I have stupid questions like if i start a hive can i just take a small 8 oz. Honey Bear and squeezes the honey into the hive to give them a good start will they lick it up and make honey come out of it i don’t want the hive for the honey necessarily but i do want them for my garden
Erin Farleigh: Please don’t introduce processed honey into your hive. Not sure where you are located, but if pollen levels are low, feed 1:1 sugar syrup
Anne Solari: FYI – Pollen and sugar/honey are two very different food for bees.
Jeanne Bryant: I’m new and learning as well. Can someone explain why sugar water is better than using processed honey.
Dave Weidner: $$$$$
Bex Bees: It can also have contaminants and harbor AFB spores. Don’t do it.
Brent Alan Roberts: The honey could come from a disease height it was spread it to your own bees just give him sugar water
Kat Barringer:
Christina Cosetti: Eric Cosetti
Samuel Larrabee: Squeezing a honey bear into your hive is kinda like going to the county fair, seeing a half full bottle of pop on the ground….mmmmmm yummy, free pop! No, you don’t know where it’s been.
Dale Warren: one more question dextrose is a sugar that is more easily to use as energy can we use that its already broken down to a usable form of sugar
Dale Warren: so your saying honey we eat is not good enough for honey bees
Tim Jeandrevin: Exactly!
Erin Farleigh: Honey bought at the store—you have no idea what additives, etc have been introduced…..it’s not a good idea to introduce another hive’s honey into a hive (even if it’s completely natural/i.e. Raw honey) as you might introduce disease, etc
Jane L Harding: The processed honey from god-knows-where is not good to feed honeybees.
Samuel Larrabee: Spores and viruses can be passed via honey. Things that humans don’t catch, but can be passed to other hives.
Samuel Larrabee: Kinda like taking a puppy to a dogpark…. puppies can get parvo at a dog park, which is why you never take a puppy to a dogpark. But humans can’t get parvo. Same thing here.
Abe March: Pretty sure the little bear bottles have high fructose corn syrup… thats not good for us let alone bees
Richard Gover: It’s not real honey.
Cameron Daley: You could. But sugar syrup is cheaper and just as effective in giving them a boost.
Bobbie Allred: I spray my frames with sugar water with complete added into the water
Dale Warren: im learning and i will have a lot more questions im glad you are available so i don’t mes things up
Liz Savage: There are no stupid questions. The questions that you ask, I’m sure there are other new beekeepers who might be wondering the same thing. So, when you have a question, please ask. It helps everyone.????
Samuel Larrabee: It’s also better to ask sooner rather than later. It’s easier to discuss ideas when they start with….”I’m thinking of trying X, Y or Z”….than deal with issues that start with “I just did X, Y or Z”
Dale Warren: you have the experience that’s why i ask i don’t want to kill the bees i am thinking of them as pets that help my garden i will plant next year so im soaking up info now its like learning how to take care of a dog for the first time
Dylan Bramer: Dale Warren you should look into bee school with local beekeeping groups or state parks. It’s usually only a day or two. My was only 30 bucks and on a Saturday. They brought breakfast and catered BBQ for lunch, plus I got a ton of info to start out with.
A.d. Beyer: I just read a thing that a lot of honey from the store is basically corn syrup, not actually honey. That was kinda depressing. http://www.nbcnews.com/…/honey-its-only-pure-if-theres…
Honey, It’s Only Pure if There’s No Added Sugar or Corn Syrup – NBC News
nbcnews.com
Andy Johnson: Never put honey into a hive from another hive. It’s the best way to spread disease. Do as Erin says use syrup.
Sue Eshelman: You have no way of knowing what you may be introducing into your hive. That honey could be contaminated with foulbrood
Volodymyr Rudyi: Interesting thread. I didn’t know AFB can be present in the honey we eat(not talking about fake corn syrup “honey”, but just an ordinary ? everyone can buy at the market). So much to learn, thanks
Samuel Larrabee: Exactly. Since AFB is not something that is transferable to humans, it is not an issue for the FDA.
Bec Field: If it’s heat extracted honey it can form hydroxymethylfurfural, HMF, which is deadly to bees!!! …And it forms at relatively low temps!! Don’t risk it!
Amy Elizabeth: I know feeding bees honey sounds logical, but there are safer and more effective ways to feed your bees if they require it. Plain old sugar water, 1:1 with an optional dash of Honey B Healthy, is a much better bet.
Ann Buckner: Sugar water is the way to go
Dylan Bramer: If you just want pollination, I’d probably just add mason bee houses, they are cheap, or if you are handy just build them with some thin bamboo.
Dylan Bramer: https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=asc_df_B06XTKYH965004581/…
Welliver Outdoors Standard Mason Bee House
amazon.com
Amy Elizabeth: Before I got into honeybees, I had mason bee/solitary bee houses. I still do, near my home. These guys are actually more effective pollinators than honeybees, if it’s nurturing pollinators the OP is mostly interested in.
Dylan Bramer: Amy Elizabeth I’ve heard they are better pollinators. I’m kicking around putting a house up in the back too.
Chad Farrell: Contact your county agriculture extension agent they have lots of info and can also link you up with your local beekeepers association. Find a mentor and enjoy.
Gary Thompson: Please dont use processed honey if you love your bees. Use a 1 to 1 sugar water .
George W Mckay: No no and no you don’t know what that ? has in it’s tummy
James Slemp: look up on you tube how to set up an internal feeder to feed them giving them a good start till they get 2 boxes of comb drawn or they quit taking it.
Kevin Mewis: It is said, that you can pass on foul brood spores, so best to feed candy or syrup
Gary Thompson: You need Mason bees. Pollinators low maintenance.