Bill Truesdell said:

> (BTW, beet sugar is harmful to bees as a feed.)

Where did you hear this, Bill?

All I recall is that several studies (most of
them done in Canada when they were trying to work
out how to overwinter bees on the plains) that
found no tangible difference between HFCS, cane
sugar syrup, and beet sugar syrup as a feed for
"worst case overwintering", when bees are confined
for very long periods.  (Sorry, I have no citations)

These same studies showed significant disadvantages in
attempting to overwinter on honey stores versus the
various alternatives.

These findings infuriate those who persist in somehow
thinking that honey just HAS to be the best possible
feed for overwintering simply because "the bees know best",
and "its natural", a cognitive stance that must also
imply that the best possible queens would be swarm or
supercedure queens, rather than overtly "bred" or AI queens.  :)

That said, the longer the period in which bees are
unable to fly during winter, the more that the
indigestible components of honey would become an
issue of concern, so in mild climates, with winters
that allow periodic bee flight, I doubt that there
would be much detectable negative impact from feeding
honey, other than that nagging empty feeling in one's
wallet.

Here are two fairly detailed overviews of feeding
pros and cons, that are online:
http://www.beesource.com/pov/usda/abjfeb1977.htm
http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/HBE/05-054.pdf

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