On 04/01/2013 13:52, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:07:22 +0000, wrote:
On 04/01/2013 12:56, Janet wrote:
In ,
says...
Good idea. Even better would be honey, if you've got it.
Would there be any risk of of passing on bee diseases? Not all honeys
have been heated.
Janet
Nor are they when bees make them.
I have read that honey contains antibodies which protect bees when they
subsequently eat it. When we 'steal' their supply, we're also stealing
that protection, as well as a valuable food supply. It is only my
(probably unpopular) opinion, but I think that whilst bees are going
through this serious crisis (of varoa mites and colony collapse), we
should stop harvesting their honey - or at least ration what we take -
until they fully recover.
As a one-time beekeeper, I can say it was regarded as extremely bad
practice to feed honey bees with honey from unknown sources, which
meant just about any honey except that from your own hives. Most of
the popular honey available in supermarkets etc. comes from abroad,
where bee diseases are endemic. If fed to UK colonies can infect them
with various fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. The bane of
beekeepers were well-meaning but uninformed members of the public who
would buy a jar of imported honey to feed to the bees in their
gardens.
Whether bumbles are susceptible to such diseases, I don't know, but
personally I wouldn't want to take the risk. If you must feed them,
stick to sugar syrup or even better, diluted Golden Syrup, as much of
the sucrose has already been converted to glucose and fructose.
I'm happy bow to your superior knowledge, Chris. You'll be relieved to
know that I've never fed honey to bees. By the time I start seeing
bees, I've got flowering plants to support them.
I'm also happy to note that you say honey from their own hives
(paraphrased) *is* appropriate. It's exactly what I've been saying: the
bees need their own supply of honey and we should respect that. As it
happens, I no longer enjoy eating honey, so they're welcome to my sha~).
--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay