Beginner questions

[Hobie]

I was just reading the beekeeping publication that Charles referenced in another post
( http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/agrs93.pdf )
and have a few really basic questions that someone (like me) who has had bees for 3+ years ought to know.

So slice me a huge piece of that humble pie, and here goes:

1. The document says to remove all empty and partially-filled supers before winter. It then goes on to say that stores should be primarily above the cluster. Dumb question: If the latter is true, why would you take off a partially-filled super that had a few frames of honey above the cluster?

2. For fall feeding, they recommend "strong syrup" which is 2:1 sugar to water. They say to heat but not boil the syrup to get the sugar to dissolve. Dumb question: What is detrimental about boiling the syrup?

[Iddee]

1... Take it with a grain of salt. Open space is bad. Honey is good. Where do you draw the line. Consolidate the stores as mush as possible and leave as little space as possible.
The cluster will move upward as the winter progresses and the stores dwindle. They will starve before going down, as a cluster, for honey below them.

2... Boiling for a short time hurts nothing. They say don't boil it because some people go to extremes. If you boil it until it caramelizes, it is detrimental to the bees.

[Charles]

Wise words from a wise man ;-)

[tecumseh]

I have heard the prohibition againist boiling sugar water and suspect??? that the problem associated with this may be somewhat related to how long you might expect the bees to be confined. there use to similar prohibiton againist feeding molasses or brown sugar, but it seems the only problem associated with either is when the bees are confined for long periods of times and cannot fly to relieve themselves.