just had a quick peek

[mark1]

thought I would have a quick look while the weather is nice, couldn't resist the temptation as this is my first hive overwintered, the hive was full of bees ith brood on about 3 frames. Slightly concerned about starvation as there was only 3 frames filled with honey, put some fondant and hoping for the continuing good weather.

 

[enrico]

Three frames filled with food is plenty for this time of the year!
They probably won't touch the fondant but what you don't want is them storing it and then moving it into the super later in the year for you to spin out into your honey!
E

 

[beeno]

Hi mark1,
Just taken fondant off one of mine, as you do not want to clog up the brood nest with syrup. They will swarm if queenie has nowhere to lay and they need space to store all the pollen for brood rearing.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Hi mark1,
Just taken fondant off one of mine, as you do not want to clog up the brood nest with syrup. They will swarm if queenie has nowhere to lay and they need space to store all the pollen for brood rearing.

Same here. My 'once very strong' colony that dropped 2000+ varroa during treatment last Oct/November, is still alive. Its considerably smaller than my other colonies but has 8 frames full of stores and 2 of brood. I think I now need to swap in some drawn comb to create some laying space for HM.
I've definitely over fed them in my newbie ignorance. I should never have put fondant on this colony, doh, they really didn't need it! But I have learnt how better to manage things next autumn/winter and have a much better idea what hefted weights actually mean in reality!

 

[enrico]

Well done JM. We never stop learning but at least you recognise the mistake! That is a real bonus! Strong hive for this year though, hope you get a good crop! Did they eat any fondant? Make sure they haven't stored it! They do sometimes!
E

 

[Itchy]

What does stored fondant look like?

 

[MartinL]

Fondant!

 

[MartinL]

Sorry, it's white/ish , and packed down into the cells.

 

[Chris B]

What you describe sounds like a nicely balanced hive. No risk of starvation and plenty of room for brood expansion too. However, the fondant (you didn't mention quantity) will probably do them good as their weight will likely continue to dip for another few weeks yet so I would leave it personally. You have lots of mouths to feed, and they need plenty of sugary fuel to go out and get all that pollen.

 

[Chris B]

Sorry, it's white/ish , and packed down into the cells.

I've never seen them do that. Then again I've only seen them store it in autumn (as a liquid). I don't use fondant in spring as a rule, prefer syrup.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Well done JM. We never stop learning but at least you recognise the mistake! That is a real bonus! Strong hive for this year though, hope you get a good crop! Did they eat any fondant? Make sure they haven't stored it! They do sometimes!
E

Thanks for the kind words Enrico, whilst mistakes are a pain, they are also a darn good way of learning!

Yes, clearly a bigger and stronger hive would have used more of their stores but weakened by varroa, this lot have consumed very little. They had however used (not stored) about 1/4 of the pack of fondant which I have removed and dissolved into a thin syrup ready for comb changes later in the year.

The real bonus for me is that they are still alive and thriving, I was convinced that the varroa load last October was high enough to finish them off!

 

[MartinL]

If they're weak now keep a close eye on stores later.

As they build in Spring they might start to consume more than they are bringing in leaving an early Summer shortfall!!!!!!

 

[BeeFarmer]

I noticed yesterday that my bees had eaten all there second lot of fondant in a week, the hive still feels quite heavy therefore would it be recommended to stop feeding them fondant now? There weather appears to be improving and I've seen them out flying. I don't know if it is too early to conduct an inspection or not... first year beekeeping confusion has struck....

 

[itma]

I noticed yesterday that my bees had eaten all there second lot of fondant in a week, the hive still feels quite heavy therefore would it be recommended to stop feeding them fondant now? There weather appears to be improving and I've seen them out flying. I don't know if it is too early to conduct an inspection or not... first year beekeeping confusion has struck....

If it is sunny and around 15C, it is plenty warm enough to have a check through the hives for stores.
Don't bother to hunt for the queen. But you should hope to be able to spot some open brood and some sealed (worker) brood, which would show that Q was functioning properly a week ago.
You should also note the availability of empty cells around the broodnest, so that the Q isn't short of laying space.
And some stores, close by the broodnest.
You'd want to see a total of at least a couple of frames-worth of sealed stores, less than that and you should be seeking out some fondant for them.

 

[BeeFarmer]

Thank you for the advice, hopefully by lunch time tomorrow the temperature will be in the mid-teens so that I can take a quick look.

 

[MartinL]

I noticed yesterday that my bees had eaten all there second lot of fondant in a week, the hive still feels quite heavy therefore would it be recommended to stop feeding them fondant now? There weather appears to be improving and I've seen them out flying. I don't know if it is too early to conduct an inspection or not... first year beekeeping confusion has struck....

They have not necessarily "eaten" the fondant!

By now, you should really only be feeding syrup.
Fondant (packed into cells), could lead to starvation. Especially with a dry spring!

 

[Midland Beek]

I noticed yesterday that my bees had eaten all there second lot of fondant in a week, the hive still feels quite heavy....

Without trying to sound a clever dick, bees do not 'eat' fondant. The stuff is too concentrated for bees to metabolize. What they do with fondant is mix it with a little water and store it in the comb. The point of me stating this is that it is not that clever to be feeding up a colony with lots of food so early because this might provoke very early swarming.

Open them up on a warm afternoon. You might find them crammed with food, and this is perhaps not the best scenario.

 

[drex]

Without trying to sound a clever dick, bees do not 'eat' fondant. The stuff is too concentrated for bees to metabolize. What they do with fondant is mix it with a little water and store it in the comb. The point of me stating this is that it is not that clever to be feeding up a colony with lots of food so early because this might provoke very early swarming.

Open them up on a warm afternoon. You might find them crammed with food, and this is perhaps not the best scenario.

How do bees carry nectar? In their honey stomach. Same for fondant I should think, once in solution

 

[BeeFarmer]

A quick peek revealed some capped and uncapped brood, brace comb galore, pollen going in and clear liquid in cells which I took to be nectar.

 

[itma]

I noticed yesterday that my bees had eaten all there second lot of fondant in a week, the hive still feels quite heavy therefore would it be recommended to stop feeding them fondant now? There weather appears to be improving and I've seen them out flying. I don't know if it is too early to conduct an inspection or not... first year beekeeping confusion has struck....

...
You should also note the availability of empty cells around the broodnest, so that the Q isn't short of laying space.
And some stores, close by the broodnest.
You'd want to see a total of at least a couple of frames-worth of sealed stores, less than that and you should be seeking out some fondant for them.

A quick peek revealed some capped and uncapped brood, brace comb galore, pollen going in and clear liquid in cells which I took to be nectar.

Er, yes, but no, but ... wasn't the original question whether or not to stop feeding?

What stores and space did you observe - apart from some clear liquid in some cells?