Back in an earlier post Gord talked about adding some fondant to the hives to help them get through the early spring until nature took over. We weren’t sure how successful this would be. We also tried a different way of presenting the fondant to the bees.

In a typical Lang hive (the white stacked boxes you usually see about), the fondant is placed above the comb at the top of the hive and the bees climb up and get at it. In a Top Bar hive, the bees cannot get above the comb as the bars are tight against each other. So the fondant has to go inside..

There are a couple of ways to put the fondant inside the hive. One is just to lay it on the bottom, under the comb. This works IF the bees have not built comb right down to the floor! Since our bees are allowed to build comb as they see fit, our hives don’t have room on the bottom. The other option is to put it on the floor behind the combs, put some empty bars at the top to make space and then the follower is put in to close up.

We decided to try a slightly different way. Hanging the fondant.

In spring 2009 we tried making some fondant that did not require any cooking. It was very soft and needed to be put on the floor of the hive. The bees ate some.

This year we did the boiled method. We also tried something different: hanging the fondant from wire mesh.

The bees have worked this fondant a lot and put much away for stores. This past weekend on the 24th, we removed what remained of the fondant as the bees were bringing on what nature has for them. And this of course is so much better than anything we could ever provide!

The bottom line is, the fondant worked very well, the bees took it in, and being able to hang the fondant in the middle of the hive close to the bees in early spring means they don’t have to go far to work it.

And it tastes great too!