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Fat Bees - Part 3

scientificbeekeeping.com/fat-bees-part-3/

February 23, 2011

Fat Bees – Part 3

Randy Oliver

ScientificBeekeeping.com

First Published in ABJ in November 2007

I’ve been focusing on the protein dynamics of the colony. But in order to
encourage brood rearing, the colony also needs a nectar flow, or its
equivalent. This brings us to the subject of the feeding of sugar syrup.

Randy Oliver

In my previous articles in the Fat Bees series I discussed the importance of vitellogenin in
colony protein dynamics, and the feeding of pollen supplements. Since writing those
articles, I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time with Dr. Gordon Wardell, who is the
developer of the Tucson Bee Diet, MegaBee. I’ve been able to use the product a bit in the
field, and would like to share my initial impressions. But first, Dr. Wardell brought an
important paper to my attention (Otis, et al. 2004). The authors compared the proteins in
“summer” and “winter” bees. In the winter bees, they found a great increase in the
metabolically-active vitellogenin, and yet an even greater increase in another protein,
tentatively identified as arylphorin.

However, the finding that most caught my attention was that the total amount of storage
proteins that they measured in the bees’ bodies was not nearly enough to continue brood
rearing during the winter for any amount of time. Apparently, the colony is dependent
upon pollen previously stored in the combs, or upon midwinter foraging, to provide
enough protein for early brood rearing. This finding makes me wonder how some of our
California colonies that enter the winter without a speck of visible pollen stores are able to
build up at all in early January! Perhaps that is why they forage for alder and other
pollens so desperately during those cold winter days.

Perhaps fall feeding of supplement is important not only to pump the bees full of
vitellogenin and other storage proteins, but also to allow them to squirrel it away in the
combs above the brood nest for later use. If that is the case, we should look into which
supplements store best in the combs! Alternately, January protein feeding of colonies
building for almond pollination may be critical if weather or lack of pasture precludes
pollen foraging at that time.

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I mentioned MegaBee earlier. It is now stocked at Dadant branches. I’m not here to shill
the product, but I’ve played with it, and have spent time with the sales manager in my
beeyard, experimenting with mixing and using it. I’ve previewed (soon to be published)
data of field trials of MegaBee compared to controls, natural pollen patties, and other
proprietary products—MegaBee looks dang good! I’m also aware that beekeepers have
every reason to be simultaneously excited and skeptical of any new products—it’s the
“once bitten, twice shy” attitude. A number of California beekeepers are trying samples as
I write this, and the developer and producer are eager to work with beekeepers in working
out any problems during its introduction.

Dr Gordon Wardell in his Tucson lab. All photos by the author.

This product currently costs more than the soy-based pollen supplements, but is in the
same ballpark as Feed Bee. The ingredients (as with some other products) are proprietary,
but Dr. Wardell chose them based upon bee feeding preferences. Other than formulation,
MegaBee is also different in that it is acidic (tastes sour), and is very finely ground for
optimum digestion. So fine, that it stays in suspension in heavy syrup. Mix it in, and it just
doesn’t settle. It even stays in suspension fairly well in 50:50 syrup (but not in thinner
syrups).

I tried mixing with a motorized stirrer, and it blended fairly quickly. I have no idea how it
will mix on a large scale. Once mixed, its preservatives keep it from spoiling, and the bees
take it readily. It feeds best from an inverted feeder, and leaves little residue, except for a
layer on the bottom of the container. Dr. Wardell suggests removing the lid once the
feeder has been emptied, and allowing the bees to enter the feed jar to polish it clean.
Unfortunately, this would require an extra trip to the beeyard. Cleanup of 1-gal feed cans

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may be problematic. I haven’t had the chance to feed it in a frame feeder, but Dr. Wardell
indicated that it is taken quicker in an inverted feeder. Again, since the frame feeders that
I use have “chimneys” to prevent bee drowning, the bees wouldn’t be able to clean the
bottom anyway. This would also be a problem with top Miller type feeders.

I’ve tried various feed jars with sloped necks (see photo)—these minimized the amount of
residue to that which remained on the cap.

Testing various feeders for the liquid diet in one of my yards. Seeing if we can minimize
residue. I’m using a hodge-podge of equipment.

