feeding bees

Is Fondant Actually Detrimental to Bees?

When you cook sugar or add an acid such as vinegar or cream of tartar, you break the molecular bonds that hold sucrose together and end up with the two simple sugars. It’s the fructose portion that causes the problem. When fructose is heated it produces hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which is toxic to bees.

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Should I Leave Supers on For the Winter?

Should I leave supers on for the winter?

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Can I Use Honey in a Pail Feeder?

You can try putting honey directly in a pail feeder, but I find it tends to crystallize in the holes after a few days.

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Which Bees are Attracted to Douglas Fir Sap?

On a frame that has emerged queen cells and capped queen cells, is it most likely that the capped cell contents have been killed and of no use in trying to raise a queen in a nuc? Are these cells eventually torn down by the workers?

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Uncapped Honey in the Super?

Uncapped honey in your supers? Learn what you need to watch for to identify why it’s uncapped and what you can do to help the honey bee capping process.

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How Long Should I Feed Bees in Spring?

When a hive is starting out in the spring, do the forager bees consume and share some of the nectar they gather with the “house” bees and store the rest that they don’t need for their survival? And is that the reason that

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What’s Wrong with my Homemade Fondant?
September 15, 2020 · · Ask the Expert

Beekeepers add vinegar to fondant recipes under the mistaken idea that you need to invert the sucrose for the bees. This is not true. Most nectar is mainly sucrose, but the instant the bees ingest it, their saliva breaks it down into glucose and fructose.

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