Tom Elliott wrote:

>I have read frequently over the years that you can not feed sugar syrup in cold
>weather.  However, here in Alaska I have been feeding sugar syrup continuously
>through the winter, regardless of temperatures, for the past three years.

At one point in my Crazy Cordovan problem I was feeding heavy syrup in the
cold here in Maine using a top feeder, and the bees were readily eating it.
Problem was that with lots of bees the syrup was actually quite warm and it
began to ferment faster than it was being eaten.  The bees got some
diarrhea.  If the feeder is very clean, the fermentation is not obvious by
smell.  I even tried hanging my unprotected nose over the feeder edge like
"Kilroy", with hundreds of bees at my cheek, but could not smell the
problem.  Later tasting of the syrup did reveal an off taste. I changed to a
small top feeder, then weaned the bees to soft sugar cakes and pollen
substitute patties, all of which they gobble down, and so far so good.  If
the cakes are stacked in a box on the frame tops, the bees perforate them
like Swiss cheese and eat several at once, remaining warm in the process.
The point is that with enough bees it may not be outdoor temperature, but
fermentation that makes a syrup feeding problem.  Also, I'm abandoning wood
in contact with syrup, as wood seems to promote fermentation spores.
Plastic seems to work better.  Merely roughing up plastic with coarse
sandpaper gives the bees a foothold.

Bill Morong