Hive Revive

[markb2603]

Came across a colony yesterday on my usual checks that had devoured the fondant I gave them about couple of weeks ago and were on the brink of starvation. I noticed this as a number had perished and fallen out of the entrance. Completely my fault and I should have been keeping a closer eye. Bees were all clustered up with no real movement when I peered in. Bought the hive itself indoors to the heat and put another 2kg of fondant on top of the frames and closed the entrance. A couple of hours later they seemed revived and were digging into the fondant. Moved the hive back out last night and moved the active bees and fondant into a poly nuc this afternoon. 4.5 frames of bees (including queen which I spotted when transferring to the nuc) but absolutely nothing else to speak of. All frames completely dry. Whether the above was the right approach or not, I’ve revived them for now and they were certainly doomed if I’d just left them as is so taking that as a success story.

My question is, in normal conditions the colony should have started to rear at least some brood at this stage but obviously this colony hasn’t due to the lack of food. Should I provide them with a fondant/pollen mix or just leave them with fondant and they’ll figure out the protein problem themselves? From what I can see of the willow catkins, the first pollen flow from them is probably about 2-3 weeks away at the earliest.

 

[Sutty]

I'd just keep the fondant topped up and check whether they bring pollen in on the next relatively mild day.
Once they have taken down a decent amount of fondant I'd then think about pollen patties if none is coming in by then.