Hi,

>These people do not feed when the bees are not able to gather enough,
and they are quite far north.
>

Well Scot, I have many full-size colonies that are well stocked with pure honey for winter and a few nucs that were well stoked
also, but to get the nucs through winter it is essential to feed and I use sugar syrup when I have no more honey to feed. I do not
feed my full size colonies for evaluation reasons but the nucs need fed for reasons of our short season and the need I have for
insuring winter survival of these nucs so they can show me the next season what kind of stuff their made of. Feed I find does have a
purpose, but I am in agreement that feeding can skew evaluation of a colony for performance in local conditions when breeding to
acclimatize a stock.

 . ..   Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA

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