# Powdered sugar, confectioner's, dextrose: what's the difference?



## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

Kind of a technical question when you really look into it.

Here's the quick answer: I don't know what it'll do to bees. (Quit reading here! The answer doesn't get any better!)

A little more detail: Dextrose (glucose) is part one of the two part dance we call "table sugar", or sucrose. The other part, is fructose, of course. Likewise, our honey is primarily made from glucose, fructose and another enzyme called invertase.

Still with me? Good. Let's touch for a moment on the things we're NOT supposed to feed our bees. These include items like molasses (or brown sugar) because of the impurities that the bees can't digest. And corn starch, which is sometimes added as a "anti-caking agent" in 1% to 3% concentrations typically, in powdered donut sugar. It's this corn starch that'll bind up the bees and give them dysentary, and is the reason we shouldn't feed bees powdered donut sugar.

Stay with me now... this is where it all goes sideways. Dextrose is commonly derived from processing starches and can be made from several different varieties of starch, like rice or potatoes. But, one of the key sources for this starch is none other than our friend CORN STARCH. (Actually, it's a heated slurry of corn starch, water and an enzyme found in black mold, but that's another horror story for another time.)

Now, can the bees utilize a product derived from corn starch? I don't know. At the gut level, I'd say probably not. But, then again, it is a PART of table sugar. And they seem to do fine with that. But, I don't even pretend to be a chemist. On a molecular level, heinous things could be occurring! Take for instance, we humans can eat common salt, which is made up of sodium chloride. Separately, however, Sodium and Chlorine are both toxic to humans. And, I'm left asking myself if the same sort of thing holds true with bees?

But, let's stop for a moment. Take into consideration what you're doing with it: That being, dusting bees for Varroa mites.

Locally here, beekeepers have had good luck dusting with powdered donut sugar; a product which is supposedly a no-no! A large amount of the sugar falls through the screened bottom board when using the Dowda method of dusting for Varroa. The sugar itself isn't consumed by the bees, but rather, is a fine dust that "mechanically" controls Varroa by making their feet physically unable to hold on to the bees. And, it's said that the small amount of corn starch that the bees DO consume while grooming themselves isn't enough to harm them, or at least is less harmful than the Varroa mites are.

So, if powdered donut sugar containing corn starch doesn't hurt them when dusting for Varroa mites, WHY should pure dextrose be bad for them? Afterall, it's the "dusty-ness" of the powdered donut sugar, and not the sugar itself that'll drop mites. Or, is pure dextrose a toxic part of the sucrose molecule?

I dunno. And, that leads us full circle to my short answer.

Let us know what you decide, Ben.

DS


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I use regular old confectioners sugar (in quantities that anger my wife when she goes to bake something) without any noticeable ill effect on the bees. DS is right (and has provided a wonderful education) when he mentions that bees don't consume it on purpose. Nearly every time I dust, the girls hit the waterer pretty hard so they're doing something with it, but most of it hits the bees and falls off, taking mites with it. I wouldn't worry too much unless you're using some weird brand that even looks suspicious.


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## Hillside (Jul 12, 2004)

Regular powdered sugar works just fine. The only time the starch would be a problem is if the bees can't fly and I have my doubts you are dusting them in those temps.

However, my experience with dusting sugar is that it doesn't control mites very well, although that may just be me. Others seem to make it work just fine.

Beekeepers need to always buy their own sugar. DO NOT use your spouses kitchen sugar. There are already too few beekeepers.


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

In the first place powdered sugar is used for dusting, it isn’t fed directly to your bees. Certainly though it is likely some small amount of the sugar might end up inside the bees. In the second place, the enzyme diastase or amyalse breaks down starch into sugar. Honey bees produce that enzyme in their hypopharyngeal glands. The warnings about starch being deadly to bees, in my opinion, are overblown. Here’s a blurb from Eva Crane’s book ‘Honey’:

Lotmar (1935) has studied the apparent discrepancies in reports on the ability of honeybees to utilize starch and dextrins. She fed bees solutions of 8% starch dextrin with 8% sucrose, or with 8% or 16% sucrose solutions alone. The bees survived longer on the dextrin-sucrose solution than on the 8% sucrose. The time by which half of the bees had died (estimated from her chart) was 3.0, 2.5, and 3.5 days respectively. On water alone, half of the bees had died by 1.8 days. Sucrose was fed with dextrin because the latter is tasteless to bees. This procedure when applied to starch, of which only a 5% solution could be made, did not yield appreciable differences in death rates. The starch grains (1.2 - 5 u long and 1-2 u wide) of various pollens were observed to be digested in the bee. The smallest non-pollen starch grains (3.5-5 u and 6.5-8 u) were a;sp seem to be partly digested. Large grains, as of pea or wheat starch (about 45 u long), were not digested. 

Lotmar, R. (1935) Abbau und Verwertung von Starke un Dextrin durch die Honigbiene. Arch. Bienenk. 16(6): 195-204

(Notice this was looked at 70 years ago.) 

