First Season...3 surprise swarms last week...can I use store bought honey?

[Bees In Miami]

Thanks for any and all help...I did my best to search, but didn't really find a solid answer.  I have two established but newer  hives from Spring swarms that are just recently working the supers.  I had 3 surprise swarms (from an existing feral hive) which I captured about 10 days ago.  Pretty small swarms that I have in 5 frame Nucs.  Question is, I have been feeding about a 2:1 sugar syrup.  My husband came home from Costco thinking he was 'doing me a favor' and bought a big jug of store bought 'supposedly' U.S. honey to help feed the bees.  Is it safe to feed this to my Nucs?  I have not yet been able to do an extraction, as all my hives are new.  (the oldest hives I have are only about 5 months)  Is the sugar syrup adequate?  Dare I use the jug of honey from Costco?  I sure don't want to expose my hives to Foulbrood and such.  Can the honey be boiled or Pasteurized to make it any safer?  I wish I had my own honey to feed them with, but I am just too soon in the process.  The established hives are bringing in ooldes of pollen, but the newest Nucs are still trying to establish.  Advice?  Thanks any and all for your input!  

Obviously, being in So Fla, wintering is not as much an issue as for most of you folks.  I was totally stunned at the swarm activity last week, but was ready with equipment to take advantage/capture them.  Just trying to get the 3 new Nucs up to speed before our 'winter' hits. 

Also, I would like to move the Nucs into my regular hive area.  What do I need to be concerned about before putting these Nucs next to my strong hives?   Will an entrance reducer be enough?  Or do I have nothing to worry about since there is still plenty to forrage on? 

Thanks all for any help!

[buzzbee]

The sugar syrup is adequate if your wanting to build wax in frames or increase stores. I would not feed honey from an unknown source. After it has been processed it is not the same as directly from the hive. Besides,for building comb,sugar is much cheaper.

[Kathyp]

make syrup.  bake with your husbands honey...or, Costco has a pretty liberal return policy.  if you have not opened it, you may be able to take it back.

[BeeMaster2]

The reason you don't want to use the store bought honey is that if just one of the hives, from what could be hundreds of hives sent for processing, had American Foul Brood, your hive would be infected. No amount of processing could kill it.K
Jim

[AllenF]

Ditto on feeding the bees syrup, not bought honey.    Your honey from your hives is ok because you know where it came from.

[Bees In Miami]

Thank you all...that is exactly what I was expecting regarding the honey.  Syrup is easy enough.   How about moving the Nucs near the strong hives?  Need I be concerned about robbing and such?   I'd like them all in the same place, but don't want to hurt the new Nucs if I move too soon.  Thanks everyone!  This forum is absolutely awesome!   ;)

[AllenF]

I keep them all close together, nucs and hives.   I also keep all the entrances reduced down, nucs and hives.   

[Bees In Miami]

Thanks Allen...My strong hives are reduced by about half, and the nooks are open about 1.5".  Should I reduce the Nucs further, or am I overthinking this?  Thanks again for the help! 

[TwT]

your entrances are fine, I put mine at 1" when winter gets here.

[BeeMaster2]

I keep my smaller hives, splits, at 3/4" x 3/8". A weak nuc could be closed down even further. Bees in the wild will often have a small hole even for a large hive.