Yesterday it was 62 degrees F and sunny in Ohio, and my girls were out and about. I didn’t harvest any of their honey last fall, and I was wondering whether a diet of honey versus sugar syrup would make a difference in their appearance and behavior.

It did! The girls were looking sleek and frisky. While it’s been a mild winter here, I don’t remember them ever looking this good this early in the season. There were even some baby bees toddling around on the front porch of the hive.

Kim Flottum and Michael Bush both maintain that bees fed on honey and pollen are healthier and more disease resistant than bees fed sugar syrup. My bees are living proof of that.

One of my goals in writing this blog is to convince gardeners that they can keep bees in their gardens without having to harvest honey every year. Or even open the hive.

They can just let their bees be bees. I guarantee the bees will be better for it.