Hello Ghislain & All,
Ghislain said,

>Here in Europe we are taught that the sugars stachyose and raffinose in soy
>are harmful to bees.

Here in the U.S. we were told the same thing ( first in the seventies by Roy 
Murphy of the Tucson Bee lab and in 2006 by Dr. Pamela Gregory of the 
Weslaco Bee lab) but the *warnings* mostly fell on deaf ears.

Quite a bit of opinion on the above exists on bee lists about stachyose &
raffinose. Also between researchers and commercial beekeepers.

Research has been done which shows either can kill bees when fed to bees in
various solutions however those solutions are higher than found in soy or 
HFCS.

Research has been done on six weeks feeding of soy and problems turned up.

A few years ago when the discussion on HFCS containing stachyose & raffinose
and bee longevity was going on the subject of soy containing
stachyose & raffinose came up.

What I gleaned from the discussion back then.

Doubt was raised that proof one way or the other is almost impossible to
prove. However none doubted a certain amount of stachyose & raffinose was
poison to bees.

Because longevity of bees fed HFCS was shown to be quite a bit shorter with
HFCS as compared to sucrose( Usda 1974 & 2006) and the fact that sucrose
does not contain stachyose & raffinose. Those involved in the discussion
seemed in agreement that making pollen patties with soy flour & HFCS might
not be wise. Especially if the hive was being fed such patties for an
extended period ( 4-6 weeks) AND also being fed HFCS.

Now some on the list might argue they have been making patties with soy
/HFCS and feeding HFCS and have seen no problems. There were none in the
group but I have spoke with others since which have done so without problems
( or at least noticeable problems).

However the researchers in the discussion pointed out that the combination
of the two would most likely increase stachyose & raffinose levels.

No doubt the list will get many opinions on both sides of the discussion but
until research is done we will not know for sure. In my opinion confined
bees are more susceptible to problems than flying bees. I have fed Domino
frosting sugar with starch to flying bees without issue but would never feed
to bees in a cluster.

Opinions vary in beekeeping and all I can do is give mine.
I would not feed patties made with soy flour (only) & HFCS.  Especially for
weeks to confined bees. However I no longer feed HFCS to my bees. HFCS is
cheaper but I believe my bees do better on sucrose and sucrose does not
contain stachyose & raffinose.

When I did the American Beekeeping Journal article on the comparison between
HFCS & sucrose and longevity ( April 2007 I think?) I was provided the
complete research by Dr. Pamela Gregory to read. I saw no problems with the
research or her conclusions.

New research on the subject is needed.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Missouri
( Georgia today waiting for storm to pass before heading north))

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L