Kyle writes: >Whey (and milk) contains lactose which is toxic to bees.


On page 206 of The Hive and the Honey Bee: “Sugars which are either toxic
to honey bees or reduce their longevity include mannose, lactose,
galactose, and raffinose.......Both lactose and raffinose reduce the
longevity of bees when offered to caged honey bees. Lactose is found in
milk and milk products, and raffinose occurs naturally in soybeans. The
toxicity of lactose is due to the effect of one of its components,
galactose.......these sugars were still toxic when fed in sucrose syrup...”

On page 217 of THATB: “......Haydak found that colonies fed soybean flour
or mixtures of skim milk powder with cottonseed or soybean meal reared
brood normally, although the amount of brood was less than in a caged
colony of bees fed pollen......Haydak recommended the most effective pollen
substitutes should consist of three parts soybean flour...., one part dried
brewers yeast, and one part dried skim milk.”

I’m confused.

Dick