Beekeeper here. Bees are really good at sniffing out honey. They will even find other hives and if it’s abandoned or the other bees aren’t watching very well they will steal their honey. Honey they can get from elsewhere is honey they don’t have to make themselves.
In case you know: I thought you’re not supposed to give bees honey from other hives (e.g. store bought) due to danger of infection with disease - that would be a problem here, right?
If he is selling it, it has probably been pasteurised but honey is pasteurised for quality reasons more than food safety reasons so it won’t necessarily kill all the diseases it could have.
My advice would be if you want to give bees a sweet treat, give them some sugar syrup, 50% water to 50% plain white sugar by weight. They love it. We put a feeder full of it into new hives to help them grow.
That’s what I always heard - give sugar + water instead of foreign honey. Thank you!
As far as I know I’m not allergic to husbands, or to bees.
Retired Swarmkeeper Ranger
He had honey. It’s like wondering why the ice cream truck is surrounded by kids lol