10]

I have done a few searches and am not really coming up with much. I am sorry if this answer is already all over the place and I am not seeing it.

I am feeding local honey that has not been heated and such to my bees. I am feeding it straight and they are taking it. A shop owner in my areas said I should never serve it straight but water it down. I of course noded my head and then went about my business. As I drove home I started to try to figure it all out and then went to the books and net for the details. I seem to be missing the answers though. So, is it ok for me to feed extracted honey to my bees? What are the pitfalls and benifits to this meathod.

Thanks for your help.

[Ardilla]

Pitfalls: It is expensive compared to granular sugar. Also, you could potentially inoculate your hives with foul brood, nosema, etc. spores that are in the honey.

[peterdubh]

All pitfalls: transfer of the nasties & cost

[IloveBees]

Excuse me

I fed my bees sugar solution and they stored honey out of it

I extracted that honey at the beginning of a bloom season (to have pure honey)

After the end of the season I want to feed that honey (created from sugar solution)

Back to the same bees.

My question is how much water should I add to the honey?

[Clark10]

Thanks for you replys so far everyone

[drobbins]

if you feed honey from an unknown source you risk disease, don't do that
if you feed your own honey it's expensive, don't do that, but it's safe(er)
if you feed sugar syrup the bees have stored in combs it's not "really" honey
it's fine to do that, no need to thin, heck, just stick the frames in the hives
sometimes there are reasons to thin even if you don't have to
after you thin it it tends to stimulate the bees to raise brood
depending on the time of year this could be a good or bad thing
depends on your location

Dave

[Michael Bush]

I would feed it straight as it doesn't keep long watered down.

[BigDaddyDS]

Feeding honey is just fine. But, as it's been pointed out, the two item that should prevent you from doing so are 1) cost (white granulated sugar is MUCH cheaper) and 2) it's a good way to spread the foulbroods and other diseases (use ONLY your own honey that you know to be free of foulbrood). As a side note, I've seen it written a number of places that most commercial honey have been tested positive for foulbrood.

Personally, in the spring I take my deadouts and take the uneaten, overwintered honey out, and I feed it to my spring bees on top of the inner hive cover, once I'm sure the bees didn't die from foulbrood. (From top down: Telescoping cover, deep hive body containing the scratched frame of honey on it's side, inner cover, then brood box and frames below.)

As for thinning it out, why? Feed it to them straight. It'll keep longer without molding or fermenting. And, if thinned, the bees will have to take it down, put it into cells and then fan it to remove the moisture you've added. Sounds like a waste of worker force to me!

Good luck!
DS

[riverrat]

you are making your bees do a lot of extra work. sugar water that has been capped is just sugar water that has had the moisture level reduced to the 18 percent range. Its not honey nor will it ever be. I would feed the bees what is needed to build them up in the spring using 1:1 syrup if you have light hives or are planning on splitting. At the point they are built up and the brood brood boxes have plenty of stores pull the feeders and put on the honey supers for the flow. After the season is over and you have pulled the honey supers. If you have light hives feed them 2:1 syrup to get up the weight up going into winter. I guess my question is why would you want the bees to reduce the moisture extract it and then add water back to it to make them do the same thing over again.

Excuse me

I fed my bees sugar solution and they stored honey out of it

I extracted that honey at the beginning of a bloom season (to have pure honey)

After the end of the season I want to feed that honey (created from sugar solution)

Back to the same bees.

My question is how much water should I add to the honey?