Marachino Cherry Juice - Harmful for Bees????

[annette]

Yesterday at work a couple told me that they have bees in a tree near their home. They enjoy having them and feed them Marachino Cherry Juice in a chicken feeder. Apparently they purchase these big jars of Marachino Cherries and decided to feed the bees the juice.

They said the bees just love this stuff.

So my question is:

What is this juice and is it any good for them?

Is it bad for them??

I did read the article about the bees getting into the Marachino Cherry Factory in Brooklyn, New York and their honey turning red.

Annette

[JP]

Ask to see the bottle and read the ingredients. Could be sugar in the mix and other stuff, perhaps some preservatives.


...JP

[AllenF]

Making some of that red honey like they got in New York?

[annette]

Ask to see the bottle and read the ingredients. Could be sugar in the mix and other stuff, perhaps some preservatives.


...JP

They are gone, so can't get that information. But you are right that it depends on the ingredients on that particular jar.  I guess!!

[annette]

Making some of that red honey like they got in New York?

Seems terrible to me to give bees that stuff and that is why I was curious about it.

[edward]

It probably is not harmful to the bees but your honey will bee contaminate with sugar , I don't know how you feel about that in the states , but in Sweden it is a big sin and very shameful to have sugar in your honey  :-\ :'(

mvh edward  :-P

[Kathyp]

remember this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/nyregion/30bigcity.html

[edward]

Yeah  :-D

I suppose if you preserved the cherries in honey it would bee OK  :-D

Mvh edward  :-P

[Michael Bush]

Mostly sugar and water and artificial color, but the main flavoring is Benzaldehyde, which is often used to drive bees from the supers... so I'm surprised they like it...