Can I Feed Honey To My Bees?

You would think that bees are healthier when consuming natural honey as opposed to sugar syrups. That’s actually not the whole story. Although honey contains some vitamins and minerals that provide some nutritional value, it’s a mixture of sugars that include fructose and glucose, which are harder for bees to process. Syrup made with white table sugar, on the other hand, contains only sucrose—a simple sugar that is much easier for them to convert to energy. Yes, sugar as the carbohydrate in the bees’ diet is very important, but their primary nutrition comes from pollen, not honey.

There are also some major cons in feeding bees honey rather than sugar or corn syrup:

• Liquid honey is very thick, and bees will often drown in any sort of open feeder containing honey.
• Old honey can have high HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural) levels, which can sicken a hive.
• Unknown honey sources can carry foulbrood spores, thus infecting hives.

For those reasons, it’s not recommended  to routinely feed your hives honey from other beehives. That being said, bees certainly eat honey from other hives at times.

Here are some instances when it’s OK, assuming you’ve verified the honey came from healthy, well-managed hives or your own beeyard:

• You are taking frames of honey from a hive with excess honey and putting them directly into a hive that needs honey.
• You are allowing bees to rob out frames of honey due to a hive being honey bound.

A common question is, “Is it OK to let bees rob honey frames from a dead-out?” This has a simple answer: No, if it came from a hive that died from any brood disease or pesticide poisoning, but yes, if it was a hive that died from small hive beetle infestation or even Varroa mites, as long as no disease is evident.

Overwintering bees with a honey super

Another question often asked is, “Can I overwinter my hive with a full super of honey they produced in the fall?” Simple answer: yes, of course. However, you would be well advised to check it every few weeks as the bees consume it. The empty space it will create as winter progresses could pose a temperature-regulation problem if it is left on once empty. Often, you’ll find the bees will consume the middle of the super and not the outer frames. In this case, simply rotate these frames to the center as they are eaten and remove the entire box when empty.

Feeding freezer-stored honey back to your bees

A lot of beekeepers freeze frames of honey as a storage method. As long as these frames are disease free, they absolutely can be fed back to bees as winter progresses. It’s very important, however, to let these frames fully thaw prior to putting them in a hive. Adding a frozen frame of honey could easily cause a colony to struggle to maintain the hive temperature, especially on a cold winter’s day. If the cluster of bees is small, add the honey frame closer to the cluster than to the outside of the box. This will ensure they have food close enough to get to in the event of a really cold snap.