I feed my colonies in the autumn after removing the honey harvest, and try to leave some frames of honey in the hive over winter, supplemented by Invert syrup which they take down to store. Then in late December/ear;y January I have previously put a block of fondant on the top of the crown board over the hole, as an insurance for them to nibble if needed. I have in the past used bakers fondant from supermarkets, as many colleagues in local BKA do. I am wondering if I should be using instead one of the more expensive fondants from beekeeping suppliers (Thornes, Maisemore et al), and if so which is recommended by users here? Also, should I consider using one of the "pollen substitute" fondant blocks in the spring/late winter to encourage colony growth (and again, if so which would be recommended)? Thanks
Hi there CBK and welcome to the Forum.
I too use bakers fondant in 12.5 kg blocks either from a baking supplies wholesaler, a beekeeping supplier or ... a local baker who adds a couple of quid into what he pays and everyone’s happy.
I can’t speak from experience about other products but they may be made up of different proportions of glucose, sucrose etc. When I started there were many older beeks who swore by cane sugar over beet sugar.
If you only have one or two hives then certainly the more expensive options may be worth a go if they are easily obtainable. I doubt in terms of the bees there is much in it in terms of carbohydrate advantage. As regards pollen supplements or substitutes I think it very much depends on what is naturally available at the time you are thinking of using it and what nectar source you are thinking to build them up to exploit. Big colonies are certainly better when there is something for them to forage for but if not and you build up very early you could end up with them either swarming early or risking starvation. Around me there is usually plenty of early pollen from willow, but they do have to be able to fly to collect it. I may experiment next year with pollen myself to see if it gives any advantage but there is no real flow until the apples blossom as there is usually little rape locally. Around you it could be different.
Randy Oliver’s Scientific Beekeeping website has some interesting field trials of pollen feeding albeit in California in a prolonged drought - it might be different around you in a wet February! Always interesting to experiment.