Here’s even more recent information showing bees can utilize starch: 

www.apimondia.org/apiacta/slovenia/en/hrassnigg.pdf


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## Jim Young (Aug 31, 2004)

Following is my experience using generic powdered sugar purchased at Wal-Mart to reduce the varroa mite population in one of my hives. This hive produced eight medium supers of capped honey this year. Currently, the hive has two deep hivebodies, a top hive feeder and a screened bottom board; and, the hive weighs about 150 pounds.

Varroa mite drop counts were taken before and after treatment with powdered sugar and essential oils. Mite counts were taken beginning on 1 October 2007. The hive was established in 2005 from a split and has not been treated with any miticide strips or other mite control treatments. 25 drops each of wintergreen and spearmint essential oils were added to 5 quarts of 1:1 sugar water and fed to the bees, as indicated.

Date / 24-Hour Mite Drop Count / Treatment/Comment 
10/01 / 96 
10/02 /122 
10/03 / 129 
10/04 / No count taken; treated with two cups powdered sugar
10/05 / No count taken 
10/06 / 133 
10/07 / 45 
10/08 / 65 
10/09 / 36 Counted and then treated with two cups powdered sugar
10/10 / No count taken 
10/11 / 35 
10/12 / 27 
10/13 / 35 / Fed 1 qt 1:1 sugar water with wintergreen and spearmint oil - consumed within 24 hours
10/14 / 24 / Fed 3 qts 1:1 sugar water with wintergreen and spearmint oil - consumed within 24 hours
10/15 / 22 / Fed 4 qts 1:1 sugar water with wintergreen and spearmint oil - consumed within 24 hours
10/16 / 20 
10/17 / 33 
10/19 / 22 / 48 hour count - 44 mites
10/20 / 32 
10/21 / 30 
10/23 / 12 / 48 hour count - 24 mites
10/25 / 16 / 48 hour count - 32 mites
10/28 / 25.66 / 72 hour count - 77 mites
10/30 / 20.5 / 48 hour count - 41 mites
11/01 / 18 / 48 hour count - 36 mites
11/03 / 16 / 48 hour count - 32 mites
11/05 / 25.5 / 48 hour count - 51 mites
11/06 / 14 / 40F low - 55F high
11/08 / 18.5 / 48 hour count - 37 mites
11/10 / 13.5 / 48 hour count - 27 mites
11/12 / 14 / 48 hour count - 28 mites
11/14 / 18.5 / 48 hour count - 37 mites
11/16 / 15.5 / 48 hour count - 31 mites
11/18 / 15 / 48 hour count - 30 mites
11/20 / 15 / 48 hour count - 30 mites
11/22 / 8.5 / 48 hour count - 17 mites 29F low - 43F high
11/24 / 10 / 48 hour count - 20 mites

Jim Young


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## James Fischer (Nov 19, 2007)

The only reason that one "dusts" with powdered sugar is that it
creates a good number of very fine particles in the 5-20 micron
range (this will look like smoke from a cigarette when you get it)
which clog the tarsal pads (suction cup feet) of the varroa, and 
make them loose their grip on bees, comb, whatever.

I was one of the early advocates of powdered sugar back in
the 2000-2002 period, but back then, most folks were still
getting decent results with varroacides, so it was of little
interest to anyone except the highly enlightened "best practices"
crowd.

The practice has caught back on, but I must warn folks that the
approach taken by Dowda (in FL) and echoed by Randy Oliver
(in ABJ), where powdered sugar is simply dumped on the top
bars, and brushed so that it will fall down between them is
*NOT YET SUPPORTED BY CONTROLLED STUDIES*.

The methodology that was the subject of controlled studies was
a more labor-intensive method intended to maximize the number of
the tiny particles created. One "puffed" air over powdered sugar to
create a "fine cloud" over the entire comb surface, rather than simply 
dumping the sugar onto whatever bees happen to be at the tops of
the frames.

If "puffing", one uses very little sugar, and thereby is justified in
calling the practice an approach that can be used with "supers on".

If "dumping" sugar, one is using a much larger amount of sugar,
and one has questions to answer about the resulting honey
if one attempts this with "supers on".

Flour would work just as well as sugar, but no one has used it, as
it can get damp, and start to create a mess on wood surfaces.


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

*Great Info!!!!*

Jim Young . . .

Thanx for COUNTING and
thanx for sharing.

Your "numbers" explain MORE THAN the usual 
"I dont have time to count".

thanx again!


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## Robert Hawkins (May 27, 2005)

Ben, the sugar dusting won't work by itself. You need to consider it as a part of your IPM system. You'll notice Mr. Young uses it with essential oils. I use it with drone comb freezing. Also, Mr. Fisher brings up a good point. I wouldn't dust with supers on and then try to sell the honey. In my opinion it would be an adulteration of the honey. My customers deserve better. All this is done between and after "honey flows".

Hawk


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

I'm with all y'all. I do drone trapping and have tried Suckercide (too much hassle), last season I used Apiguard at one point. I'm a natural-comber too, but might try small cell next spring for some splits. And I'm pretty anal about super-on treatments after almost certainly contaminating my first season's crop with syrup. This would be one arrow in the quiver but I'll most try anything once (except coumaphos ).


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