Although crystalized honey is usually not an ideal winter feed, in my
experience, bees often do winter well on solid stores.  There are a
number of factors that will determine how well they do.

The first, as always, is how good the clony is in the first place, and
how well-established they are in their home.  The temperature range
inside the hive during wintering can play a role too.  Warmth makes
honey softer, but too much continued warmth can increase consumption and
result in dysentary or starvation, or both over the course of a winter.

Then there is the question of the nature of the granulation.  Soft
granulation is usually not a problem, but we have encountered honey that
could hardly be scraped with a hive tool, and, although I am not
certain, I suspect that this is very difficult for bees to use,
particularly during prolonged cold spells.  The kind of honey that forms
chunks of sugar along with a watery syrup in the same cells, must also
be hard to utilise, and -- as mentioned -- there is always the risk of
fermentation in such honey.

As for moisture, I think that there must be as much water in hard
granulation as in soft, but, in any case, water is needed to thin any
honey that is consumed.  Usually wintering bees have sufficient water
from their metabolism, and nearby condensation, but in very cold, dry
conditions, they could be in serious trouble on slabs of hard honey.
The amount of solid matter and unusual sugars that can be in some honies
can compound the problem.

All this adds up to justification for recommending quality sugar syrup
for winter stores when the alternative is a honey of unknown wintering
quality or granualated stores.  The easier we make things for the bees,
the better chance they have of making it.

Nonetheless, good honey -- if it is good honey -- is still a great
winter feed.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::