[Q] Feeding previous stores...

[RoseCottage]

Last year my girls filled two supers with sugar syrup and a brood box with honey. They survived winter and had lots of stores left. So I removed these in March and stored them in airtight boxes.

Is it safe to feed these to the girls this winter? When I took them off they were ok and when I looked at them earlier today there was dripping honey/sugar syrup in them and no sign of mold etc.

OR

Should I just bin this and feed fresh?
All the best,
Sam

 

[MuswellMetro]

Last year my girls filled two supers with sugar syrup and a brood box with honey. They survived winter and had lots of stores left. So I removed these in March and stored them in airtight boxes.

Is it safe to feed these to the girls this winter? When I took them off they were ok and when I looked at them earlier today there was dripping honey/sugar syrup in them and no sign of mold etc.

OR

Should I just bin this and feed fresh?
All the best,
Sam

if it was capped honey or capped syrup then ok, but the dripping worries me, yeasts and honey/sugar with more than 20% water will ferment and alcohol is posionous to your bees----could you spinn off the thin syrup and feed whats left, otherwise do not fee them it back

 

[mbc]

At this time of year they'll deal with any weeping stores very quickly without taxing them too much . I'd just bung it on and let them tidy it up

 

[Rosti]

You could heat to 85'C, hold 5 mins, cool and then re-feed, perhaps diluting into syrup whilst warm if you wanted to utilise it.

 

[mbc]

You could heat to 85'C, hold 5 mins, cool and then re-feed, perhaps diluting into syrup whilst warm if you wanted to utilise it.

Not much good for all that drawn comb

 

[Rosti]

Absolutely agree with you there MBC - unless you combined feeding prep with a candle making session

I was picking up on Muswells comment about extraction "----could you spin off the thin syrup and feed whats left, otherwise do not fee them it back "

and providing a 'build' on the proposal that would knock out any viable residual Y&M cells.

 

[Eyeman]

there was dripping honey/sugar

A small amount of dripping liquid is normal in stored supers. Most of us don't store them for 6 months before extracting. If it looks OK then let them enjoy it.