Paul Nicholson wrote:
> No doubt there are some substances in some honeys that are not beneficial
> to bees also. They have to eliminate or breakdown these substances.
 
 
Murray McGregor wrote:
> this is more than offset by ........
> the absence of gut filling solids in the winter stores.
 
> ........you should try wintering bees on
> these 'rich' stores. Honeys such as pine ( which is available throughout
> much of the Balkans) and others, and in our own case heather, are all
> rich in the items you desire. Under circumstances where there are long
> periods without bee flight these types of honey in the stores can have
> very serious consequences indeed for the bees welfare. They contain much
> which the bees cannot digest and fill the gut too rapidly leading to
> defecation inside the hive. Nosema and other complaints spiral
> exponentially killing the colony very quickly, which is a lot less
> likely to occur with 'clean' stores. In deep winter brood rearing is
> either absent or at a minimal level. Primary requirement is only for
> energy for heat, and fed stores fulfil this need very well, often better
> than honey which can contain much which is not needed at this time.
 
Hi!
 
Our bees are fed sugar syrup for winter stores in early Sept after
coming back from the heather moors and ALL traces of heather honey
removed. Egg laying has normally stopped by this time and very little or
no brood is present. Conventional wisdom has always been that the
heather honey, as mentioned above contains much that has to be
eliminated by the bees. As the weather is seldom suitable for cleansing
flights before the end of March/beginning of April I have never been
prepared to risk NOT feeding sugar. It is incidentally, I must admit,
good "business" as sugar is considerably cheaper than the selling price
of honey -- this is not the prime reason behind feeding sugar however.
In this area we exclusively keep A.m.carnica not the Black/Brown bee
A.m.mellifera which reputedly is more adapted to take advantage of
heather honey.
 
Is the solids content of heather honey (and others) exaggerated/a myth
or is conventional wisdom here (presumably based on experience) actually
correct?
 
As a footnote I may add that I have experienced problems with heather
honey mead, which throws a large amount of thick gummy sediment some
time after it has apparently cleared -- the women folk have also noted
that making confectionary and cooking generally with heather honey is
problematic as it produces quantities of "scum" when heated. If this is
the same components of the honey that the bees need to eliminate I can
fully understand their need to cleanse despite the weather conditions!
 
Cheers Tony
 
-------------------------------------------------
Anthony N Morgan,
Fxrsteammanuensis
Institutt for Elektroteknikk
Hxgskolen i Sxr-Trxndelag
N-7005 Trondheim, Norway
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Tlf. 73 55 96 04
Fax. 73 55 95 81