Junk food

[gavin]

Or maybe honey thickened with powdered sugar?

Bottom of this page for queen candy:

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/feedingcandy.html

[Rosie]

What is 'sugar honey', Rosie? Honey dissolved in sugar syrup?

By "sugar honey" I meant the stuff the bees make from syrup fed to them for winter. Some people call it "shoney" others say "phoney". Whatever you call it I think it's basically concentrated sucrose with a small amount inverted and some enzymes added. If you feed them too much of it in the Autumn you can be left with plenty remaining in the Spring which will be moved, by the bees, up into the supers where it will contaminate your new honey crop.

I have been weighing my colonies throughout the winter for a number of years and now have a good handle on how much to feed them but if I slip up or am unable to feed enough I have to resort to adding fondant in the winter.

I think the best policy is to encourage them to store enough honey in the brood box by removing the supers early enough in the Autumn. Then they will be able to survive the winter on real honey and contamination in the spring would not be an issue. I only feed my light ones in the Autumn but last season was so disastrous around here than I had to feed almost all of mine.

Rosie

[chris]

I think the best policy is to encourage them to store enough honey in the brood box by removing the supers early enough in the Autumn. Then they will be able to survive the winter on real honey and contamination in the spring would not be an issue.
Rosie

This is always my aim. I normally take off my last super mid August. That means the bees have the late summer/autumn flowers for filling the cells that become available as queen laying diminishes. Of course different places have different climates so the exact moment varies. Also, I don't have late flows like ivy to mess it all up.

[Calum]

Hi,
Re Gavins post on insulation -none of my hives have insulation and are all fine with months of minus degrees here going right down to -25°C must have been something else (aswell)!

I do not like insulation as it encourages a longer period of small brood nesting this increases the varroa population more than anything else.

Fondant feeding from above should just be a last resort when it is clear that the bees will otherwise starve, it is not without its risks that Ilisted on other threads (I'll refrain from copy pasting !).

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks again for all the answers. Calum, I searched through all your posts and now realise that I have slightly duplicated an earlier question in the thread 'Feeding Fondant'. I was away at the time
- as far as broadband was concerned, out in the bundus - and missed that thread. Still, I learned lots of new things in this thread. Thanks to all.

Kitta