Allen said it best, but to elaborate- It is the ash content that is part of
the problem. Ash is "the nonvolatile inorganic matter of a compound which
remains after subjecting it to a high decomposition temperature."

It is what the bees have to get rid of over a long winter. The higher the
ash content, the worse the problem.

Another problem is some minerals are not bee-healthy and can cause winter
kill. Check out honeydew in the Hive and the Honey Bee.

Also, quick granulating honeys are a winter problem since they come out of
granualtion in a staggered fashion and tend to ferment, also bad for bees -
again H&HB.

I listened to George Imire and extract after clover and put the extracted
supers over an inner cover. The bees take the "summer" honey down and fill
the upper supers with fall honey.  It tends to granulate quickly, has
honeydew from pines, and seems to have a high ash content. Before I did what
George suggested, dysentery was one of my major problems. After I shifted,
it has been non-existent.

The bees over winter mostly on "summer' Honey, and I keep the fall honey as
it is the best tasting of the years honey, so get the best of all possible
worlds.

There are several studies on the best winter feeds and all have cane sugar
as number one and honey far behind. Bailey comes to mind.

For long cold winters, something we run into in Maine, with little ability
to have cleansing flights, low ash, slow granulating, mineral free feed is
the best, which is cane sugar.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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