I have been looking at this subject this evening: what sugar is, what fondant is made of, etc. and I'm yet to be convinced that ordinary sugar isn't as good as fondant. Fondant is a mixture of sugar, water and apparently, corn syrup. I suspect the corn syrup is there just to hold it together, just a bit of a glue really. Now, when my bees take fondant, they take it from a plastic container turned upside down over a crown board hole. The first accessible fondant is very close to the bees of course but as they take more, the source of it moves further away and yet they still manage to take it down without getting cold. I'm thinking that a suitably modified container with a small lip on the inside to stop naked sugar just falling through the hive would serve the purpose admirably. Since the sugar is dry, it won't go mouldy and if there is a water source near the apiary the bees should be able to bring in enough on a mild day to liquify the sugar and store it. If the day is too cold to go and get water, it is also probably too cold for them to leave the cluster and get fondant too. In either event, if it's cold they cluster, if it's warmer they get food and water. I have to try granulated sugar but at the moment they are not taking any fondant either to the question is moot.