When using MegaBee as a liquid feed, you avoid having to crack open the colony to insert
a pollen patty. So let’s do some math: MegaBee mixes at the rate of ½ lb per gallon. Since
it is 46% protein, you’d be feeding about a quarter pound of protein per gallon, along with
8.5 lbs of sugar (when using 77% syrup). With the 3-lb brewer’s yeast/sugar/pollen patties
that I’ve been feeding, I give about 3/8 of a pound of protein (half as much again) with 1
pound of sugar (not counting any syrup that I feed).

If I were to feed three 3-lb patties, I’d have to feed nearly 5 gallons of MegaBee syrup to
give the bees the same amount of protein. Clearly, feeding MegaBee as liquid adds
substantial protein to the colony. But unless you’re really trying to add weight to the hive
for winter stores, you may wish to feed at least some of the product in patty form (this also
appeared to give the best results in field trials). In patty form, MegaBee mixed with heavy
syrup yields nearly twice as much protein as my brewer’s yeast patty (current label

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instructions produce too stiff a patty—add more syrup). In my limited feeding trials, the
bees ate the MegaBee patties nearly as quickly as my yeast patties with 5% natural pollen.
I haven’t had the product long enough to judge the broodrearing response of the bees.

On the subject of patties, a number of beekeepers are using a top rim to allow them to
feed a patty just under the lid. Generally, you want the patty to be close to the brood for
good uptake, but underlid feeding appears to work for them. I haven’t tried it myself.

Several beekeepers have asked me how to tell if a colony has enough protein. I’ve already
mentioned looking for foragers returning with pollen loads, and checking to see if there is
pollen stored around the broodnest. When protein is superabundant, a colony will also
rear drones. But when these signs are not evident, I look to make sure that the colony is
rearing young brood at an appropriate level for the season, and that the young larvae
are swimming in royal jelly. When the bees start cutting back on the jelly, you know
that they are conserving food. Combs of newly-hatched larvae should glisten with jelly.

However, you won’t see larvae swimming in jelly unless the bees also have a nectar flow
coming in, and this brings us to the subject of feeding sugar syrup. At this point, let me
state emphatically, that I am not an expert by any means on feeding sugar syrup. Feeding
bees is a labor-intensive, expensive pain in the rear. Many long years ago I figured out a
migratory management strategy for my operation that avoided feeding of any sort
whatsoever (except for cell builders when I’m rearing queens). I draw all my combs on
natural honeyflows, and winter on natural honey. My large commercial friends feed more
syrup some weeks than I will in my lifetime. So I’m not going to go into commercial
feeding—I’ll let someone who knows what they’re talking about do that.

However, I’ll be happy to discuss the science and biology of feeding syrup, and tips for the
hobbyist and sideline beekeeper. Other than specialty applications, there are three main
reasons for feeding:

1. stimulation of brood rearing

2. encouraging the drawing of comb

3. putting on winter stores

The first two can be effected by feeding “light” syrup (1:1—50% sugar); the last with
“heavy” syrup (2:1—67% sugar). A note is in order here: large commercial guys generally
don’t have the luxury of feeding light syrup, due to spoilage and mixing issues, and
because it is labor intensive for the amount of actual sugar given—but small beekeepers
can use light syrup to advantage. Light syrup can be mixed in cold water, but warm water
dissolves it faster (Tips: the volume increases by a factor of 1-2/3; 10 lbs of sugar added to
5 qts of water produces 2 gal of 1:1 syrup).

Be aware that light syrup can rapidly spoil during warm weather due to fermentation and
colonization by yeasts, bacteria, and fungi. You can prevent this by adding unscented
household bleach (“ultra” 6% sodium hypochlorite) at the rate of 1 cup per 55 gallons, or
4ml (4/5 tsp) per gallon. I’ve experimented with a bit with this chlorinated syrup. Initial

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free chlorine spikes quite high, then becomes undetectable to the swimming pool test
strips that I used after a few hours. Yet even several hours after mixing (sealed to prevent
outgassing), the syrup still prevented any microbial growth when I inoculated it. It
appears that the free chlorine loosely binds to the sugar, yet retains its activity for some
time. I found that as long as the syrup smelled like a swimming pool, it would sterilize any
feeder that I poured it into.

A syrup preservative that I like even better than bleach is thymol. I will write about this in
“The Nosema Twins 5.” You can also search this site for “thymolated syrup.”

