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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Catherine Adamson <cadamson AT alumni.unc.edu>
  • To: Jeff Bollinger <jeff.bollinger AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: OCBA <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] honey vs. syrup
  • Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:08:29 -0500

I think this illustrates the point that just because sugar is cheaper than honey at retail doesn't mean it makes sense for the hobbyist to harvest as much as possible and feed it back in sugar.  I'm a hobbyist and I try to harvest the surplus, the amount in excess of what bees need to survive without any "feeding season".  Last year I only fed one second-year hive, and that was after they split just before the dearth and depleted all their stores.

If you are having to feed an established hive, then I think you might be better off harvesting less this year.  Freezing a super-full is great if you have got the space.
 

>
> I've been feeding our bees heavily over the last several weeks and its
> getting expensive!  15lbs of white sugar is about 3 days of food for two
> hives and they are really eating it up.  However thinking about buying
> this crappy Food Lion sugar (and wondering about its
> processing/additives, etc.)  I'm wondering if there's a way/method that
> can be used to avoid feeding sugar syrup altogether for the hobbyist
> beekeeper.
>
> I was thinking maybe instead of collecting this Spring's honey harvest
> for ourselves, we freeze the whole super (after removing bees of course)
> and then save it for the next feeding season.  I can't imagine it would
> be much different than a hive-top feeder (which we're using now) with
> all the associated advantages/disadvantages (like robbing,
> cluster-bound, etc.)
>
> I'm curious to hear opinions/predictions on if this approach would work
> in removing the white sugar dependency from the bees' diet in the
> summer, late fall, and winter.  Other than not harvesting honey, what
> other issues would you predict to occur trying this method?
>
> Thanks!
> Jeff
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Cedric Pearce Ph.D.
CEO/CSO
Mycosynthetix Inc
505 Meadowlands Drive Suite 103
Hillsborough NC 27278
919 245 0600
919 630 9335 cell

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