really raw honey bees' winter diet

[Guest guest]

i was told that some folks on the livefood group had tried to find out what

the really raw honey bees ate during the winter months (they are in MD, i

believe), but that they couldn't get a straight answer. i thought it was a

good question, so i emailed RRH the following question:

" I was wondering what your bees eat in the winter months? Are the bees that

supply you in the winter kept in warmer climates where they have access to

wild flowers? "

a few days later i received the following reply:

" Our beekeepers leave plenty of honey on during the winter months so the

bees

can survive. "

at first i thought this didn't make sense, but after reading a link to the

traditional nutrition chat board that erinn posted several days ago, in

which a beekeeper said that the bees eat the honey (duh! LOL) , and a good

beekeeper will only take out the surplus as a sort of " rent " and leave the

rest for the bees to live on, then of course RRH's reply makes sense - the

bee's eat_their_own_honey during the winter.

just wondering though if it makes sense that you can continue harvesting

honey on a fairly large scale throughout the winter and still leave enough

for the bees to survive on? hmmm...that doesn't make sense...maybe they

harvest ALL the surplus honey *before* winter and don't harvest again til

the bees are producing again.

can any of you beekeepers comment on this? what do YOUR bees eat during the

winter? some of their summer/fall harvest? so, what...do you only harvest as

long as they are producing honey, then stop during the winter months and

just let them survive on their own honey, until spring when they have access

to flowers, etc again?

TIA :-)

Suze Fisher

Lapdog Design, Inc.

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

http://www.westonaprice.org

----------------------------

" The diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause

heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times. " --

Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt

University, Tennessee; heart disease researcher.

The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics

<http://www.thincs.org>

----------------------------

[Guest guest]

murphy's law...just after reading erinn's post and posting about RRH's bee's

winter diet, i read the second reply from RRH after i told them i didn't

understand their initial reply. they confirmed that the bees kept in colder

climates eat their own honey during the winter.

btw, i just received a 24 lb. bucket from them and it's yummy!

Suze Fisher

Lapdog Design, Inc.

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

http://www.westonaprice.org

----------------------------

" The diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause

heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times. " --

Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt

University, Tennessee; heart disease researcher.

The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics

<http://www.thincs.org>

----------------------------

[Guest guest]

> murphy's law...just after reading erinn's post and posting about

RRH's bee's

> winter diet, i read the second reply from RRH after i told them i

didn't

> understand their initial reply. they confirmed that the bees kept in

colder

> climates eat their own honey during the winter.

>

> btw, i just received a 24 lb. bucket from them and it's yummy!

>

> Suze Fisher

> Lapdog Design, Inc.

> Web Design & Development

> http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

> Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

> http://www.westonaprice.org

>

> ----------------------------

Last week I discovered I had to feed my bees because they did not have

the prerequisite 150# of honey per hive to get them through the winter

up here. They are fed sugar syrup (2 parts sugar/1 part water) to make

up the difference. The bees turn the syrup into honey. Of course, we'd

never take that honey, it's just for them to eat.

The thanks they gave me? Eight stings on the left hand that caused my

hand to blow up to the size of a catcher's mitt. It was nasty.

Sharon

[Guest guest]

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 08:46:49 -0400

" Suze Fisher " <s.fisher22@...> wrote:

>at first i thought this didn't make sense, but after reading a link to the

>traditional nutrition chat board that erinn posted several days ago, in

>which a beekeeper said that the bees eat the honey (duh! LOL) , and a good

>beekeeper will only take out the surplus as a sort of " rent " and leave the

>rest for the bees to live on, then of course RRH's reply makes sense - the

>bee's eat_their_own_honey during the winter.

>

>just wondering though if it makes sense that you can continue harvesting

>honey on a fairly large scale throughout the winter and still leave enough

>for the bees to survive on? hmmm...that doesn't make sense...maybe they

>harvest ALL the surplus honey *before* winter and don't harvest again til

>the bees are producing again.

This is precisely the issue and the conclusion on live food was that it

can't be done unless you raise your bees in a moderate climate. And

since Really Raw has various suppliers they were unwilling to

*guarantee* their suppliers didn't feed the bees with sugar water during

the winter. Perhaps things are different now, but I would press for a

written guarantee not just an oral assurance.

The Secret of Health

Stay away from the doctor, says Hein, MD.

http://tinyurl.com/td64