As I mentioned above, bees need to be experiencing a nectar flow of some sort in order to
stimulate broodrearing and to properly feed the larvae (with the exception that during
early buildup after the winter solstice they will utilize stored honey). Even without a
nectar flow, the queen may be laying eggs, but the nurse bees may just as well follow
behind and eat them up! When food is short, those larvae that are reared will not be fed to
the fullest, and may be capped early. During those times of nectar dearth when you want
the bees to continue broodrearing uninterrupted (as in my area between fruit bloom and
the main honeyflow, or in September), the feeding of light syrup will keep the
broodrearing factory chugging along nicely. And the syrup can be really light! A ratio of 1
part sugar to 2 parts water (33% sugar) will stimulate a colony just fine. In fact, syrup
concentrations of greater than 50% are beyond that of most natural nectars, and are not
as stimulatory to the bees.

There’s an interesting aspect of bee behavior that has long been noted—colonies are
hesitant to fully engage in brood rearing unless they have an adequate reserve of honey
(Doolittle 1905). Bees can smell the presence of empty comb (Rinderer 1982), determine
nectar flow within the colony (Seeley 1995), but we’re not sure how they sense the amount
of honey stores (Seeley, pers. comm). But I’ve sure noticed that when I make up singles
with drawn comb, the bees brood up more quickly if they have some combs of honey in
contact with the cluster. Otherwise, they seem to hold off until they’ve put away some
stores. Same with new colonies on foundation—they like to keep a reserve on either side
of the brood nest. This makes perfect sense, since colonies that overextend themselves can
easily starve during inclement weather. So if you’re feeding in order to stimulate
broodrearing, realize that it may take a round or two of syrup before you see impressive
results (and don’t forget the pollen supplement, if indicated).

During our dry California late summers, in uncrowded yards where the feeding of syrup
supplements the scant natural nectar forage, I find that a half gallon of 33% syrup fed
once a week keeps the colony stimulated to the point that they keep adding white wax to
the combs. Looking for whitening of the comb is a very easy measure of
adequate stimulation—bees only produce new wax if they sense that they have a
surplus of nectar coming in. Light syrup is best fed slowly and continuously for the most
stimulative effect. Feeding additional syrup is unnecessary unless you want the colony to
draw comb or put on stores (but light syrup is very inefficient for adding stores). Indeed, I
often see newbies overfeed their bees the first year to the extent that they create a
honeybound colony, with little room for the queen to lay!

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A view of the underside of the hive cover showing fresh white wax from feeding. This
indicates that the bees are being stimulated adequately.

For beginners just starting colonies on foundation, I do recommend continuous feeding of


light syrup until all the combs in the full brood chamber (e.g., a double deep) are drawn.
This saves your new colony jillions of flight miles that would otherwise be necessary to
forage for nectar, and allows them to focus on broodrearing, pollen collection, and comb
building.

Feeding light syrup is great for the “morale” of the colony if there is a dearth of natural
nectar. It also stimulates hygienic behavior, and thus helps with mite and disease
problems. Colonies take pollen patties and medicated grease patties better when being fed
(Elzen and Cox 2004). It is also useful to facilitate the acceptance of new queens. Light
syrup is great during hot weather, since it cools the hive as the bees evaporate the water.

On the other hand, when you want to put on winter stores (or get colony weight up any
time of the year), you want to feed as heavy a syrup as possible—first, to save you labor,
and second, to make it as easy as possible for the bees to evaporate the excess water.

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Therefore, feed a near-saturated sugar solution. It can be made from 15 lbs of sugar
dissolved per gallon of boiling water, or be purchased readymade as sucrose syrup or high
fructose corn syrup (HFCS). More on HFCS later (also check the references at the end of
this article, many of which are available on Beesource). Colonies can also be fed pure
granulated sugar during winter—they process the crystals just fine, if the bees in the
cluster can reach them! Do not feed bees any impure or unrefined sugars—they can cause
poisoning or dysentery. Feed nothing but syrup made from refined (white) cane or beet
granulated sugar, or clear HFCS spec’d for bee feed (Barker 1977).

So now we get to the sucrose vs. HFCS debate. Pound for pound, HFCS currently provides
sugars more cheaply than sucrose (that is, in the U.S.–due to governmental price supports
to both corn and sugar producers, which keep sugar prices high, and corn prices low).
This price advantage is shifting somewhat as the demand for corn for the ethanol
boondoggle increases. Note that I said “sugars.” Cane or beet sugar is nearly pure sucrose
—a “disaccharide” (meaning “double sugar”). HFCS, on the other hand, is composed
mostly of the “monosaccharides” (single sugars) glucose and fructose (roughly half and
half, depending upon the type of syrup). Natural nectars are composed of various
combinations of these three. Bees “invert” the sucrose in nectar into glucose and fructose
when they convert nectar into honey. The point is, bees can metabolize all three sugars.

