Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
By far, the best food for this type of feeding is fondant, a mixture of sugar and high-
fructose corn syrup, available from most bakeries. It comes in 40- and 50-pound (18.1
and 22.7 kg) boxes, wrapped in plastic. Remove the contents of the box, place it onto a
cutting board, and roll back the plastic bag. With a large knife, slice off ½″ or ¾″ (1.3 or
1.9 cm)-thick slices, and put them in large, sealable plastic food storage bags and freeze
until needed.
In late winter, if feeding is required, thaw the bags of fondant you'll need, and cut
a corner-to-corner X on one side of the bag. Bring an empty super to your colony (and
your protective gear and hive tool), and a slice of fondant in a cut bag. The slice will be
nearly as large as the surface of the inner cover. Remove the cover and inner cover, peel
back the cut flaps, and place the fondant cut side down on the top bars of the top super.
Put on the extra super so the covers fit, add the inner cover and cover, weigh it down,
and you're done. This material is a bit more costly than simple sugar syrup, but there is
essentially no labor involved in mixing and stirring, and no pails to fill and refill. Feed-
ing with fondant in the winter is easy, efficient, and effective.
You should know how much food (sugar) your bees need to finish the winter and
feed all those young. Weigh the fondant slice and plan accordingly for more if needed.
The fondant is all sugar, no water, so you'll know how much to feed.
If the fondant dries out, it will become rock hard, but setting the bag in the sun for
a couple of hours softens it up. Laying a sealed bag in a pan of warm water softens it
more quickly.
Early Spring Inspections
Early spring may be as early as mid-January (or mid-June), or as late as late March (or
late September) depending on where you live. If you can, time this first quick inspec-
tion at least a month or six weeks before nectar and pollen start coming in.
The bees are probably already raising brood, and the stress this puts on the colony
has begun. Double-check for food, using sugar syrup or fondant as needed, depending
on the weather. Pick the warmest day you can—around 40ºF (4ºC) or warmer—and
open the colony to see where the bees are, whether brood is present, and how much
food is available. Don't do a lengthy inspection, but do check on those three things.
As early as you can, monitor for varroa with a sticky board for three days. If mite
populations indicate a serious problem, which is unlikely, you will need several weeks
for essential oil products to work, so plan ahead. Get a drone comb in the brood nest
too, so it's there when the bees start producing drones. Put one in the super with the
greatest number of bees and add more as the colony grows. Put in positions one and
seven for either one super or two. You'll catch most of them that way.
