Simoneau André wrote:
> Ph.D. thesis defended by Colin DENHOLM at IACR-Rothamsted
> in U.K.(1999)"Inducible honeybee viruses associated with Varroa jacobsoni"
> (You can replace jacobsoni by destructor).
> http://www.iacr.bbsrc.ac.uk/pie/phdwebsite/phdindex.html

Simoneau, thank you for a most interesting article. Reading it, I see no
way that white sugar fed as syrup would in any way lessen the bee's
immune system. I will be happy to be corrected since I am out of my pay
grade in this area, but it appears that the bee internally generates
many if not all of the substances that are a part of its immune system.
(Just like the enzymes.) If the bee has honey/pollen during the year and
only sucrose honey (honey from sugar syrup) over winter, I can see no
way that it would not emerge from the winter as well off as when it went
in, barring other factors like mites. Especially since, if I read the
article correctly, fat cells are key in producing some immune factors
and you are giving them an excellent, pure, uncontaminated food with
sucrose honey to keep them fat and happy.

However, a weak bee, one with dysentery from aster and other honeys,
would actually have a weak immune system.

I hope we keep in mind that we are not talking about feeding sugar syrup
all year but are specifically addressing over wintering with honey
created from sugar syrup vrs from natural nectar sources.

We often get into problems when discussing what is natural and what is
not. My natural state, straight out of the womb, was buck naked. Not
sure I would want to be in that state outside last night when it was
well below freezing. My neighbors probably would not have been too
thrilled either. So to get through the winter I dress warmly in gortex
and other synthetics, tune up the heat, and have foods that come from
all over the world, all things that were not available 200 years ago and
so are they unnatural or have we redefined what is natural. Truth is, if
we had the good-old-days natural state of those who lived a little more
than 100 years ago, most on this list would not be around.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME