Hello Larry & All,

>Weve had many bits of advice and a lot of hypothesizing... but nothing with
authority.

In the end you will have to decide to feed or not feed yourself as  all
those  have had to in a similar situation. In a club situation like yours I
would not be the person which makes the decision for the group. I would not
talk people into feeding  sugar with starch. A large commercial beekeeper
feeding a very small part of his hives sugar with starch is different than a
group of hobby people feeding the product. Even if a problem totally
unrelated happens to a couple hives and those hives die the first  thing the
beekeeper  will blame is Larry K. and his idea to feed bees  sugar  with
starch!

If you are looking for a simple yes or no answer you will get the answer not
to feed bees a product with  starch  of any kind.

>  Have any of you had recent experience with such sugar?

Yes. A friend fed around  50 bags (2500  lbs.)of domino brand frosting  with
starch.

>any ideas about potato starch?

I doubt the fact the  starch is from potato  changes the secenario.

> Any thoughts are appreciated.

If you can pull up the posts of a  few years ago of mine and others   when
the subject was discussed on BEE-L the posts might be helpful. You might use
the word  *domino brand* in the search.

If you decide    to feed the   product   I will pass on the advice  given to
me by a couple commercial beekeepers    which claim to have fed  sugar with
a small amount of starch added before.

 Feed the product only in late spring  when bees are  flying all the time
and make up  a thin solution.

I had bought the bags from a frieght salvage place  I had the salvage sugar
account sight  unseen with skids of granulated sugar.   The bags had sat in
my warehouse  for a couple years when a  beekeeper from Nebraska I was
buying brood from saw the bags and was interested. He took the  bags in  on
the money I owed for the brood and mixed with water as I was told and never
had a problem. He is in Texas  right now  with his bees  or I would give you
contact information Larry and you could talk  to the beekeeper directly
about his experience.

Again you can talk to as many beekeepers as you  can  and get many different
points of view but in the end the decision will be yours. Best not to feed
bees  a product with starch  and NEVER feed a product with starch for winter
stores.

Hope I have helped!

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

Ps. Thanks to all of the people on BEE-L which have emailed, sent cards and
called  about my recent rotator cuff surgery!

 bh/eth

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