Alan Riach wrote:
 > The debate on whether sugar syrup is better than honey will long go on.
 > However  I believe that winter survivability and early spring build up
 > is much more influenced by the  amount of pollen which the bees manage
 > to pack away in autumn.
 > Here in Scotland

All beekeeping is local. Much of the debate for overwintering involves
local conditions and anecdotal evidence. Even using latitude can be
misleading. There is plenty of good science that shows the best
overwintering feed is sugar syrup. There is also good science that says
that sugar syrup, by itself, is not good. But we do not live in an
either or world. There will always be a combination of winter feed even
if sugar syrup is fed.

(Disclaimer- I do not feed sugar syrup in the fall. I use Tony Jadczak's
(the winner of the 2003 EAS Divelbliss award) advice on super
manipulation and winter on summer honey. So I have no vested interest in
using sugar, but I do have a valid interest in good science.)

Plus, coupling winter survivability with spring buildup are two
different things. Pollen is essential in spring buildup because of
brood. Honey is essential in winter survivability because of adult bees.
You cannot get through the winter with bad honey no matter what the
pollen load, as you note next.

 > However on occasion I have taken surplus frames of heather honey and fed
 > it to colonies which were not put to the heather and this has always led
 > to trouble with dysentery and on occasion colony death. It seems that
 > heather honey is ok as a winter feed but only for bees which have
 > gathered heather in the autumn and gradually become used to it.

My guess, and it is based on what I have experienced with fall honey, is
the bees might consume the heather honey when they can make purging
flights while the fed honey is in another section of the hive and eaten
when cleansing flights cannot be taken.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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