# Dumbest Questions Ever Asked On Bee Forum



## clovis (May 13, 2002)

These have to be the dumbest questions ever asked on this forum:

Last week, my DD left a nearly full can of Coca Cola outside. When I went to pick it up, I saw about 8 or 9 bees swarming around it.

Why were they interested in swarming around this regular Coke?

What is in it that the bees want? Sugar? Water? 

Are they turning any part into honey?

Why is this common in late summer or early fall? I don't recall seeing bees this active at other times, but maybe I am not paying attention.

I have also seen bees be attracted and swarm around trash cans that have lots of empty beer cans. Are they looking for the same thing that they want in the Coke?

And now...the dumbest question of all...you'll be calling me the biggest idiot on earth:

If you feed a hive a constant diet of Coke or beer, would the honey pick up a flavor from that, even just a tiny bit?

I have wondered about these questions for years, and haven't found anyone that can really answer them, even though some like to bill themselves as experts of the world.

Thanks!!!!


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I bet they were not honey bee`s, I may be wrong . I am sometimes, ok most the time, ha ha. they like the sugar in the soda. My wife is the bee keeper so I will ask her. Thanks Marc


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## sparky5982 (Nov 25, 2007)

These probably were not honey bees, but yellow jackets or another sort of wasp. They go nuts for carbohydrates this time of year in preparation for winter. They can become a real problem this time of year raiding honey bee colonies, soda cans, anything sweet. If they were honey bees, then they too were after the sugar in the soda.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

sparky5982 said:


> These probably were not honey bees, but yellow jackets or another sort of wasp. They go nuts for carbohydrates this time of year in preparation for winter. They can become a real problem this time of year raiding honey bee colonies, soda cans, anything sweet. If they were honey bees, then they too were after the sugar in the soda.


These were not wasps or yellow jackets. I watched them pretty closely for at least ten minutes. While I do not know all of the scientific names for each species of honey bees, I can definately attest that they were bees. Even with my limited knowledge of honey bees...they sure looked like them!!!!

(I should add that I have seen yellow jackets working around a trash can before.)


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

It takes a pretty serious dearth to interest bees in soda pop, but sometimes they do. It is not a very high sugar content source for them, so they would not be very interested in it. The syrup they make the pop from they would work, and of course the "honey" (which I would not call it) would taste like the syrup of course. But honey is not made from syrup it is made from nectar. When the bees make stores out of syrup, we honest beekeepers don't call it honey.


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## killjoy (Nov 29, 2003)

Michael Bush said:


> It takes a pretty serious dearth to interest bees in soda pop, but sometimes they do. It is not a very high sugar content source for them, so they would not be very interested in it. The syrup they make the pop from they would work, and of course the "honey" (which I would not call it) would taste like the syrup of course. But honey is not made from syrup it is made from nectar. When the bees make stores out of syrup, we honest beekeepers don't call it honey.


Michael, is it okay to feed bees left over heavy syrup from say a pear or peach home canning operation? In other words, some of these fruit juices would be in the heavy sugar syrup.


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

Fruit juice contains solids that can cause dysentery. IF I were to feed them (and I probably wouldn't) I would do it in the spring or summer when there is no problem with cleansing flights. I would never feed it for winter stores.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Thanks everyone! I feel like I have learned something new!!!!!


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

Here's another question...notice I didn't say 'Dumb' cuz there ain't no such thing...Right? ~lol~
I was reading a book by Juliette de Bairacli Levy "The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable" and she has a section about Beekeeping, she mentions putting her Whole Wheat flour out in the sun to warm before baking and when she went out to retrieve it the flour was crawling with her Bees and she states that they were flying off toward the hives with legs packed with the flour...My Question: Were they taking it as a source of Protein? And would it be harmful to them in the future?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Bees are forever raiding grain bins,bird feeders and other sourses of grain dust to use as a pollen source till the real deal arrives and after it is gone.

 Al


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## sparky5982 (Nov 25, 2007)

When they're desperate early in the spring, bees will take almost anything that bears the slightest resemblance to pollen back to the hive. Mine were raiding the chicken feeders this year, so much so that I dumped a few scoops of it out on the ground for them. They loved it! Two weeks later, dandelions came on and I didn't see a single bee in the chicken feed.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

Thanks! Another thing that Ms. Levy stated was that her Bees visited a large rock she brought home from the Coast (Spain), she was curious if they were attracted to the salt and minerals, so she traded out the rock with another from nearby and the Bees weren't at all interested so she put the sea coast rock back.
Personally I feel some folks don't give our Bees the 'credit' they deserve...they know best what their needs are.


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

>Were they taking it as a source of Protein?

Yes. Only because there is no real pollen available.

>And would it be harmful to them in the future?

It results in shorter lived bees than if they were raised on real pollen.


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