From: George Imirie " Yes, Robin (if you are following), essentially ALL of
the U.S. commercial  honey producers feed sugar to winter their colonies
because the monetary value of  honey  is 3-4 times the cost of sugar."

I am assuming the vast majority of all beekeepers feed some sugar in autumn,
to bring stocks up to the locally ideal wintering weight.  The need is for
beekeepers just to have enough knowledge of bee biology that they do not
over feed to the extent that winter stores get transferred upwards into
supers in spring.

In UK, the ration of retail sugar cost to retail honey price is nearer 12
than 3 to 4 - sugar is around  0.25GBP per lb in the supermarkest and local
(raw) honey can be sold for £3 (but say £2.50 off a stall at the local
farmers market).  Even given the larger ratio, the impression I have is that
UK hobbyists generally empty the supers but not the brood chamber - and how
much is left that way depends on the late flow.  In my southern area, bees
have worked ivy very strongly thru to mid October these last few years, so
no sugar feed has been needed (to hobbyists, without trailer tanks of
factory syrup, feeding is a fun-less chore).

The reason that sugar is priced so low here seems to have 2 reasons: for
some time it was used as a loss leader by the large supermarkets; and the UK
regularly produces a surplus as for utterly unacceptable reasons the
producers get a large subsidy under the madness that prevails in farm
support here.

Does ivy yield in quantity elsewhere than UK?

Robin

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