Syrup or Nectar Storage?

[luvin honey]

When feeding a new package, how can a person tell if the bees are storing nectar or syrup? I see glistening liquid in the back combs and am hoping for honey :)

[sc-bee]

You don't feed during a nectar flow. It is considered adulterated honey.

You really can't tell the difference by looking. So pull the feed jars during a flow and extract the supers filled during the flow. Not the feed (sugar) ;).

[Vibe]

I don't feed as much as it sounds like some on here do - didn't know I should have. But last year I discovered (long after extracting what little first year honey I did) that much of the "nectar flow" had come from the neighborhoods hummingbird feeders that were not protected with bee guards. So if syrup is considered "adulterated honey"..How do you tell?

[qa33010]

    There is no real way to insure it, other than complete isolation, that I know of.  I have seen the water white sugar water 'honey' stored as well as aster/goldenrod, trumpet vine and other darker honeys.  The taste of sugar water 'honey' to me tasted like sugar water, but thicker.  The holly, ivy and other lighter honey tasted like honey but not as 'stout' as the darker stuff.  I personally prefer the darker honeys.

[rickomatic]

I tasted some of the "honey" made from my bees syrup feeding. It tasted like Honey B Healthy.   :-D

[Vibe]

Since we're on this topic I have a couple of other questions.
If you do find that you have combs full of syrup, what are the effects of simply removing the comb and making them re-feed on it again? Isn't it the "in the gut" processing that does the transforming?
What effects do other syrups have? Corn syrup, soft drinks, etc.

[Vibe]

Would these questions require another thread?

[luvin honey]

It's fine by me if your question stands here--I'd love to hear that one answered, too.

[Brian D. Bray]

Since we're on this topic I have a couple of other questions.
If you do find that you have combs full of syrup, what are the effects of simply removing the comb and making them re-feed on it again? Isn't it the "in the gut" processing that does the transforming?
What effects do other syrups have? Corn syrup, soft drinks, etc.

The objective behind feeding bees sugar syrup is to assist their development of wax building of comb for food stores and brood rearing.  Feeding beyond the assist can be counter productive as it can turn the hive into being honeybound which can cause the hive to swarm and greatly restricts the brood development.  I feed a total of 2 gallons to a swarm or package of bees being placed on either foundation or foundationless frames, if I'm putting the bees in a hive with some previously drawn combs I only feed a half gallon total.  The bees take it from there and they do not become honeybound and use a good portion of the combs for brood production.

IMO, Most beekeepers, including many journymen, over feed their bees.  Some say to feed until there is 2 boxes of drawn combs.  This much feeding will likely cause a hive to become honeybound as not.  Let your bees be bees, feed to stimulate brood development in the spring, to draw comb from a package or  swarm, and feed in the fall (if necessary) to top off stores for overwintering. If you want swarms from swarms or packages overfeeding is the way to go.

Other sugars such as HFCS can be fed to the bees but it is not as digestable for them a sugar syrup.  Other forms of sugar are, more or less, in the same catagory as HFCS, I would not recommend feeding it to the bees except in an emergency.  Most soft drinks and flavored drinks like Pepsi, Coke, Root Beer, Gator Aid, Power Aid, etc, have some for of HFCS as their main sweatener with sometimes others sugar sources added.  Diet drinks, using artificial sweateners, will most likely kill your bees if they take it at all.

[Vibe]

Thanks Brian.
I wasn't so much suggesting that one feed these other syrups to their bees on purpose. But I've seen mine coming and going from the recycled can area. Of course this feed gets back to the hive so if there was something wrong with that, how would one tell?

[Brian D. Bray]

Thanks Brian.
I wasn't so much suggesting that one feed these other syrups to their bees on purpose. But I've seen mine coming and going from the recycled can area. Of course this feed gets back to the hive so if there was something wrong with that, how would one tell?

Honey is a natural antibiotic, a pathogen might exist in honey but it can't replicate in honey. Don't worry about it.