Hi Allen and all:

>There is some confusion about whether the lactic acid in skim milk is
>toxic to bees or not.  Choice of soy is also important, since an error
>in selection can result in damage.  Stan Sandler discussed this in the
>archives some time back.  He has cows, so milk was a natural.  Maybe he
>will contribute something here.

The lactic acid is probably ok.  It is the lactose that is a problem.  It
is one of the few sugars that bees cannot digest.  There is probably not
enough in skim milk powder to worry about.  However whey powder has a very
high concentration.  Despite this, whey powder was one of the ingredients
tried when Haydak and others were trying all kinds of ingredients in the
fifties.

I very much agree with Allen that skim milk powder is now far too expensive
an ingredient to consider despite the fact that I expect it is a good
protein source.

I no longer have a dairy herd.  Bees don't kick and they don't have
horns.  I used to say that their shit was a lot easier to shovel
too.   However the cows didn't do it on my windshield.

Stan