Thanks for any and all help...I did my best to search, but didn't really find a solid answer. I have two established but newer hives from Spring swarms that are just recently working the supers. I had 3 surprise swarms (from an existing feral hive) which I captured about 10 days ago. Pretty small swarms that I have in 5 frame Nucs. Question is, I have been feeding about a 2:1 sugar syrup. My husband came home from Costco thinking he was 'doing me a favor' and bought a big jug of store bought 'supposedly' U.S. honey to help feed the bees. Is it safe to feed this to my Nucs? I have not yet been able to do an extraction, as all my hives are new. (the oldest hives I have are only about 5 months) Is the sugar syrup adequate? Dare I use the jug of honey from Costco? I sure don't want to expose my hives to Foulbrood and such. Can the honey be boiled or Pasteurized to make it any safer? I wish I had my own honey to feed them with, but I am just too soon in the process. The established hives are bringing in ooldes of pollen, but the newest Nucs are still trying to establish. Advice? Thanks any and all for your input!
Obviously, being in So Fla, wintering is not as much an issue as for most of you folks. I was totally stunned at the swarm activity last week, but was ready with equipment to take advantage/capture them. Just trying to get the 3 new Nucs up to speed before our 'winter' hits.
Also, I would like to move the Nucs into my regular hive area. What do I need to be concerned about before putting these Nucs next to my strong hives? Will an entrance reducer be enough? Or do I have nothing to worry about since there is still plenty to forrage on?
Thanks all for any help!