Dick Marron wrote:

>>>by boiling some water
>>>and pouring it into two jars
>>>then adding sugar at the proper ratio.

> As per a recent Bee Culture magazine hot enough water actually "inverts" the
> sucrose to other sugars. This chemical change may add some color. Don't
> know.

As Aaron said, it all depends on where you are. In British research,
invert sugar (by boiling) was not a good winter feed for cold climates.
It does kill bees, but if you are in a short winter area you will not
notice the 5-15% loss of bees. Same with adding tartaric acid (cream of
tartar) which is suggested in my copy of the Hive and Honey Bee. It also
results in bee deaths, but, again, not noticeable to the beekeeper.

If you are in a long winter area, I would dump it and just add sugar to
warm water, not boiling.

I did notice a yellow cast to some boiled sugar syrup (back when I
started keeping bees and was told that was how to make up feed). If your
sugar source is reputable, it is probably fine to feed them if you are
in a short winter area. You probably will not notice the difference in
the spring, but you will have fewer bees than you would without the
invert sugar.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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