Will bees eat sugar to produce honey?

Bees are typical omnivorous insects and feed entirely on flowers. In the season when the nectar is abundant, worker bees will collect a lot of pollen and nectar. Some of the nectar will be brewed into honey and stored in the hive. The bee colony lives on the reserved honey. Let’s take a look at whether the bees will produce honey if they eat sugar.

1, the definition of honey

Honey is made by bees collecting plant nectar and brewing it repeatedly. By definition, to be called honey, there must be two conditions. One of the raw materials for honey production must be the nectar secreted by the plant nectary, and the other must be complete. The honey is made by bees, so artificial sugar is not the real honey, and artificially concentrated immature honey is not real honey.

2, artificial feeding

Although bees feed entirely on pollen and nectar, beekeepers will also feed artificially when there is a lack of nectar sources or insufficient honey storage in the nest. For example, beekeepers will feed the bee colonies in large quantities before the wintering season to ensure safe wintering. In the early spring, beekeepers will also artificially feed to promote the rapid reproduction of bee colonies. However, the beekeepers will not feed the bee colonies during special honeycomb periods.

3, feed sugar

Both sugar and nectar are food for bees, and bees can also use invertase to convert part of the sugar into monosaccharides, so feeding sugar to the bee colony can indeed produce honey, but the nutritional value of this honey and real honey There is a world of difference. In fact, some beekeepers produce fake honey in this way, and many unknown consumers are deceived.

4, matters needing attention

1. White sugar is not necessarily adulterated by bees. In fact, many times bees need artificial feeding. For example, beekeepers should feed a large number of bee colonies before wintering to ensure safe wintering.
2. Although the bee feeds sugar, it can indeed produce honey, but the honey produced in this way is very different from real honey. In addition, the bee cannot completely convert the sugar into monosaccharides.
3. The bee feeding sugar may be in the production of fake honey. For example, some beekeepers also fed a large amount of sugar to the bee colony during the honey flow period, so that the honey production of the bee colony is much higher than the normal honey production.