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ocba - Re: [ocba] Feeding solution for new hives

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Chris and Lisa Laudeman <chrisandlisa AT laudeman.com>
  • To: Rob Cook <crookkohler AT bellsouth.net>, Chris Apple <chrisapple1231 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Feeding solution for new hives
  • Date: Mon, 2 May 2016 10:39:05 -0400

Hi all,

Just a little fact check: According to Wikipedia, "About 80 percent of sucrose is derived from sugarcane, the rest almost all from sugar beets." (with no reference), and the depending on where you look, decoloriztion is sometimes referred to as "bleaching", but they're not using bleach.

C

On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 10:29 AM, Chris and Lisa Laudeman <chrisandlisa AT laudeman.com> wrote:
BTW Rob,

Granulated sugar isn't bleached. It has been recrystallized (which purifies it) and decolorized (with activated carbon) to removed trace brown stuff (that is not good for bees). Most of what we buy is actually produced from sugar beets these days, not cane, but they both have to be purified.

It is sucrose which is one glucose molecule bonded to one fructose molecule. So we call it a disaccharide (two sugars). High fructose corn syrup is corn sugar (pure glucose from corn starch) that has been partially converted to fructose ("fruit" sugar and the same as in sucrose) by enzymatic reactions. Each enzyme molecule, which is a protein, converts billions of sugar molecules, so very little enzyme is required. Depending on the grade, it is usually around 50% fructose, so the resulting "high" fructose corn syrup is chemically and nutritionally VERY similar to sucrose but NOT quite identical. The molecules are just not bonded together. It's called "high fructose" because corn sugar has no fructose to begin with.

Our bodies and bees break sucrose apart enzymatically to glucose and fructose before further metabolism. Nectar sources contain various mixtures of these sugars and others, but the bees can digest all of them. If you have a cheap source of these PURIFIED sugars, you can feed them to bees. For example, I have pure corn sugar, glucose, which I use in brewing. I could feed it to the bees, but the bottom line is that it's more expensive, and harder to find in a pinch.

The easiest solution (chemistry pun there) for me is to buy cheap granulated sugar. Kroger sells the generic stuff and has 25 lb bags. Check the price. The cheap 5 lb bags are often less per unit than the 25 lb bag.  Unless you have many hives, you really don't need to feed that much anyway.

Feed those bees!

Good luck.

Chris

On Thu, Apr 28, 2016 at 5:56 PM, Rob Cook <crookkohler AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
Got it. Thanks. I am going with white cane sugar.

Rob




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