# If you fed....



## beegee (Jun 3, 2003)

...Splenda water to bees instead of sugar water, would they make low-calorie honey?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>...Splenda water to bees instead of sugar water, would they make low-calorie honey?

It wouldn't be honey. And IF they would take it, they would starve.


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## Moonshae (Jun 7, 2007)

Splenda has no calories. The only reason to feed bees is to give them "nectar" when there isn't enough available for them via foraging. So giving them a no-energy food is pointless. 

Any feeding by sugar water, etc, does not result in honey...it's capped sugar water.


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

While sugar water processed by bees it not HONEY, it's also not strictly sugar water anymore either. They do add enzymes and evaporate moisture from it. But, I suppose that's a moot point anyway since most beekeepers won't do something like that intentionally and pass it off as honey. Now, there was an old-timer around here some years back who mixed a can of orange juice concentrate into his sugar syrup that he fed to his bees. Then after the bees processed it, he extracted it as orange juice "honey" and gave it away to some of his friends.


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## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

Did NOBODY see the  smiley he used??

That sort of question from someone like Beegee begs for a response like:

"Sure! As much as maple flowers will produce Maple Syrup! (You might also try feeding them dry pancake batter as pollen substitute, too, for a complete breakfast!)"

Ha-ha!

DS


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

In order to get the bees to take it up you would have to mix it with the nectar right in the bloom. 

There would have to be some studies to make sure that artificial sweeteners did not cause cancer or other illness but the working group on this would likely only come up with further things that needed study instead of a real answer.

"Sucralose is a molecule of sugar chemically manipulated to surrender three hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) and replace them with three chlorine atoms. Natural sugar is a hydrocarbon built around 12 carbon atoms. When turned into Splenda it becomes a chlorocarbon, in the family of Chlorodane, Lindane and DDT" If the above is true perhaps it would solve all our beekeeping diseases?


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## Bodo (Mar 11, 2008)

nursebee said:


> "Sucralose is a molecule of sugar chemically manipulated to surrender three hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) and replace them with three chlorine atoms. Natural sugar is a hydrocarbon built around 12 carbon atoms. When turned into Splenda it becomes a chlorocarbon, in the family of Chlorodane, Lindane and DDT" If the above is true perhaps it would solve all our beekeeping diseases?


If in the same family you mean generic Chloro-substituted Hyrdocarbon chains, then maybe. But Sucralose has MUCH different properties/structure than the pesticides that you mention. Making a post like that is misleading.


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

> Did NOBODY see the smiley he used??


DS, of course we saw the grin face  . On many posts a serious question asked is sometimes answered by a smartass reply. In this case it was just the opposite.  




> If the above is true perhaps it would solve all our beekeeping diseases?





> Making a post like that is misleading.


hmmm. do either of those two posts qualify for the  or  or were they serious??

Here’s a favorite passage of mine from “Honey Bee Pathology” that was recently posted on Bee-L


“One official report said diseased bees were short of nitrogen, because their distended rectums contained much pollen. This followed the mistaken belief that adult bees usually did not need protein food and, when they did, that pollen was unsuitable; so it was recommended that all pollen combs should he removed in autumn and the colonies fed beef extract to make good their supposed nitrogen deficiency. This would certainly kill or seriously cripple any colony because pollen is essential for adult bees and beef extract IS poisonous for them, mainly because of its salt content. The ruinous idea of removing so-called "pollen-clogged" combs persisted, however, and was widely practised for many years.”


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

Please Dick, do not mislead Bodo with distended rectum talk.


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## beegee (Jun 3, 2003)

Life is entirely too wierd to be taken seriously.....


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