Sugar syrup VS. HFCS

[MTINAZ]

I have a bunch of packages that are going to need feeding and I was planing on getting a 275 gallon tote to put on the back of the truck. If I go with sugar water I have to go buy almost a ton of sugar. So I was thinking of maybe finding someone who can just fill my tank with hfcs. Any opinions on which way to go? Pro's con's of each?

Thanks

[river_rat2005]

well im not that big yet but i do know that most hfcs tankers will only deliver 1/2 load to full load so unless you have a need for that much i would try to find a comm. beek near you and ask if you can buy it from hi to fill your tote. thats just my 2 cents

[wabeeman]

I was using HFCS but started to hear bad things so did a little research and subsequently switched to sugar. HFCS at that time was slightly cheaper, but I had to drive a ways to get it. Not scientific by any means but my bees seem to be healthier using sugar. I buy a pallet at a time from the local restaurant supply store. One beek I know mixed in 55 gal drums, used hot water, had a pipe that hooked to the air hose, pipe to bottom of drum and let the air do the mixing. He ran 4000 and fed ONLY sugar.

[hpm08161947]

When we used sugar it was quite a labor intensive operation to prepare a 275 gal tote. When the cost of sugar to prep a tote reached $1000 we changed to HFCS. You have to look around a little bit but usually you can find it at some food preparation companies. We found ours at a pickle factory. Right now a full tote of HFCS costs about $700... and this we dilute to about 350 gal for spring/summer feed. Thus far I have not seen any difference in the two... just less work.

[The Honey Householder]

HFCS is a lot cheaper then sugar. I bought a 1/2 load for $4550 and that feeds the 650 packages and 300 splits I'll run this year. That less then $5 a hive. You would more then double that with sugar. Find a factory that will work with you and HFCS would be the way to go.

[MTINAZ]

HFCS is a lot cheaper then sugar.

Do you add water to thin it down for the packages?

[G B]

The commercial beeks I work with here in the valley have told me I can go right to the plant and get HFCS, just have to pay a couple cents more per pound when putting in barrells or totes. I can check out prices and availabilty if you want or get you a phone number take care George B

[MTINAZ]

G B pm sent. If I could just find a flat bed one ton I could get my totes and fill them up.

[BEES4U]

FYI:
Some of us dilute the syrup by 10% to make pumping easier and to prevent crystalization. Fill the 10% water in the tank first and add the HFCS second so that the water and syrup mix.
As far as the difference between the two syrups and the bees, my best bees are the ones that are fed HFCS that's about 50% liquid sucrose.
Good luck,
Ernie

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

I have to agree with Bees4u the bees looking bees I have ever seen are on HFCS. i have fed 1to1 sugar water and that got old. A HFCS/sugar syrup mix is what i use, and the hives are literally exploding.

mike

[jim lyon]

Come on Ernie everybody knows that HFCS is evil stuff and sugar is the only way to go right? Its easy to talk down HFCS until it comes time to write out the check. I asked the guy that brokers our syrup recently how much sucrose they sell (at least to our part of the country) and he said he sells maybe one load of sucrose to 50 loads of HFCS.

[bigbore]

The only real issue with HFCS is that when it gets hot (120 F+) it will break down and produce a toxic compound in it. can't be tasted, smelled, or seen in any way. only 2 ways to test it, in a lab, or by feeding it. small levels wouldn't hurt a person, would be enough to kill bees. I trust my source, and don't feed it in the summer. Mine put on a lot of their winter food with it last year, cause they could put it up faster than sugar, and a lot easier to deal with.

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

I would by sucrose (Thinking it is non corn) but cannot seem to find it.

mike

[Eric Baxter]

From my understanding HFCS is more difficult for the bees to digest and hard on there stomach. I think most people around here use sugar.Except for the large commercial guys only because of the time and labor with mixing and measuring sugar to water. That's strait from the horses mouth.

[bfriendly]

Personally I have no problem with HCFS for spring feed (high temp issue has been mentioned, but importance of a good supplier (preferably who sells to other beeks already) should be considered),

..but I prefer sucrose or a hcfs/sucrose mix for fall. Take this with a grain of salt, I am small scale.

[soupcan]

Who is telling you that HFCS is hard on a Bees inner workings?

[Allen Martens]

I switch from HFCS to sucrose several years back and every time I pay for sucrose I reconsider. However, several studies on bee longevity for caged bees have sucrose winning every time.

http://projectapism.org/content/view/66/27/

And then I keep staying with sucrose and wondering which makes most sense or cents economically.

[BEES4U]

Jim Lyon wrote"Come on Ernie everybody knows that HFCS is evil stuff....."

http://www.sweetenerproducts.com/website/Products.aspx

I posted my observations.
Ernie

[G B]

Hello Mtn. I talked to both of my commercial friends, they order their HFCS through Mannlake or Dadant. Then it is trucked by a matinelli's truck. The supplier is ADM but I cant find out who theresupplier is here in Phoenix. You might want to talk to a guy in flagstaff. His name is Dennis ARP runs enough hives that I am sure he buys syrup and he may have some left over from this winter. His companyt is mountain top honey company. 383 choctaw flagstaff az 86001 phone 525-1671. Good luck George B

[MTINAZ]

GB thanks I got some hives from dennis last year and was thinking of calling him. I am going to be in mesa this weekend but don't think I will have time to pick up any syrup. Any flowers in the desert yet?