> From these comments, would you advocate then utilizing pure sucrose syrup and pure casein in your winter preparation feeds?

Thankfully I live in an area where supplemental feeding is not usually required. My chief point was that sucrose and other man-made products are not toxic to bees and may under certain circumstances be better than natural products. For example, caged bees do better on sucrose than honey, presumably due to purity. But I would never advocate stripping off the hives' honey and replacing it with sugar, even if it were cost effective. 

I simply challenge the idea that pure sucrose or in this case, pure casein, is harmful to bees. I have never wavered in my opinion that a natural diverse diet is the best for any organism. The issue is supplemental feeding. I mean, there are some people that advocate going down to the SuperMarket and buying off the shelf honey, instead of feeding pure cane sugar. I would never do that, not having any idea where the stuff is coming from.  

On the other hand, when raising queen cells or package bees, where large scale feeding is often required, sucrose and some sort of pollen supplement is in order. I leave it to others to work up the recipes.

PLB

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