> I find it interesting to note that the spore levels increased more in the
> sugar board groups than in the controls. I'm not a fan of using granulated
> sugar to prevent starvation or as a moisture absorbent. While I would
> certainly use dry sugar to save a starving colony, there are better ways.
> Proper Fall preparation and timely feeding of thick sugar syrup is the best
> method to prevent starvation. Feeding should be finished early enough in the
> Fall to ensure the bees have properly ripened and capped the feed. Feeding
> syrup too late in the Fall is a huge contributor to moisture problems in the
> winter.
>

Really says it all. Especially ripening the fall sugar syrup. The issue
there is more than just moisture, but the time allowed to convert the syrup
to "honey" which is acidic, which seems to slow down nosema in the bee gut.
In essence, with proper ripening you over winter with "honey", granted
without all the other ingredients, but with glucose oxidaze, acid, enzymes,
and fructose and glucose, the basic qualities of honey as a bee feed coupled
with the added benefit of low ash content, essential for long winters.

Our problem is with the anomaly of starvation, not with the norm. I only had
the starvation problem once and never since. That was before I managed for
winter feed per the instructions of George Imire. I totally agree with Bill
G and do leave my colonies alone until spring. My experience has been that
you lose you colonies in the fall or end of winter, not in-between.

So it gets down to if you are faced with the cluster at the top and more
winter to come what do you do? (There is no problem if there are stores and
the bees can get to them. That implies warm days so they can move around.)

Since the only issue is that a sugar board, which is not what I would call a
candy board but a "syrup board", will increase nosema if you have it,
compared to other methods which may be inaccessible to your bees, I would do
as I was told and put candy directly over the cluster. I was also told that
candy does not stimulate the bees into an early build-up.

It only took about a week of a cold snap in early April to kill one colony,
so we are not talking about a prolonged use of candy as a stop-gap measure.
The studies were over a one month period and was with "sugar syrup" boards.

There is an issue with sugar in the spring and that is that many use it as a
prophylaxis, not as a necessity for starvation or managing early spring
build-up. Then the problem with nosema does enter into the equation.

I agree with Mike's observation that you do increase the activity of the
colony so contribute to increased consumption and build-up.You move the
colony into a "spring" environment much too early, unless that is your plan.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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