I’ve recently had a number of questions about sugar syrup and its effect on honey. To clarify, a beekeeper should never feed sugar syrup to bees when they have a honey super in place. Never. As I said in an earlier post, sugar syrup is a short-term answer for bees that have a food shortage. It is used to boost colony strength in early spring, or to add to winter stores in the fall.
If a honey super is in place when the bees have sugar syrup, they will store it in the comb just like honey. They do not know the difference.
If a colony is strong enough to warrant a honey super, it should have nothing else in the hive: no syrup, no fondant, no candy boards, no medicines. I can’t stress this enough. Furthermore, if a colony is strong enough to warrant a honey super, it doesn’t need any supplements. A strong colony will collect everything it needs plus more. A weak colony should not be given a honey super in the first place.
Rusty
Is honeybees storing it in comb like honey a bad thing? Please excuse my ignorance.
Sarah,
You are not ignorant, you are learning.
Beekeepers put their honey supers on the hives during a honey flow so that the bees will store honey in them. The honey in the honey supers is what will be harvested for human consumption.
If the bees are fed sugar syrup while the honey supers are in place, the bees will store the syrup in the supers along with nectar they collect from the field. Then, when you go to harvest your honey, it will be contaminated with sugar syrup. That is not good.
The rule of thumb is simple: when honey supers are in place, do not feed syrup. It is the best way to avoid contaminated honey.
So it is not harmful to the bees. I just don’t want to eat it. I ask because last year was my bees’ first year and I fed them during the honey flow.
No, not harmful to the bees. You just don’t want to extract it and represent it as “pure honey.”
Thank you for answering my question about the honey super being on while feeding. So, If there is a “honey super” on now and I have been feeding can’t I just remove it when the honey flow starts and put another super on with drawn comb or maybe with un-drawn comb and call it the honey super, Don’t the bees need room to move around and store up something for food. My bees have un-drawn foundation in the brood hive now. Should they? How do you handle a situation like this? Thanks
Tricia,
First let me say that there is no one right way to keep bees. There are certain principles that can help you make decisions, but most of beekeeping depends on the individual beekeeper, his goals, and his location. So I’m not saying you need to do things a certain way. Okay?
Generally, beekeepers overwinter their bees in the brood boxes. The cluster of bees live in these and it is also where the honey and pollen for winter are stored. Depending on the size of the colony, winter temperatures, etc. a beekeeper may overwinter in one, two, or three brood boxes. The honey supers generally go on when the honey flow starts, and are all taken off at the end of the season.
Now, some beekeepers may keep supers of honey on their hives during winter to assure their bees won’t starve. There is nothing wrong with this practice if that is what you want to do. The only important thing is that you don’t contaminate your honey with syrup, especially if you intend to sell it. But syrup mixed with honey won’t hurt the bees, and if you want to keep a super on for them while you’re feeding them syrup or Honey-B-Healthy, just mark it so you know which one it is.
So, the answer to your first question is yes; you can put a new super on when the honey flow starts and save the old one for the bees. If you are going to save it all summer, you’re going to need to protect it from wax moths and hive beetles–freezing works for this.
Before your bees store much honey in the supers they will probably draw and fill the frames closer to the brood nest. If they still have un-drawn frames they have plenty of room to “move around and store up something.” It sounds like you are doing fine.
Hi,
I have fed my bees candy on advice from someone, and I think they have brought it into the super (I am new to this!). If this is the case is there anything I can do to rectify it? If anyone can help me, I have a picture of one of the frames in the super, as being inexperienced I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at!
Thanks in advance!
Fiona
Fiona,
There is not much you can do at this point because it will be spread throughout the cells. It just means that you have some sugar syrup in your honey. Since you are a beginner, I suspect you will not be selling any honey, so just don’t worry about it. It is one of those things that happens, especially before you have a good feeling for what goes on in the hive and when. Your honey will still taste delicious.