Comments on: Open Feeding

By: Constance E Quigley

Constance E Quigley — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 14:57:36 +0000

How do you keep ants from invading and taking all that sugar?

By: george

george — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 19:07:51 +0000

do you have any concerns plunder from open feed or battles and bee deaths?
thanks

By: 16 Reasons Beekeeping is Awesome (and Why You Should Do it Too!)

16 Reasons Beekeeping is Awesome (and Why You Should Do it Too!) — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 01:48:45 +0000

[…] But otherwise, they work by themselves and they feed themselves most of the year too (although you can make this easier too by open feeding). […]

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 16:44:54 +0000

In reply to cg.

@cg – very nice to read there is someone else out there who feels as I do. For me, leaving the honey for my bees is simply a source of personal enjoyment or something, knowing it’s their source of nutrition. I think its easier to just buy my honey from the local farmer’s market too because we don’t need that much. So I guess I am supporting our local beekeepers too… I have no problem with folks who raise bees to harvest honey (or pollen or wax or whatever), but for me I just like to give the bees a place to live and let them do what do pollinating things around here.

I let my hives swarm too…heck, who am I to think I know something about improving life for a creature who has been on Earth for 80 million years or so… That said, I think the best thing humans can do for bees is stop trying to make the planet look like a great big, bright green, weed-free golf course. In my opinion, it’s about high time we began (TODAY!!) just leaving things alone.

By: Donny

Donny — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 02:15:17 +0000

Great article & video, Gene, Thanks!
Quick question – do you have any concerns for the health of your bees using regular sugar, as virtually 100% of sugar (not designated as cane sugar), comes from GMO sugar beets? Serious question – I’m wondering if there is any evidence to support a concern? Much appreciated!

By: cg

cg — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 22:56:53 +0000

I just got your email referencing feeding your bees in the fall and winter. It is so ignorant of us to starve our bees of their food by harvesting their honey and then resorting to feeding them supplemental sugar. If we would truly consider ourselves as beekeepers then I feel that title should come with the honor and compassion for the bee. We all know how nutritious honey is. There are so many nutrients and minerals and still I continue to read how they are still finding more and more benefits. For our bees to stay healthy they need “their” honey to eat through the winter not anything else. Please stop harvesting your honey in the fall and leave it for the bees. When spring comes around and you can determine what kind of weather and spring we are going to have, then you can decide what is surplus and what isn’t. Always error on the side of leaving more than less for the bees. Does that mean you wont have as good of honey harvest for yourself…sure it will. But you will save our bees. And it starts with each of us, the ones that have a conscious.

By: Sabreena

Sabreena — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 20:54:10 +0000

Why would you use white sugar? White sugar is a leading cause/feeder of cancer in humans, is a gmo product, (which changes/damages DNA)? There are so many products that are organic in nature, (No pesticides, no herbicides, non-gmo). Surely this would be much healthier for the bees just as it is for humans.