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I've heard of it. Never done it. There are boxes for the bees and there are boxes for me. Syrup is never on a hive when boxes for me are on a hive. Food coloring is non-toxic, it shouldn't hurt the bees.
There have been a few public cases. Locally there was a case where a beekeeper had managed to get hundreds pounds of surplus candy canes that he made into syrup and was open feeding in multiple apiaries. Other bees feed too, and soon beekeepers across three counties were reporting red honey. Then there is the maraschino cherry red honey case that lead to a major drug bust.
Moral of the story, color your syrup if you want to, but please don't open feed colored syrup.
There have been a few public cases. Locally there was a case where a beekeeper had managed to get hundreds pounds of surplus candy canes that he made into syrup and was open feeding in multiple apiaries. Other bees feed too, and soon beekeepers across three counties were reporting red honey. Then there is the maraschino cherry red honey case that lead to a major drug bust.
Moral of the story, color your syrup if you want to, but please don't open feed colored syrup.
