feeding old honey back to bees

[ROBG]

I have a bunch of honey left over from last years harvest. Does anyone have a suggestion on the best way to feed this back to the bees??

[Kieck]

Extracted, or in the comb?

If it's in comb, just put the frames into the hives you wish to feed.

If it's extracted, you need to find a syrup feeder of some sort. The same type of feeder used to feed HFCS should work to feed liquid honey.

[ROBG]

Thanks for the reply. The honey has been extracted. Are you referring to normal feeders that are used for any type of sugar syrup or are there special ones for HFCS? should I dilute the honey? and by how much ??

[Kieck]

Are you planning to feed it back now, or wait until spring?

If now, pouring the honey into empty comb and putting the frames into the hive may be the best option.

If you wait until spring, the normal feeders should work, but why would you want to feed it back then? Once flowers are in bloom again, the bees should find plenty to keep them going.

And last year's honey is still good to eat. :-)

[ROBG]

It's actually 2 years old . I dont think its as cold here as SD, but we're pretty cold here in New England. I was planning to use it for spring feeding prior to any thing out there to forage on. I was just trying to save money from buying sugar if I didn't have to. Thanks for the info.

[Kieck]

One year old, two years old, doesn't really matter. I've got some that's older than that, and it's still tasty. :-) I tend to sit somewhere in the middle on the topic of "take all the honey, replace with sugar because honey is worth more than sugar" and "leave them honey, and let them eat honey because they're adapted to eating honey." I leave them plenty of honey, but honey is worth more to me even for personal use than sugar. I'd eat that honey and feed some sugar syrup if I thought it useful in the spring.

Around here, bees seem to find forage before the snow melts completely. I haven't fed most hives that I have. The exceptions are when hives are really weak and need a bit extra just to get them through.

[gloodinofdoodin]

I'm sure you've all read about the Egyptian pharoah tombs they opened and found jars of perfectly edible honey. It keeps quite well with moisture control.

[Anthony Ritenour]

I use a top feeder with floats and have had no major problem. I purchased mine from Bushy Mountain. I have tried other methods but find this better as it causes little disturbance and is easy to poor thick honey into the top feeder with the large cavity.