I’m not a beekeeper. But I came across a YT video and the guy said he has to give his bees food for the winter (Z3) after he too took the honey from the hives. He said he is giving them corn syrup for the winter food.
That sounds like the equivalent of taking away fresh veggies from children and giving them soy blocks…
I am no keeper yet** but corn syrup causes a lot of various issues with humans as well and it blocks the hunger receptors in the brain if i recall correctly. I wonder if there’s any studies on how bad it is long term.
I would assume corn syrup lacks the natural antioxidants and all the good stuff regular honey has. In my mind… while syrup gives bees energy (sugars), it misses many of the nutritional and protective components found in real honey, which over time undermines their health, resilience, and colony strength.
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It can be done but it comes with some problems.
Feeding corn syrup to bees means high fructose corn syrup. The bees still have to process it and turn it into pseudo-honey. If fed late in the fall, this prematurely ages the bees which means the colony goes into winter with a bunch of octogenarian bees. It is likely to die out over winter. This can still be done, but it requires feeding only a gallon or two in fall, then feed the bees heavily the next spring.
Bees store up vitellogenin (like fat for humans) as they mature from egg to larvae to pupa to adult. This store of vetellogenin has to last the bee for its entire life. It can be prematurely exhausted during processing of syrup for winter stores.
When bees go into winter, you want as many young bees as possible. This can best be done in areas with fall nectar and pollen sources. The bees will naturally raise brood when both are available for forage. Feeding syrup does not do the same thing mostly because pollen is missing from their diet.
So all told, it is best to leave enough honey with the bees to get them through winter and feed them the next spring if needed.
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