Once again this isMy Fault.  I did not send enough information with my
origional question.  I winter with one brood box and one super.  In the
spring I pull the super which will have 3-4 frames of brood and 5-6 frames
of syrup/honey left from winter feeding or from spring feeding.  I use the
super to start a new hive by placing the super under a brood box for about a
month while the bees pull the wax in the brood chamber above.  Then I
reverse and put the brood box on the bottom and the bees start to fill the
super with honey from the spring flow.  When I pull this super off I many
times find 3-4 frames of honey that tastes a lot like sugar syrup and is a
different color from the spring flow honey so I assume it is from the syrup
fed.  I live in South Central Oklahoma and here it is November and my bees
are still active.  We have not had our first killing frost yet!
 
If I extract this honey it is a light straw color and is "sweeter" than the
normal spring flow honey.  If I feed this back to the hive, do I not get
into the question of what effect feeding honey back to the hive can have?
 
With 10 hives I end up with up to 9 gallons of this stuff and I have some
people who really like the taste of this "honey" and want more.  At present
I am giving the stuff away in bottles that do not have a honey label so as
to not misrepresent the product.
 
Richard Barnes
[log in to unmask]
 
p.s.: I have heard of some producers feeding syrup to their bees year round
to increase honey production by the bees placing this material with honey in
the comb.  With honey being higher priced than sugar they are making a
killing on their product and the bees are doing the work.  Is this practice
illegal in your area or just immoral?