Oh Honey

For you JoAnna:

Denise/JoAnna,

I prefer to leave honey on the bees after the fall honeyflow. This
usually amounts to 40-60 pounds and is sufficient to carry them through
the darth of winter till the first natural nectar is available in late
February. Last year, they were moderately successful and I fed
minimally to some of the weaker colonies. The previous year was a
disaster and it was either feed them or lose them. I use sugar off the
shelf at Wal-Mart or HEB and mix at the ratio of six pounds of sugar to
enough water to make a gallon of syrup. None of this ever reaches my
customers. The syrup is consumed by the bees several months before I
put my extracting boxes on the hives. If a colony has honey stored
through the winter, they get no supplemental syrup. The honey that
JoAnna purchased from me was my Spring Wildflower Blend. The colonies
that gathered this honey were two boxes high when I installed the third
and successive boxes in May. The combs were completely dry and most
frames had new foundation. All of this honey was primarily from nectar
gathered from Horsemint, Indian Blanket and Mesquite Blossom. If there
are further questions, call me at 272-8710 or come out for a trip to
the beeyards.

Thanks, Frank

If you have any questions let me know. Be well, Denise

Denise LoSchiavo
Country Vista Residential Care Home
Manor Farmers' Market
278-1611

-----Original Message-----
From: JoAnna
To: countryvista@aol.com
Sent: Wed, Sep 8, 2010 2:54 pm
Subject: honey at Manor Farmer's Market

Hi there ,

I have been reading that some beekeepers will feed their bees high
fructose corn
syrup. We are trying to avoid all genetically modified foods and
don't want to
buy any products that support their use. Do you know if the honey that
is sold
uses any HFCS for its bees? I have heard that when bees are low on
food
reserves, beekeepers might feed them a syrup, a sugar water they mix
themselves.
So I would like to know what the bees that produce the honey sold at
Manor
Market are being fed.

thanks for any information you can provide me with