Dee Lusby wrote:
> There is a time and a place for honey syrup, probably in
> the spring if at all for stimulating broodrearing, but in
> the fall going into winter, one feeds granulated honey or
> honey still in the comb to those hives needing it.
A classic response from a warm winter beekeeper. It will work in the 
south but not in the northern cold winters.

A note of caution to those new on the list. Beekeeping, like politics, 
is local. What works in the south does no always work in the north. in 
fact, the advice above may kill off or seriously weaken your northern 
winter colony.

I learned early  from Tony Jadczak and George Imire about the essential 
nature of the kind of honey to go into a northern winter. Honey that 
granulates quickly is poor winter feed, as is honey with a high ash 
content. Granulated honey does not go into a liquid state all at once, 
but you get a slow transition especially in cold weather. This 
transition allows the honey to ferment and harms the bees.

High ash content honey promotes dysentery as the bees have more solids 
in their gut and, without those southern cleansing flights, poop inside 
the hive. Many fall honeys have a high ash content. Most summer honey 
does not.

You can prevent both by good honey management (which is labor intensive 
since it requires two extraction times, a technique posted many times in 
the archives). Before I shifted to managing the kind of honey my bees 
overwinter on, I would lose half my colonies every winter. Since then, I 
seldom lose a colony. Plus, the yields from each colony have tripled.

If you do not care to expend the effort as a hobby beekeeper,  just use 
HCFS or sugar syrup for winter feed, both of which have been shown to be 
the best winter feed through scientific studies. Plus, you only have to 
extract once.

I do not feed anything in winter, even the white death. With good 
"stores" management, they have plenty to overwinter on. I do use sugar 
candy in the spring as insurance, mostly because of brooding up when 
long cold spells can happen. Another northern problem that southerners 
do not have.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---