I don't think there's any mystery or extraordinary concern with feeding bees
sucrose.
The original enquirey was from Dick Bonney in Mass... who refered to a paper ,
Ruttner,1962. Percolation feeder. Bee World V 43 No 1, which stated that bees
can't invert more than 2 -3 lb/day of sucrose. Robert Rice from Australia
replied asking why does one want to feed the sugar, gave some large scale
feeding experience, and mentioned that bees don't use sucrose like they do
nectar.
 
Perhaps the Australian experience is from use of sugar syrup to stimulate
colonies in warm weather when there is inadequate nectar, rather than for winter
feed. Under similar conditions here in the north, bees might stop taking the
syrup if nectar became available, and a thin syrup might ferment before being
stored by the bees.
 
Perhaps the observation in Ruttner's paper has little or no significance to the
bees' removal of syrup from feeders, but only on the subsequent inversion and
storage.
 
Certainly in areas with long winters, like here, lots of sucrose syrup is fed in
fall, and is a major part of the colonies' food over the following 6 months at
least. The mix is heavier than recently mentioned, however (I think that must
have been a typing error?) The general description is 2 parts sugar to 1 of
water, although beekeepers work on the number of 40 kg bags to a particular
tank. It yields a syrup that contains just about all the sugar that readily
dissolves in warm water. Until weather turns cold (staying below freezing) the
bees store it readily and it doesn't ferment or granulate over winter.  Some
honeys can be poorly used by bees, if they granulate in the comb.
 
The 1 to 1 syrup mix is used in spring. It stimulates as well as feeds, but it
will ferment if not used, especially if the weather is warm. Fermentation is not
usually a problem.
 
I've seen colonies doing very poorly, being fed a thin syrup and with a small
population, during cold weather. We would advise a thick syrup fed early enough
in fall to allow storage (presumably also inversion and evaporation).
 
Hives here since about Nov 1 have been either placed in a wintering building or
wrapped with insulation (usually in groups of 4). Either way, they had been fed
syrup with the equivalent of 10 to 50 lb of sugar (supplementing the honey they
had stored after the crop was removed) to a total weight of 130 to 150 lb ( 2
standard boxes).
 
We're predicting good wintering success, since an unusually moderate fall
allowed lots of brood rearing in September and early October.
 
 
Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
1201 103 Ave
Dawson Creek B.C.
        V1G 4J2  CANADA          Tel (604) 784-2225     fax (604) 784-2299
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