I am unavailable to eat refined (processed) sugar and I do not want to take the risk of giving sugar syrup to the bees, so are there any substitutes I could use? (maybe I could mix water and honey?)
Thanks
Diabetes? None of my business of course, but perhaps I can address your related concern.
White sugar is almost pure sucrose. Plant nectar is mixed glucose, fructose and sucrose. Some nectars are high in glucose (Oil Seed Rape) and others are high in fructose (Acacia), but all have sucrose in them as well. Bees drink the nectar and have an enzyme in their gut that is called invertase. Invertase breaks down sucrose into fructose and glucose. So even if you feed your bees refined white sugar syrup, they will still convert it into the normal components of honey. If you can eat honey, you can eat sugar that has been processed by bees.
If you can’t eat refined sugar, then like everything that is restricted, just eat honey in moderation, as a treat, not as a daily food.
But to answer your question, I would not use honey. Too much risk of bee diseases for your hives. Use white sugar syrup, and don’t feed with syrup when you have the honey super on the hive.
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Maybe this is not a chemical restriction but a cultural one?
Thanks a lot for the help (and explanation).
If you are worried about sugar honey versus nectar honey just colour your sugar water with food dye. You will be able to see it in the hive.
Great idea thanks, Though it might be hard to harvest just the nectar honey (especially with a flow hive) but I guess I could give it a try.
Why would you be feeding your bees when they have enough nectar? That is one benefit of colouring your syrup, you can positively tell when they no longer need feeding.
I live in a very hot place and the bees need some feeding during nectar dearths not just in the winter.