>I always heard one should never feed honey from any other source than one's
> own bees to one's hives....doesn't buying and feeding outside honey put
> the
> whole operation at great risk for disease?

I do not know of a single large U.S. beekeeper (except maybe Dee Lusby?) 
feeding
honey to their bees as according to Bee Culture raw honey in bulk is running
around 1.80 per pound or $21.60 a gallon for my area (zone 8).

HFCS runs around $3.50 a gallon. Higher for sucrose.

> Are you sure that beeks are
> purchasing for their bee yards or are Texans purchasing Chinese honey for
> human consumption?

Many commercial beekeepers in drought areas as well as packers unable to
purchase U.S. honey are considering foreign honey which is mostly from
China. A few on the list have questioned the price per pound for China honey
I posted earlier this summer but the price is still *half* the price of U.S.
honey .

China had a very small part of the U.S. market back in the 80's then we had
a really poor honey crop and a flood of China honey came in.

Only lasted a year or so and the China honey slowed.

U.S. beekeepers were back. Orders for containers for China honey were
cancelled and China suppliers were disappointed.

Then varroa happened (*source unknown* but traced to a yard close to the
Orlando International airport in Florida) and hives crashed and the flood of
China honey has been going on since then.

Varroa has changed the face of U.S. beekeeping.

Africanized bees , SHB and all other issues are almost non issues *compared*
to the impact varroa and the viruses they vector has had on commercial
beekeeping.

bob

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