So what’s not to love about HFCS? It’s cheap, has a chemical composition similar to honey
(a fact not lost upon adulterators), tends not to granulate (due to its high fructose
content), and resists fermentation (due to its high osmosticity and low pH). Surprisingly,
there’s been relatively limited scientific research done comparing HFCS to sucrose—see
References.

Based upon the research that I’ve found, and from speaking with commercial beekeepers,
bees likely prefer sucrose, build up better on it, and winter better on it. Therefore, a
number of beekeepers are compromising, by asking for sucrose/HFCS blends—this way
they cut costs, yet get some of the benefits of sucrose. These blends were a hot topic in
California last year, when a number of beekeepers suffered colony damage from
problematic HFCS blends.

**************************************

Update March 2, 2013

There has been quite a bit of additional research since I wrote this article (some as yet
unpublished, much anecdotal). My take is that bees may benefit from having at least part
of the sucrose in syrup being inverted into glucose and fructose (HFCS is also a source of
these simple sugars). As best I can tell, colonies put on weight faster, and winter better on
inverted syrup. In a recent (yet unpublished) study by Dr. Brian Johnson at U.C. Davis,
package colonies on new foundation were fed either sucrose syrup or Mann Lake’s
ProSweet (50:50 sucrose:HFCS). The colonies grew better on the ProSweet. Anecdotally,
a number of good beekeepers who don’t have access to HFCS have told me that they get
more bang for the buck by inverting sucrose syrup by heating with a bit of organic acid
(citric, oxalic).

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I hope to experiment with inverted sugars, and will update this page if I learn something!

Update 10 July 2017 Dr. Clarence Collison published a nice review on sugar syrups . Note
that his review left out a very interesting study done in California by Dr. Brian Johnson,
which indicated that colonies performed quite well when fed a commercial sucrose:HFCS
blend.

Brian R Johnson, William Synk, W Cameron Jasper & Eric Müssen (2014)
Effects of high fructose corn syrup and probiotics on growth rates of newly founded honey
bee
colonies, Journal of Apicultural Research, 53:1, 165-170

There was also a study with a very small number of colonies comparing comb building
and colony success when fed 50% w:w sucrose or one brand of type 55 HFCS. The
colonies appeared to do better on the sucrose, but I hesitate to draw conclusions, due to
the small n and the design of the study.

Sammataro, D & M Weiss (2013) Comparison of Productivity of Colonies of Honey


Bees, Apis mellifera, Supplemented with Sucrose or High Fructose Corn Syrup. J Insect
Sci. 2013; 13: 19.

************************************************

HFCS can have problems due to other residual sugars (check the specs), and especially
due to the formation of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). HMF forms from fructose when an
acidic sugar solution is kept at a warm temperature for any length of time. The process
currently used to produce HFCS from corn starch results in a decidedly acidic syrup (low
pH—sometimes as acidic as vinegar!). HMF itself is clear, but a concurrent oxidation
reaction caramelizes the sugars, producing a brown color. HMF does, however, have a
characteristic bitter taste.

HMF is harmless to humans (and actually holds potential as a biofuel to be produced


from sugar), however is toxic to bees (reviewed in Prandin, et al. 2001). It naturally forms
in honey that is overheated, resulting in dark, off-flavored “bakers honey.” Such
overheating appeared to be the problem last year in California—syrup blends were simply
kept too hot for too long, resulting in a caramel-colored bee poison! Bottom line: look
carefully at any syrup before you feed it to your bees. If it’s caramel-colored or bitter
tasting, it’s not appropriate bee feed. Don’t feed your bees any syrup that you
wouldn’t drink yourself!

