What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Millet]

I checked the Nuc in the garden today and the 1.5kg Fondant block i gave them a while back has almost gone..the bees never touched the fondant for a long time but now they are gathering pollen it seems to have gone a lot quicker..luckily it is my garden nuc where i stay most week days so i can give them more supplies tomorrow..

 

[enrico]

Sure they are not just storing it? They have kicked in to collecting mode here. Anything goes, even fondant!

 

[Millet]

Sure they are not just storing it? They have kicked in to collecting mode here. Anything goes, even fondant!

Its a nuc if they are storing it fair do's they will get more regardless..i would rather see them store it and make brood Rather than see them starve to death...should i pull the Nuc apart to see if they are storing it or eating it..? i think not..

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Just glad my nucs are double opened one up bees from side to side

 

[madasafish]

Just glad my nucs are double opened one up bees from side to side

I have one lang jumbo nearly like that..

 

[Wingy]

Took reduced tunnel entrance block out of the garden hive this morning, watching them now and it’s a good job I did. They are still struggling to get in and out fast enough. Loads of yellow pollen going in & view from underneath with a mirror through OMF shows what appears to be 7 full seams of bees on Langstroth brood & 1/2.

 

[Poly Hive]

To the best of my knowledge, I have yet to see fondant being stored. As most of you know I bruise my brood stores and its always honey I see in there as I don't feed syrup now at all.

PH

 

[BMH]

To the best of my knowledge, I have yet to see fondant being stored. As most of you know I bruise my brood stores and its always honey I see in there as I don't feed syrup now at all.

PH

I fed up 55 colonies this year with fondant i.e. no syrup at all and they definitely take it down and store it.

Sometimes they seem to digest/mix with water to a sludge and ive also seen it stored as white clumps of fondant.

It certainly gets stored either way but ive not seen it capped i.e. fondant stored underneath wax cappings.

 

[Poly Hive]

Interesting. Was it the bakers fondant you were feeding?

PH

 

[Lancs Lad]

Once the bees are able to forage for water they will start moving fondant and store it

 

[BMH]

Interesting. Was it the bakers fondant you were feeding?

PH

Yes. Just bog standard bakers fondant from Bako

 

[Curly green fingers]

I've seen fondant stores capped and mixed with willow honey last spring . The fondant was mainly round the out side of the frames.

 

[Millet]

Put 1.5kg of fondant on the garden Nuc this morning.. i do not care if they store it eat it or leave it..they will certainly not have starved to death come spring..if they need empty drawn comb when they go into a full hive i will give them some...easy peezy lemon squeezy ..by the way these bees are as gentle as Keld Brandstrup F0 i can not wait to see how they perform after the oil seed rape has gone..

 

[GuyNir]

Bit cloudy and windy here today. Bees flying, but not in great numbers. Pollen coming in, mainly snowdrops and crocuses which just started. Sticky boards show signs of increased brooding in all hives.

 

[Tom Jay]

Warm enough to test the level of varroa in my colonies by dusting the seams with icing sugar, trays in underneath. First time I've taken the crown boards off and lovely to see all is busy, no mould, and in the case of the largest colony dripping honey from wild comb on the underside of the crown board.

I did a different thing today: I placed a QE over the brood box prior to doing the dusting with icing sugar, to keep the majority of bees in place. Only a tiny number attempted to climb through. Neat.

Another new thing: I knew that one of the colonies I was due to dust is mega huge on double brood, both boxes full of bees. So I came to the task with spare stand, base, crownboard and roof. I split the colony in something like artificial swarm style - just for these 24 hours! - and dusted the two boxes separately, each one with a tray in. Tomorrow I will put them back together of course.

[Now Tom … see if you get hammered for bad practice … ]

 

[Millet]

Warm enough to test the level of varroa in my colonies by dusting the seams with icing sugar, trays in underneath. First time I've taken the crown boards off and lovely to see all is busy, no mould, and in the case of the largest colony dripping honey from wild comb on the underside of the crown board.

I did a different thing today: I placed a QE over the brood box prior to doing the dusting with icing sugar, to keep the majority of bees in place. Only a tiny number attempted to climb through. Neat.

Another new thing: I knew that one of the colonies I was due to dust is mega huge on double brood, both boxes full of bees. So I came to the task with spare stand, base, crownboard and roof. I split the colony in something like artificial swarm style - just for these 24 hours! - and dusted the two boxes separately, each one with a tray in. Tomorrow I will put them back together of course.

[Now Tom … see if you get hammered for bad practice … ]

You will not get hammered from thee but it is something i would not dee..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

To the best of my knowledge, I have yet to see fondant being stored.

seen it stored often. once years ago, I knew that one colony was extremely low on stores in November, so as I was home for a little while before off on patrol again I just slapped on a load of fondant.
It took down over 14kg in less than a fortnight and required no other feeding until the follwing season was underway.
Observed it quite a few times since.

 

[taurus]

I had two colonies last year that stored fondant. This year I’ve fed less and they’ve only just started needing some homemade fondant.

The weird thing is that I had one hive which due to work commitments last summer I left with a whole brood box of honey on top. They are the ones now the lightest on stores. I thought they’d go through without needing any extra.

 

[oliver90owner]

It will depend on activity and water supply as to whether fondant is stored.

Fondant at only 11-12% water content will not be stored, just consumed (the less water the higher the energy content of the food). But if there is some nectar coming in, I’m sure they would combine the two to place it in store. Bees are not stupid - not having to evaporate water from nectar, for storage, is a plus for them!

 

[Eyeman]

To the best of my knowledge, I have yet to see fondant being stored. As most of you know I bruise my brood stores and its always honey I see in there as I don't feed syrup now at all.

PH

Peter Edwards of Stratford BKA switched from sugar syrup to fondant feeding; used to be a pic showing before and after. The Apiarist say's he's been winter feeeding fondant for 5+ years. Both believe that the bees store the fondant.