>On Thu, 24 Oct 1996, Wendy Ban wrote:
>
>> David Eyre and others responded to my description of feeding
>> cooked honey back to my bees with warnings of bad results.
>> I have not experienced any trouble with this.  Perhaps I've
>> just been lucky or the quantities are too small do harm.
>>
>> I am aware that many beekeepers and beekeeping manuals warn
>> against it. But the beekeeper who mentored me did it routinely
>> for 15 years with no observed bad effects, such as dysentery,
>> and expressed the opinion that the fear of risk was greatly
>> overstated (he compared it to the 19th c. caution against
>> eating tomatoes).
>>
>> Now I'm scratching my head. Any other comment, observation on
>> this?  Apparently bad effects aren't inevitable, but what are
>> the variables?  Foolish luck? Quantity?
>>
>> Any further information would be very welcome.
>>
> Hi Wendy,  I would say that the % of honey that was heated compared to
>total stores was small.Now the bottem line is, heated honey is hard for
>the bees to digest. That is a fact.Beekeepers have done somethings to the
>bees that has made them less than what they could be.When you do the right
>things, the bees are healthy and happy. You get more honey and less
>problems.No one beekeeper has all the answers . We all keep learning more
>about the honeybee and its nature.We are its keeper and should do the best
>that we can, with the info that we have.Researchers have found changes in
>honey when it is heated , which makes it harder for the bees to digest.So
>you be the best that you can Bee.Give them the best honey you can.
>
> Best Regards
>Heating is not the problem,how you heat can be a problem. With syrup or
>honey if you heat too quickly or heat without stiring you can scorch the
>food this will kill the bees. heat in a way that does not scorch such as
>double boiler,constant stiring or some way that does not scorch even the
>smallest part of the food. That is the way I have been taught and have had
>good results. When working with any honey or sugar  for any reason I am
>careful not to burn or scorch it ( marshmellows) because the bees might
>accidently get into it and the results can be seen soon if you are
>watchfull.
 
                                                                Jerry Fries