Mistake----I think?

[Captain776]

I have been giving them sugar and water since April when I brought them home.
In hindsight, I only should have fed them the first week while they were getting established.
They drink a plastic frame feeder every day, so I (perhaps incorrectly) thought, if they are drinking it, they must need it.
I am wondering why I am not seeing the top section of frames capped out in Honey.
I see lots of liquid in many cells, which I thought was nectar, then it dawned on me, they are storing sugar and water.
After Googling and reading for a while, they will store sugar and water and will also cap it.
I stopped feeding them a week ago and in a day or 2 I will do an inspection and see if anything looks different.
I am hoping.......now that I stopped the free food, they will go back and drink up the sugar water.
Perhaps a stupid ?? Can you tell nectar from sugar n water in a cell?
Now I know, only feed Spring, Fall, and Dearth.
There is always something blooming here. I watched them for about 10 minutes today and they are brings ng back lots of pollen.

[paus]

Capt.  I was in South America in what was a wonderful country once but not now.  I was talking to a beek and the conversation got around to some beeks selling a sugar/honey mix.  He told me if you take a strike anywhere match, dip in honey it will strike but not in a mixture.  I have not really tested this but all the commercial honey syrup I have tried  it on, works as he said.

[Aroc]

They will store sugar water/syrup just like nectar.  They process the sugar water as though it's nectar.  They will cap it.  The end product looks and tastes like honey but technically it's not since it's not made of nectar.

[Captain776]

They will store sugar water/syrup just like nectar.  They process the sugar water as though it's nectar.  They will cap it.  The end product looks and tastes like honey but technically it's not since it's not made of nectar.

Regardless, it was never my plan to sell Honey. I always planned to give it away, but I still want the best quality I can provide.
My 3 main hives are between 30-50 percent full in second Brood Box, so there will still be some time before I put a Honey Super on and hopefully they deal with the sugar water in that time, they know, which is nectar and which is sugar n water.....I don't.

[BeeMaster2]

Capt,
They will treat it just like it was nectar. The problem is that it has none of the minerals in it that natural nectar has in it. If the only thing they are feeding their young is pure sugar water, they are missing the minerals they need for proper development.
Jim

[BeeMe]

Now I know, only feed Spring, Fall, and Dearth.
There is always something blooming here. I watched them for about 10 minutes today and they are brings ng back lots of pollen.

That is only a 'rule-of-thumb" and it often depends on are you robbing the hive of all you can get or harvesting the surplus.  Feed bees when they can not feed themselves.  It is just that this situation most often comes up in the early spring, late fall and during a dearth, but not every time.  Even in a death following a good nectar flow, the bees can feed themselves provide they have not been robbed.

It is spring, fall and dearth when we look most closely at the issue of food and judge the need most critically.  You mention that 'something is always blooming', so you may never need to feed an established hive.