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.