Fondant and when to feed

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
71
Reaction score
0
Location
stockport
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2
Hi all i have been feeding ambrosia to me 2 colonies through the summer (what little we had of it in Manchester)Question is when do you use fondant to feed? i asked about and am getting mixed answers Thanks

:beatdeadhorse5:
 
I take some fondant with me when I'm doing a post christmas oxalic trickle and give some to any hives that seem light
 
Ideally the colony should have plenty of stores and shouldn't need to be fed at all as honey is the best winter feed as its full of minerals and vitamins but the weather and various other factors don't always help.

Come winter if the colony is light on stores and its too late to feed sugar syrup then fondant is still a good way to feed a colony. Some would say it requires plenty of water to make it editable but I've found as long as it is kept in a sealed plastic bag to hold the moisture content the colony can and will use it if they need it.

I put about 3-4kg into the bottom of a large zip lock bag and press it down hard to form a slab so it will fit in the space under the roof on top of the hole in the crown board and cut out a 15-20mm hole in the bottom of the bag so the hole lines up over the central hole in the crown board. The reason why I do this method is so the bag will hold its shape so all the fondant can be eaten and I can top up the bag with another lump in spring if the weather is poor and the hive feels very light.

Others roll out a slab and place it directly on top of the frames and place it in their hives early spring.

Another option is to warm the fondant slightly so its a little more pliable and use a paint scrapper and smear the fondant into the cells of a drawn comb and place the frame on the outside edge of the honey stores.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top