"[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: But I know at least one beekeeper who feeds with abandon and then brags about tons of lily-white *honey*.  Thanks but no thanks.

Waldemar

The secret here is to know when to stop spring feeding so that the feed does not migrate into the subsequent honey that is used for our purposes.  If the beekeeper desires to build up colony strength so that he can harvest the early spring flow as honey, he needs to start feeding  about five to six weeks before the anticipated spring nectar flow and also ensure that the colonies have adequate pollen stores to supplement the syrup feeding for brood rearing.  Here in Alabama our early spring flow will start at the end of January into middle February.  This means that we need to start feeding at the end of December to initiate increased brood rearing.  Our weather, at least here in lower Alabama (LA), is such that the bees generally have flight weather at least one day a week and usually four or five days a week.  A beekeeper further north of me tells me that he does this each year, builds up his colony populations very early and generally harvests over 150 pounds of honey per
 colony.  

Now, the feeding stops about a week to two weeks before the supers are added so that any syrup honey made by the bees is either used for brood/hive feed or is capped and so there is no danger of the honey being contaminated by what was fed earlier.

Mike in LA

 		
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