> I am baffled by the contradiction of their message. They say that the
> beneficial compounds are primarily found in pollen, not nectar - then they
> state that corn syrup (substitute for nectar) will harm the bees, because
> it doesn't contain these beneficial compounds??????
>

I believe it was Eva Crane who ran a similar test long ago but was not as
confused as they seem to be.

The issue then was feeding sugar syrup to bees for overwintering. Bailey
and others showed that the best overwintering feed was unboiled sugar
syrup, then HFCS then honey. The issue was particulates as well as HMF in
honey compared to the other feeds.

Many years later Crane showed that honey was essential for bee health and
bees did not do well on syrup alone, but totally missed the issue, which
was overwintering. That seems to be the same thing here. Obviously bees are
better on honey because of all the additional nutrients in it. But not for
a winter feed, a big difference since the feed is an add on, not a
substitute. The bees have the best of both worlds going into winter, honey
as well as a good winter feed (sugar).

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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