Placing Fondant

[reigate]

When placing fondant on the hive should it be placed above the holes in the Crownboard or directly on to the brood frames?

 

[Beefriendly]

When placing fondant on the hive should it be placed above the holes in the Crownboard or directly on to the brood frames?

I'd recommend directly on frames, with an eke. Mild winters you might get away with fondant above crown board, but in a severe cold one the cluster won't move sideways to the holes in the crown board, but they will go upwards to a slab on top of the frames just above wherever they have formed the cluster.

 

[Ian123]

I put above holes on crown board and you can normally rotate till positioned directly above cluster easily enough. The fondant is also only there as belt and braces for those getting a little light so not the only source of food. However you do it though the most important bit is to ensure the cluster is in contact with the fondant. Particularly if they are very short on stores.

 

[enrico]

Mine is for emergencies only. In an insulated super on top of the crown board. I can see if they are in the container as it is see through. Only placed on in a long cold Spring.
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Same here. Fondant is an emergency measure. I have put it in a container over a feeder hole and straight on the top bars
Shouldn’t be needed if you make sure your hives are winter weight. You can do that easily just now or even a little later if the weather is letting your bees forage on ivy

 

[Curly green finger's]

Fondant straight on the top bars , and I will only put it on when my single brood weigh 25/30 kgs.( Feb) apiary 1 clee hill.
@ Dani is there some where on here that has hive winter weights for different hive types .
Might be a good thread or whatever.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Fondant straight on the top bars , and I will only put it on when my single brood weigh 25/30 kgs.( Feb) apiary 1 clee hill.
@ Dani is there some where on here that has hive winter weights for different hive types .
Might be a good thread or whatever.

I could do a sticky
I have some weights for my hive components if anybody is interested

 

[Popparand]

Fondant straight on the top bars , and I will only put it on when my single brood weigh 25/30 kgs.( Feb) apiary 1 clee hill.
@ Dani is there some where on here that has hive winter weights for different hive types .
Might be a good thread or whatever.

Three finger lift= heavy
Two finger lift= OK
One finger lift= Too light. Feed!

(without the roof)

 

[Curly green finger's]

I could do a sticky

I have some weights for my hive components if anybody is interested

It would be a good idea , looks like I'm /were also learning the five fingery thing. Jokes ......

Sent from my Nokia 1 using Tapatalk

 

[Curly green finger's]

I've already green ones!

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[Poly Hive]

I put it directly on the top bars and I use two to three kilos Whether or not they need it. Why?

Very simple I have seen a very well supplied colony die of isolation starvation in a single BB. No excluder nonsense just a simple nat brood box with dead bees. I pondered this and thought well if they had food overhead problem solved and so it has proved year on year.

But what about all that sugar unused at Spring? Simple again, I recycle it as light syrup (1:1) and feed it so stimulate the brood so a win win. The full brood combs of feed can either be pulled as stores for nucs later or can be bruised as part of the plus one system I run.

PH

 

[Beefriendly]

In the past, when using wooden hives, I've had colonies die when I've put emergency fondant on the crown board holes and moved the hole over the bees....and still they wouldn't move up to take it.
You can, IMHO, "get away" with it on the crown-board most winters, but it can come back to bite you in the butt. Better safe than sorry.

 

[SWEET]

All my hives (nat) have a full super going into winter*, mix of rape/feed, 99% sure this should stop them starving and removes the need for fondant (I've found).

*plus whatever they stash in the BB.

Nucs will all have a block in the feeder tho.

PS. Don't place blocks of fondant over the frames unwrapped, nightmare.

 

[Erichalfbee]

All my hives (nat) have a full super going into winter*, mix of rape/feed, 99% sure this should stop them starving and removes the need for fondant (I've found)

*plus whatever they stash in the BB.

Excellent
Might I add that this is not foolproof unless you have a strong healthy colony with a fecund queen.
Provision of stores guarantees nothing otherwise, no matter where they are

 

[Poly Hive]

Sometimes the obvious needs stating yes.

PH

 

[SWEET]

Excellent
Might I add that this is not foolproof unless you have a strong healthy colony with a fecund queen.
Provision of stores guarantees nothing otherwise, no matter where they are

Agreed and looking strong (should look like);

Had a feral hive (pulled from inside an oak) in a very basic pine box (no super few frames of stores) and rather small... battle through the winter last year fine, put down to being super tough and conservative with their stores.

 

[madasafish]

I weigh all my 7 to 8 hives prior to winter.
I have a minimum weight of 35kg for a standard configuration: lang floor ,super,jumbo b box, C board. Based on observations since 2016- so covering the Beast From the East.

Any less and they will be at risk of starvation in spring.

By Spring the vaerage hive loses 10kg in weight. Anything less than a weight of 25kg then is fed in Spring..

So a usage of 10kg over winter.

No guesswork needed..

No hives lost over winter in this period due to starvation (but 1 nuc)

 

[Madge]

...The full brood combs of feed can either be pulled as stores for nucs later or can be bruised as part of the plus one system I run.
PH

What is a plus one system, PH?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hive weights for winter

I've started a sticky here https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=689920#post689920

Please add your comments and weights

 

[citrus]

I put above holes on crown board and you can normally rotate till positioned directly above cluster easily enough. The fondant is also only there as belt and braces for those getting a little light so not the only source of food. However you do it though the most important bit is to ensure the cluster is in contact with the fondant. Particularly if they are very short on stores.

Ian .. you are down my neck of the woods ... do you always run overwinter with fondant on .. regardless ?

I've not bothered before and only have a few hives and lots of IVY access but dont want to miss out if this is an insurance policy