> On feeding honey:
>
> The reason I won't feed honey of uncertain origin to bees is that
> doing so is a great way to spread foulbrood around.   I have fed my
> bees unsellable high moisture honey from my own hives (no foulbrood)
> with no problems.
>
> If heated honey is bad for the bees, why don't we don't get problems
> when feeding high strength sugar syrup (which we have to practically
> boil to make)?
 
Well maybe you do.
 
It depends on the temperatures that are reached on the surfaces
exposed to heat and the duration of the heat, along with possible
catlytic effects of free metals.
 
and it depends on what time of year you feed it.
 
Just because you get away with something 5 out of 6 times is not an
indication that it is safe.  Russian Roulette can seem quite safe --
until the bullet just happens to be in the chamber.
 
(for some reason this illustrates one of the interesting universal
weaknesses of the human mind:  Humans without training in logic and
stats have amazing  problems assessing the relative magnitude of
dangers.  Many are more afraid of being raped or murdered than
driving in a car -- (go figure).  People are also pretty poor at
assessing slight or occasional  effects without using recourse to the
scientific method, and even then have problems coming to
conclusions).
 
The thing about bees is that is that they can repeatedly withstand
many abuses without any signs of difficulty -- if  conditions are
otherwise okay.
 
but add several unexpected  stressors, and we see sudden collapse --
or just failure to perform.
 
For example:  we do not need to wrap our bees up here some winters.
The problem is that we know from harsh experience that other years
we get 100% loss if we don't.
 
Moreover, experience has shown that --  in many years --  although
poorly wrapped hives seem to come out as well as the ones which we
wrap properly -- we get far fewer splits in the spring from those hives
although they  are to all appearances the same at time of unwrapping.
 
many of the practices we hear recommended do not necessarily
destroy  a colony, but they may have subtle effects that cause
unpredictable or mildly debilitating results.  When they add up --
like the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back -- they cause
losses of bees or production.
 
For me, honey production is my livelihood, and i am not about to take
*any* chances.
 
For years, I hated to waste any feed or honey scraps and tried to
get the bees to use them.  They did, but i'm sure I  lost $10 for
every $1 I saved.
 
If you live in some areas, feeding honey back  is quite safe, but in
others, it may be only a matter of time until you have an unpleasant
 or puzzling surprise.
 
IMHO anyhow.
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>