Fondant Feeding Advice

[iball]

I've hefted my hives this morning and although still quite heavy they are a lot lighter than they were before Christmas when they were OA treated. I reckon I'm going to have to feed soon.

When I OA treated I recorded the following:

Hive 1: 8 Frames of bees in BB, good weight of stores in Super.
Hive 2: 10 Frames of bees in BB and 6 frames in super. (This has 2 supers)
Hive 3: 6 Frames of bees in BB good weight of stores in super.

The queston is where should I put the fondant?
My guess is on the BB frames. If that's the case then should I use an eke or cut thin pieces?
Or will on top of the supers do, my guees is that this could be too far away from the cluster?

Thanks in advance.

Ian

 

[Midland Beek]

I've hefted my hives this morning and although still quite heavy they are a lot lighter than they were before Christmas when they were OA treated. I reckon I'm going to have to feed soon.

You might be feeding fondant totally unecessarily.

 

[Heather]

Personally I am feeding a little fondant anyway- insurance. Long time to go yet.

With those size colonies, I would put the fondant in a aluminium take-away dish and slap that over the hole in the crown board (ensuring it is just exuding through the hole). They will find it if they need it.
Small colonies will be clustering lower and may not extend that far up, so I put 1" x 6" slivers between the frames. No eke if you can help it- more to heat.

 

[iball]

Thanks Heather on top of the crown board then. At least there's less disturbance doing it that way.

MB, that's assuming I need to feed. I think I may have to buy a spring scale until I get this hefting malarky sorted.

Ian

 

[oliver90owner]

Digital luggage scales - about a fiver from epay delivered. Just don't try to heft a hive stuck to the ground.

I use transparent take-away trays - you can see what is happening to the fondant.

Regards, RAB

 

[Skyhook]

Digital luggage scales - about a fiver from epay delivered. Just don't try to heft a hive stuck to the ground.

I use transparent take-away trays - you can see what is happening to the fondant.

Regards, RAB

with both.

 

[MJBee]

Google "Balanzza" - excellent digital luggage scales. A "vine eye" or "cuphook" screwed into each side of the hive as a lifting point and voila hive weight in lbs or kg to 2 decimal places. Simples.

I weigh mine every week from now on, as brood increases so does food consumption and if there is nothing going in stores stocks disappear like snow off a dyke, it is easy to get caught out.

 

[Arfermo]

Putting fondant direct on top the frames is not wise as the warmth from the cluster will tend to liquify it and you find quite a bit of it on floor if the bees cannot mop it all up as it drips down. Best in my view is to make or obtain a shallow eke and put the fondant on a shallow tray on top of the frames within the eke - 1" is enough. The bees will find it if they need it. Then put the CB back on top and put a piece of glass over the openings in the CB so that you can see what the bees are doing without actually disturbing them and add more fondant if necessary. Better to put some on than leave them to go "hungry" as it will not go to waste I assure you.

 

[Silly Bee]

I just put fondant in a clear tub, on top of the CB feed hole, no need to lift CB or anything else.

When its empty, or almost, slide a new one on, no heat loss and takes 30 secs or less.

 

[beeboybee]

silly bee any top tips for getting stray bees out of the old fondant tub, before replacing with the new?

 

[Hombre]

A sharp tap? The action, not the tool or the implement of the same name.

 

[beeboybee]

when the tub is still above CB or tap the bees out near hive entrance?

 

[Hombre]

Sorry for not being more specific. Tap them down the hole, back into the box as far as possible.

If you have a crown board with two holes then the other one might be open, so any bees on the crown board can still get back into the box. If a single feeder hole then it's probably big enough to knock them straight in, with a gentle sweep to collect any stragglers.

You will feel the warmth coming from the box if you have no gloves on. I usually use Marigolds, but at the moment the bees are sufficiently docile that such operations can be conducted with relative ease ungloved. It won't always be like that though, but experience the warmth coming out from the crownboard.

 

[BT Beekeeper]

I find a posh ice-cream container (the Carte D'or type) is ideal and takes 1kg sugar made up into fondant leaving an exact bee space when inverted over the feed hole in the crown board. Being transparent you can see what's going on inside without any disturbance to the bees. Keep the lids and use them to protect the fondant before use.

You will enjoy the ice-cream too....

 

[oliver90owner]

Keep the lids and use them to protect the fondant before use.

Protect the fondant from what? Drying out? Doesn't it now have a hole in it?

I get a kilo in a take-away (deep) tray, never mind a Carte d'or! Cover with cling film for storage and use. Remove lid, slash clingfilm enough for bees to enter and slide over porter escape hole. Don't need any bee space. No propolis, no fondant stuck to crownboard (when they no longer need it), easily changed (bees not squashed ' cos they are standing on cling film) and bees easily cleared from the box (it has a cling film 'floor'). Rectangular in shape, so easy to cut a hole in any top insulation. More going for these than expensive icecream tubs, I reckon.

Regards, RAB

 

[tonybloke]

Keep the lids and use them to protect the fondant before use.

Protect the fondant from what? Drying out? Doesn't it now have a hole in it?

I get a kilo in a take-away (deep) tray, never mind a Carte d'or! Cover with cling film for storage and use. Remove lid, slash clingfilm enough for bees to enter and slide over porter escape hole. Don't need any bee space. No propolis, no fondant stuck to crownboard (when they no longer need it), easily changed (bees not squashed ' cos they are standing on cling film) and bees easily cleared from the box (it has a cling film 'floor'). Rectangular in shape, so easy to cut a hole in any top insulation. More going for these than expensive icecream tubs, I reckon.

Regards, RAB

good, informative post, RAB

 

[Mandeville]

I find a posh ice-cream container (the Carte D'or type) is ideal and takes 1kg sugar made up into fondant .

I've used a 2 litre ice cream box for my home-made fondant but with a piece of wood to divide it into two halves. So that when I removed the wood they could go up into the gap and have an increased surface area of fondant available instantly.

.... leaving an exact bee space when inverted over the feed hole in the crown board.

I was worried about the bees getting squashed between the fondant and the crown board if it dropped down onto them so I made sure it was loose enough to be down on the crown board when I put it in.
Was that an unnecessary precaution?