A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

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Amiga said:
Well, looks like I am doing what I can do. I apologize for forgetting to mention that this is a top bar hive - but bees are bees. The syrup is in a feeder inside the back of the hive. The robbing started during a time when I was not feeding the bees - there were hardly any honey stores when I checked. So I decided to start feeding organic sugar syrup - no additives, nothing that would increase the aroma to attract robbers. The hive is still kind of small, there is a queen who looks fine. There are healthy looking larvae, capped brood, and a little honey.
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Define organic syrup?
We feed high fructose corn syrup it Don't change a thing. Make the entrance to 2 bees and it will have power to defend themselves. Usually it is a week hive.
 
1muttsfan said:
There is some evidence that high-fructose corn syrup is hard on bees digestive tracts - here is one of many references

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-high-fructose-corn-syrup-tied-worldwide.html
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If you are feeding sugar ~ make sure it is white cane sugar. Do not feed brown sugar as it contains molasses and will give bees dysentery and may kill your hive. Actually studies have shown that pure white refined cane sugar is better for bees than organic sugar which contains more solids which can give bees dysentery.

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/is-organic-sugar-better-for-bees/
 
sgtmom52 said:
If you are feeding sugar ~ make sure it is white cane sugar. Do not feed brown sugar as it contains molasses and will give bees dysentery and may kill your hive. Actually studies have shown that pure white refined cane sugar is better for bees than organic sugar which contains more solids which can give bees dysentery.

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/is-organic-sugar-better-for-bees/
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sgtmom52, I am finding - not surprisingly - different conclusions online, and so far no references to original research. Do you have any links? I found mentions of concern about not using white sugar on honeybeesuite, but no citations. Same with Wikipedia - a mention of "food stores with a high proportion of indigestible matter" being related to dysentery, but none of the titles of citations made any reference to food and dysentery in honeybees. Other sites wrote more about how prolonged confinement, that prevented cleansing flights, being the cause of bee dysentery.

I was interested to see that bee dysentery is not caused by a pathogen, as other forms of dysentery are.
 
1muttsfan said:
Not sure about organic sugar - as far as I can tell you can not tell it from regular sugar, the only difference being that the organic comes from organic cane or beets.

As far as other sugars, such as molasses or brown sugar, here is one of many references -

http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/agricult...ding-honey-bee-colonies-to-prevent-starvation
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Nice article, 1muttsfan. Here is the sentence that I feel summarizes some conclusions folks may draw when they see the word "organic."

"Never use raw, brown and dark brown sugar, and molasses as these may cause dysentery in bees"

Organic sugar is not necessarily raw, brown, dark brown, or molasses. And that, I think, is what you just posted.

Thanks (c:
 

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