Hi all

Whenever losses are high, I go back and read stuff from 100 years ago. One of the largest beekeepers of the time was located in NY state, near Albany. He had hundreds of colonies in Delanson, of which he wrote:

Another serious cause is poor honey for winter stores. This is a
more frequent cause, and far more disastrous than the loss from old
queens, for the losses from poor winter stores affect all colonies alike,
and the poor bees die by the thousands while in the cellar, and still
faster when first set out, until nearly every colony is dead.
One winter I lost 417 colonies from this cause out of 432; but we
can now prevent all loss from this source by giving our bees sugar
syrup to winter on in the place of unsuitable honey.

We have been taught that
honey Is the proper food· for winter use, and that, If a colony were short
of It In the spring, just give them a heavy comb, and that was all that
was necessary to do through the whole spring season. But experience
has taught many of us that honey is not the best winter food, and that
to give our bees heavy combs of old capped honey in the spring Is one of
the poorest ways Imaginable to stimulate early breeding.

Alexander, E. W. (1909). Alexander's writings on practical bee culture. AI Root Company.

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