# "Sugar" honey



## Capps (Jul 21, 2012)

Only recently I learned that if you are feeding your bees, that "honey" is not really honey, but sugar honey. I harvested a few frames and I am not sure if they made it before I started feeding them or not. Is there a way to tell by the color whether this is honey? Next time, I'll pay attention to the timing.

Angie


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Angie, I find that I can taste the diff between the two. Good honey has a bite to it and an actual taste. Sugar Honey on the other hand from what I can tell has no real bite to it, and the taste is of Sugar. The color is near clear with sugar honey and the cappings when new are bright white. 

If you are in doubt, don't try to sell as honey, instead feed back to the bees when they need it.


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## Capps (Jul 21, 2012)

Good to know. But, what happens when the bees begin to fill a comb with nectar, and then do not finish when you begin feeding, will they then continue to fill the same comb with the sugar water, so it ends up a mix- part honey and part sugar? Or are they so organized they move things around and keep some as pure honey?


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

OH How I wish they were that intuitive.. lol.. To answer, they just keep on packing away what ever they get their belly full of. So if they start out nectar, and then you feed, well you end up with a mix of both. 

Bees do move things constantly in the hive, but usually it's just from one place to another as they need it.


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## franktrujillo (Jan 22, 2009)

I don't feed so i don't have that problem if you don't steel all there honey you shouldn't have too feed


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

franktrujillo said:


> I don't feed so.....


So in a bad year, do you just let your bees die? Or have you just been particularly blessed with consistent nectar flows? In any case, your experience is not applicable to those in areas that do not have dependable flows or are not members of the "Better Dead Than Fed" club.

Wayne


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

Capps said:


> .....if you are feeding your bees, that "honey" is not really honey, but sugar honey.


What you are describing is adulterated honey. It is NOT "sugar honey." There is no such thing. More than just semantics, honey by definition is made with the nectar gathered by bees. 

If I have feed in the spring, I feed enough to give them a boost until dandelions, There are no honey supers on. At that point, I usually have stopped feeding and the bees continue to fill out the brood boxes with nectar. While bees will move some stores around, I feel confident that when I put honey supers on, they have pretty much filled their brood box stores with actual honey made from nectar and any further movement will be insignificant.

If I need to feed later in the year, there will be no honey supers on to harvest.

Timing is important. Not having honey supers on is essential.

Wayne


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Well, you can blame me for the use of the term "sugar" honey here. :lookout: I used that phrase in another _Capps _thread to point out that honey stored while feeding sugar was not true honey.

I don't see much effective difference between calling it "sugar" honey, faux honey, or adulterated honey.  Take your pick.  The key is to recognize that the sweet viscous liquid stored in those cells is not real honey, but I don't see that the specific _word _used is all that critical.


In my opinion, _adulterated _honey implies some kind of nefarious scheme to defraud customers. But "sugar" honey stored in the brood boxes is a fairly innocuous practice intended to get the bees through the winter.


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## Capps (Jul 21, 2012)

Thanks, Wayne. Yes, I will take care of the timing next spring. I fed the bees throughout here and there because it was a new colony, but I suppose since I gave them drawn out comb they had a head start. I believe it is a mix, since I didn't always feed them that much, but I'll let them have it all and take care of timing next year.


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