Placing fondant/pollen patty in hive in bad weather

[poshpikey]

When placing a patty in a hive in bad weather it is important to be as quick as possible so...

If there are bees on the top of the top bars what is the best thing to do?

Use an eke and place gently on top of bars hoping bees will move out of the way?

Brush bees to one side - but they might fly up and get chilled.

Smoke bees down

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thankyou!

 

[Finman]

.
Patty must be between grease papers.

Cut so small pieces that when you lay the piece on bars, bees will not be crushed and they move away.

.

 

[Oandy]

Can anyone point me to the Pollen free Pattie recipe. Ive looked around trying to use search but no luck. Thanks in advance.

 

[REDWOOD]

lots of threads on the forum, here's one
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=22225&highlight=patties

 

[PBee]

When placing a patty in a hive in bad weather it is important to be as quick as possible so...

If there are bees on the top of the top bars what is the best thing to do?

Use an eke and place gently on top of bars hoping bees will move out of the way?

Brush bees to one side - but they might fly up and get chilled.

Smoke bees down

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thankyou!

Don't know whether it is necessary but I warm fondant/patties up before putting on in cold weather on the basis that a cold block will act as a heat sink for a time and may stress the colony. I used to place thin fillets of wood under the block but now just place it straight onto the cluster - most will escape and speed and minimum disturbance loses less bees. Then a plastic cover and plenty of insulation with as little air space as possible around the patty.

 

[IGPebble]

I've taken to half filling plastic takeaway containers with fondant, each holds around .7kg, this is placed over the hole in the crownboard.

You only half fill it as there will be bees in it when you need to replace it, if it was totally full you'd crush them, this also gives them plenty of space to nibble away, meaning they take it down faster.

I find I'm able to swap fondant quickly even when its a bit chilly, bee loss is minimal, any left clinging to the old tub are knocked off gently on the landing board and most make it back in safely.

 

[oliver90owner]

You only half fill it as there will be bees in it when you need to replace it

Really? And I thought it would be virtually empty when the time came to replace it. Talk about making life difficult!

 

[Norvic_chris]

And talking of making life difficult, any thoughts on putting the patty into a brood-and-a-half hive where the cluster is not at the top? I put a patty in about 3 weeks ago and they've not touched it -- it's obviously too far from the cluster -- but will lifting off the super to put a patty on the BB bars do more harm than good -- especially if I find the cluster split over the two boxes? (I know, NEXT year I promise not to use B+half -- although I said that last year, and the one before that...) I wrapped the patty in polythene/cling film and cut a hole in it.

 

[Oandy]

Thanks Redwood missed the post a few times thanks. Andy

 

[IGPebble]

You only half fill it as there will be bees in it when you need to replace it

Really? And I thought it would be virtually empty when the time came to replace it. Talk about making life difficult!

I meant, when you take the empty container off, there will be bees on the crown board beneath it. If you put a full container on the same place, you'd crush all the bees with the fondant.

Being able to add fondant without removing the crown board has its advantages.

 

[poshpikey]

Thanks for the replies. I like this one as if the weather continues to be bad it will be quick and easy to check to see if the bees need more without lifting the crownboard. (I don't have glass quilts.)

 

[BeeJayBee]

FERA advice today is to make sure they've got food, because there's a starvation risk.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/News/news.cfm#135

 

[IGPebble]

I find it very easy to just peek open the lid to check the see-through containers, minimal heat loss and disturbance