Topic: THE SYRUP WIPING OUT BEES

[TommyTomato]

Found this in one of the Sunday papers...thought I would post...






THE MYSTERY of the world’s vanishing bees may at last have been solved.


For five years increasing numbers of unexplained bee deaths have been reported around the globe.

Now a new study suggests the explanation is high fructose corn syrup, used as a food supplement by some commercial beekeepers. They have found the syrup produces a poison when it is overheated.

They believe the poison may be a factor in Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious disease that has killed at least a third of the honeybee population in the US and wiped out hives across Europe, including Britain.

Bees play a vital role in the food chain by pollinating fruits, grains and vegetables


Here's the link to the original article.....




http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/123977/The-syrup-wiping-out-bees

[macmac]

That would be brilliant if they've found the cause,thanks for posting TT

[caroline7758]

Not much detail there, but sounds like good news if it's true.

[Robert_Brenchley]

From what I'm told, HFCS isn't good for bees, but it isn't involved in every case by a long way. The article is the usual hype; CCD hasn't been found on this side of the Atlantic.

[Melbourne12]

I always imagined that HFCS was mostly sugars, but apparently not.  The USDA database has it listed with 24% water, just over 26% sugars, and just under 50% other carbohydrates.  Whatever these other carbs are, they must be soluble, but that's all it tells us.  I certainly wouldn't offer such a mixture to bees!

[Robert_Brenchley]

Neither would I. It was shown long since that some bees overwinter better on sugar syrup than on honey, probably because they don't need to poo so much. It's not universal; some strains do better on heather, which contains protein among other things, than on anything else. But if they're not overwintering on honey, I wouldn't feed them anything but pure sucrose.