At 07:25 PM 6/5/96 +0000, you wrote:                                            
>...I wonder if acetic acid -- the main ingredient in vinegar -- other          
>than water,  is also detrimental?...                                           
>                                                                               
>Allen,                                                                         
>                                                                               
>Freidrich Ruttner wrote a number of years ago that lactic acid could be used   
>to invert sucrose for bees.  He warned against using "other acids," but        
>didn't list the ones he thought were harmful.                                  
>                                                                               
>Kevin                                                                          
>                                                                               
                                                                                
I checked the most recent edition of The Hive and the Honey Bee for their       
method of mixing syrup for feeding.  They recommend the use of vinegar to       
prevent granulation.  I also seem to remember an article last spring, in the    
ABJ classroom section where vinegar was recommended to prevent                  
fermentation.  I was told, by another beekeeper, that the bees seemed to        
take up syrup quicker if a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar were      
added to each gallon.  I have been doing this for about four years and have     
seen no ill effects.  Quite the contrary,  The bees do seem to take it          
quicker and I haven't had any problems with fermentation.                       
                                                                                
Where I live,  we have a very short season.  It starts in late April, peaks     
in May and is pretty well done by the end of June.  I have observed             
scrubbing bees in all my colonies for the past week.  If there is a sourwood    
bloom, the season could go as late as the end of July.                          
                                                                                
At the end of July,  I remove the honey crop and add hive bodies of             
foundation above a queen excluder.  I then feed the bees a 2:1 syrup.  They     
will use this syrup to draw out new brood comb.  When they have most of it      
drawn I start adding syrup with Fumidil for them to store as part of their      
winter stores.  When the wild Aster and Goldenrod flow comes in fall they       
store this in the lower brood chamber, since the top one is fill of now         
invert sugar syrup.  In late October I remove the queen excluder so the bees    
can move up.  The Aster and Goldenrod honey is consumed first and by late       
winter the bees move into the top chamber.  At this time they start cosuming    
the sugar honey with the Fumidil.  I try to reverse the chambers the first      
chance I get in March  so that I can cull the very old combs out of the old     
brood chamber.  By the end of March, the colonies are roaring and ready to      
start collecting nectar.  A few will have swarm cells and I use these for       
making splits for increase and swarm control.                                   
                                                                                
I think one key to this is the fact that they will take syrup very quickly      
at this point in time and the fact that the syrup does not ferment even in      
high ambient tempratures.                                                       
                                                                                
Frank Humphrey                                                                  
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Franklin D. Humphrey Sr.                                                        
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