Since I’ve mentioned the California situation, let’s do a reality check. Some California
syrup blenders, sensitive to the HMF issue, are touting that they are avoiding overheating,
and thus producing low-HMF syrup. I recently purchased some syrup warm and fresh
from the tank of a popular supplier, and noticed that it had a faint tan color. When I
questioned the blender, I was told that the batch was only a few days old, and would
maintain safe HMF levels for at least two more weeks if held at 90°F. Of course, I shipped
a sample off for testing—it showed an HMF titer (after a week at low temperature) of
about 41 ppm. This is already at the maximum allowable concentration of HMF for

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European honey (although still safe for bees), but about a third of the way to frank bee
toxicity. This was for fresh syrup with a very slight tint! Just in case you’re curious about
the taste, let me state that I do not consider myself as any sort of corn syrup connoisseur.
With that caveat in mind, in my opinion the syrup in question had a sprightly initial bite,
a round, sweet body, and a pleasant fruity finish, with no trace of bitterness. Buyer
beware!

So, what kind of syrup should you use? For many beekeepers, it boils down to cost and
convenience. It’s a pain to mix up syrup from scratch, unless you’re already set up to do it.
Heavy syrup requires boiling water. However, light syrup is much easier to mix to order
(the following will only be appropriate for small-scale beekeepers). I use a 55 gal drum set
upright on a stand that I forklift onto my truck. It has a propeller-type drum stirrer that
fits in it. I hook a garden hose up to hot water (cold water works, just takes longer), fill the
drum to an appropriate level for the sugar concentration that I want, turn on the stirrer
and dump in 50-lb sacks of sugar that I get by the pallet load.

At the bottom of the drum I attached a 25-ft x 1” rubber ag hose, swivels, and a gas pump
nozzle, all from Northern Tool. Even cold light syrup feeds out by gravity plenty fast with
no pumping (unlike undiluted HFCS, which is so viscous that it handles best warm and
pumped). I am very happy with this simple set up (I know, it’s hokey as hell, but it was
cheap, and it works), but still plan to replace it one of these days with a stainless steel milk
tank. Some other small beeks use modified old wringer washers—the antique machines
even have hot water inlets, an agitator, and an outlet pump built in!).

So for me, it’s not much more effort to mix light syrup from granulated sugar than to mix
it from a sucrose/HFCS blend. So let’s do the math with actual costs as of last week. A
hundred gallons of syrup blend at 77% solids weighed in at 1132 lbs, and cost me $305
FOB the bee supply warehouse. That works out to 33.8¢ per pound for 871 pounds of
sugar. If I were to purchase that much granulated sugar at 44¢/lb, the total would be
$383. So I save $78 on sugar. I still need to dilute the syrup, which takes me about the
same amount of labor as mixing light syrup from scratch, so I’ll call that a push. The
difference is that it took me a 4-hour round trip to pick up the syrup, plus fuel and wear.
The 150 miles at say, 30¢ per mile eats up $45 of that savings. That leaves $33 for my four
hours of labor. Bottom line for me–I’d rather save my driving time for bee work, and mix
fresh syrup from scratch as needed. For others, especially if they’re buying larger
quantities, or feeding the syrup straight, the math would, of course, be different.

Once you’ve decided what type of syrup you wish to feed, you need to decide what kind of
feeders to use. What is the ideal syrup feeder? Answer: there isn’t one! Every type has its
advantages and disadvantages. Let’s very briefly go through the options.

1. The Boardman entrance feeder. This comes with most beginner kits. In perfect
conditions they may work well, but they are rife with potential problems—too low, too
near guard bees, may promote robbing, aren’t worked in cold weather, may clog with
bees. I don’t recommend them.

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2. The through-the-lid inverted jar top feeder. Variations are gallon feed cans, wine
bottles, soda bottles, 1-gal black plastic drums, 3-gal buckets. Inverted top feeders are
generally the most foolproof and easy way to feed. The syrup is given at the top of the
cluster (you may have to bait the bees up through a box of foundation with a drawn
comb), the lid doesn’t need to be opened, and it’s easy to check the amount fed (especially
with clear jars). Downsides are that the feeders self dispense when the airspace warms,
the holes may clog, they may blow off when emptied, you need to unscrew the lid to fill,
there’s a hole to deal with in the hive cover, and you have one more dang piece of
equipment to store.

Half gallon mason jar feeders. I like the size of these for handling. Each has a 1/8” tube
soldered to the lid. A 3/16” hole is drilled through the hive covers (centered for 10-frame).
The bees propolize the hole when the feeder is removed.

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A dozen of these jars fit into a bee box nicely. A queen excluder is cleated to the bottom of
the box for transport. The heavy mason jars take rough handling and don’t blow off.

Detail of soldering of brass inserts (info on my website). These lids open easily if you
occasionally grease the threads and rubber seal with Vaseline.

