"I'm sure they do need more than just sugar or syrup, but the point is to get them through until they can get their own. In this case they are already bringing in pollen, so a little syrup would be of more benefit than something with less moisture.
There may be a greater benefit to additional ingredients, but I would question if the benefit was worth the cost, time, and confusion, for the short amount of time they NEED additional help?
When you figure in adding HBH, and other suppliments to the syrup for 20 + hives the cost grows pretty quickly. 20 hives can go through 100 gallons of syrup if ONLY fed in early spring and late fall. No dearth etc to feed them through.
I understand everyone doesnt have 20 hives, but after at least one hundred years of subsisting on syrup or sugar when the situation mandates, and doing well, I don't see the need to delve into the bee biology so far that I am counting vitamins and minerals, and spending the extra money to make sure it is perfect, balanced, and contains everything the bees need.. UNLESS thats ALL I was feeding them, and intended to feed them, then yes, I would absolutely agree. But getting them through tough times with sugar or syrup works today just like it did in the late 1700's and all the time in between.. Perhaps even longer.. I am not sure when refined sugar became readily available or when the first beekeeper figured out sugar would keep his bees alive...
NOW!! Having said all of that...... if you prefer to give them more, well, like everything beekeeping, thats entirely your choice, and I certainly wont discredit anyone who wishes to do so!!!!!
BUT, there is something to be said for simplicity. Especially when trying not to confuse someone. "
lazy, all i am trying to point out without confusion, if anyone reads a little on honey bee nutrition; very beneficial; we will all have a better understanding as to some of the '5 w's', and the 6th, ' how'......what to feed them, when to feed them, why we feed them and how we feed them, to help our bees maintain themselves and a healthy queen and colony. it is just not about what we feed them, it's about what they have available to forage on to maintain a healthy colony year round and what we might need to do to make up for that and it's not just in feed supplements, it's in our own backyards or rural areas that we live and can plant for the needs of the bees.
cost? simplicity? what do we feed ourselves? and what is the cost? i am not directing this at you, i hear this many times, but the simple fact is, keeping bees is costly and it is not simple sometimes. if we understand the basic dynamics of what is essential in a honey bee hive as far as their requirements for pollen and nectar, etc, then other things will fall into place for us to make the decisions on many other things, including what we feed them, and when, and like i said, it's not all about what we feed them and what supplements are in them, (although i think this might help), it's more than that.
how much money do each of us spend on equipment, and miticides? sheds and honey houses? but we think nothing of the nutrition/the immune system of the honey bee, and wonder why we have lost our bees.
honey bee nutrition; put it in context of what you feed your farm animals; cows, pigs, horses, goats, chickens, etc?
how about ourselves?.....we are what we eat, so are our honey bees. a mother bearing a child cannot pass on health to a child in the womb without some semblance of nutrition to the fetus in the womb. if all we do is consume junk food, drink or use some sort of drug excessively and never exercise our bodies, we will pay the price naturally; and to a certain degree, mothers and fathers pass the genetics and poor habits to their offspring.
our immune systems are just as complex as the bugs we keep in a box. our honey bees have immune systems too. can we help them? or do we hurt them?
so why not take care of them the best we can.
down off the soap box, and my apologies if i have offended anyone not my intent.....
