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 Roy