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3. Frame feeders (also called insert, division board, or trough feeders). These can remain
in the hive, but require opening the hive cover to fill, which may be a big factor in cold,
rainy, or windy weather (since the propolis seal on the lid gets broken). Unless provisions
are made for flotation, a lot of bees can drown during filling, especially if they’ve built
comb in the feeder. A combination of drowned bees and syrup can make an ugly
fermented mess, notably when rain water invariably seeps into the feeder. Then unless
you notice, and pry the feeder loose to clean out the spoiled syrup and gunk, you’ll
contaminate the next addition of feed. Motherlode Plastics makes a “Cadillac” feeder with
a cap and perforated plastic chimneys that solve some (but not all) of the problems.

Filling a frame feeder in a split, with a chunk of pollen supplement on the top bars. For
small colonies, frame feeders only work well during warm weather.

4. Miller type top feeders. These have the advantage of feeding a few gallons of syrup at a
time, with minimal drownings. The black plastic inserts from Mann Lake are a great
improvement over the old waxed wooden boxes. This style of feeder works well with
strong colonies in warm weather, and is great for putting on winter stores. There may be
problems during cool weather or rain; or if the lid doesn’t fit tightly, from robbing or ants.

5. Miscellaneous feeders: Ziplock bags with pinholes, candy boards—I’m not going to
cover. Open feeding in barrels with straw on top—sometimes used by commercial
beekeepers as a labor saving way to feed a yard (and any neighbors) —suffice to say that
there are stress, mite, and disease issues.

12/15
Your choice of feeder depends upon the reason that you are feeding, the temperature and
time of year, how far away the outyard is, how many colonies you have, how much you
want to feed, your labor availability, etc. For distant outyards, a 3-gal inverted plastic
bucket full of heavy syrup might be appropriate, whereas a quart of light syrup would be
perfect for a nuc in the home yard. I personally use at least four different types in my own
operation—depending upon the situation.

For the hobbyist, I suggest feeding with inverted quart to gallon jars (a quart a day is
plenty) with a few holes punched in the center of the lid (hole size is not critical, but by
using only a few small holes you help to regulate the feeding rate). Then make a simple
dedicated feeder lid out of scrap wood, with a hole in the center smaller than your feeder
jar lid (but larger than your hole pattern). Set your nice hive cover to the side, and
temporarily use the board with the hole through it while you’re feeding. The only time
that a hobbyist may have to feed when he/she is starting a colony on foundation.

Basic feeder for the beginner. A dedicated temporary feeder lid, and a quart jar feeder.

13/15
Nice natural fall forage—a field of alfalfa in bloom, sunflowers in foreground, and
rabbitbrush in the background. No other feeding necessary!

References

Barker, RJ (1977) Considerations in Selecting Sugars for Feeding to Honey Bees. ABJ 117
(2): 76-77

Barker, RJ and Y Lehner (1978) Laboratory comparison of high fructose corn syrup, grape
syrup, honey, and sucrose syrup as maintenance food for caged honey bees. Apidologie,
1978, 9 (2), 111-116.

Doolitte, GM (1905) A Year’s Work in an Out-Apiary republished by Wicwas Press 2005.

Elzen, PJ and R Cox (2004) Compatibility of co-application of disease control patties with
supplemental syrup. ABJ 144(7): 517-518

Fischer, J (2003) The not so sweet story of sweeteners. Bee Culture 131(9):22-31.

Mussen, EC (2006) Is high fructose syrup OK? In Apiculture Newsletter Sept/Oct 2006

Otis, GW, DE Wheeler, N Buck, HR Mattila (2004) Storage proteins in winter honey bees.
Apiacata 38:352-357.

Prandin, L, N Dainese, B Girardi, O Damolin, R Piro and F Mutinelli (2001) A scientific


note on long-term stability of a home-made oxalic acid water sugar solution for
controlling varroosis. Apidologie 32 (2001) 451-452

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Rinderer, TE (1982) Volatiles from empty comb increase hoarding by the honey bee.
Animal Behaviour 29:1275-1276.

Sanford, MT (2004) High Fructose Corn Syrup: A Revolution in the Making (Parts I and
II ) Bee Culture 132 (5,6) http://apis.shorturl.com

Seeley, TD (1995) Regulation of comb construction in The Wisdom of the Hive Harvard
University Press

© 2021 Scientific Beekeeping. All rights reserved. No unauthorized reproduction.

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