Hello,

Thank you for reaching out. Most beekeepers only extract honey that they plan to use for human consumption. Since you said "nectar" instead of "honey," I wonder if you are concerned that the nectar was not sufficiently dried and thus prone to ferment. (Another possibility is that the nectar you extracted is not suitable for human consumption due to adulteration or contamination from medications, certain mite treatments, feed, or another cause.)

If the nectar you extracted is suitable for human consumption other than being too high in moisture, and if it has not yet started to ferment, here are some options for drying the honey:

• You can use a dehumidifier to dry honey. It helps to keep the dehumidifier and a honey in a small, clean room. It also helps to put maximize air contact with the honey, for example by using shallow, food-safe bins.
• If you have low moisture honey, you can mix it with high moisture honey.
• Some people use or sell higher moisture honey for mead making. (Some mead makers don't like to use high-moisture honey.)
• You may be able to consume high-moisture honey quickly before it ferments, but you shouldn't sell high-moisture honey.

I discussed options for dealing with high-moisture honey in more detail in our August webinar, which was posted online: August 2024 Michigan Beekeeping Office Hours Webinar - Pollinators & Pollination. 

There are risks of spreading diseases by feeding nectar and honey back to bees. For example, American foulbrood disease can be spread by feeding honey. If the nectar you extracted is from a single apiary and you have not found American foulbrood disease in your colonies, then I would think the risk of feeding nectar/honey back to the bees would likely be pretty low. I'd avoid feeding nectar/honey from multiple bee yards to multiple bee yards as this feeding could spread honey bee diseases.

It is too late in the season for me to advise feeding liquid feed (usually syrup, or in your case nectar), because colonies will likely not have enough time or warm weather to store and dry liquid feed. At this point in the season, I'm advising feeding dry feed, such as sugar or winter patties.

If you are set on feeding the nectar back to the bees, you could store it in the freezer and feed it to colonies in the spring.

Happy beekeeping!