> So I should take all the honey and feed back syrup...50000 pounds of
> it?? To save a few colonies?? I hardly think so...
> I guess I'll stick with my proven methods, and take my 40 ton average
> crop to the bank.

I agree.  Practical success trumps theoretical superiority every time.  I
hate it when we get to talking absolutes, then try to dictate a rule.
Idealistic rules and citations of theory get really tiresome for those of us
who have experienced the many possibilities that real situations throw at
us.

In this racket, everything affects everything else.  No one factor can be
isolated.  Principles are only a guide, and one may be overruled by another
in a particular situation.  What works is better than what should work.

Scientists prove lots of things, but in my experience, many scientists are
not good beekeepers.  Many are good scientists, but crappy beekeepers.  They
do not keep bees the way we do.  Their goals in keeping bees are often very
different from ours, and their results, while interesting and instructive
may not necessarily reflect on what many of us are doing.

Although sugar is very likely a better winter feed than many honies, for
many reasons, honey has one huge advantage over sugar: is already in place
in the hive, located properly and covering the pollen in a logical manner.
In the real world there are costs, disruptions, and risks to removing honey
and replacing it with sugar.  Damage to the bees can result, particularly if
they starve between the robbing and the feeding, or if winter or heavy rain
(and muddly roads) comes early and catches the beekeeper in the middle of
the job.

Honey -- any honey -- in the hive is better than syrup in the warehouse or
on truck.  Besides, disturbing the bees in the fall may cause the very
losses we are trying to prevent.  Extracting honey close to the brood
exposes the pollen to early consumption, and, moreover, brood honey may be
verboten for human consumption if miticides and antibiotics have been used.

In my personal experience, a *combination* of honey and sugar worked very
well.  I did not rob the bees so close that they were ever near starving,
and I supplemented the natural feed with gallons of syrup to get the
colonies up to weight.  I always left them what honey they had in the brood
boxes, even if it was poorer quality, but they usually took several gallons
of syrup to augment it.

In the real world, we cannot predict the fall flow, and, so some years, more
sugar is needed than others.  In any year, moreover, some colonies will be
light, and, although a small-time operator can go around exchanging frames,
a big operator will never have the time, and besides that practice is
implicated in the spread disease.

I think the question was whether bees can overwinter on some inferior
honies, and I think we can see that, although some are successful, others
have had problems, especially if that is all the bees have.  We also see
that the success may be dependant on the locale and the operator's other
practices, some of which may not be easily changed.

What is a person to conclude?  What I get out of the whole thing is that it
is a good idea to take off what is easy to take off, then to feed the
colonies up with sugar as much as practical so that much of the early
winter, at least, is spent on sugar stores, but not to go to extremes to
avoid the fall honey.

Works for me, but YYMV.

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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