Concerns about (first time use of) a mini mating nuc

[Asia-Off-Grid]

Well, that was a waste of time. I just attempted to make a post. The image file was too large, so the post was redirected to a message informing me of the file size. In the mean time, it saw fit to delete my entire post text, too.

 

Oh well. Trying again.

I am a new beekeeper, having just started with my first two colonies this past (late) July. I currently have two queenright (10 frame) hives and a queenless (10 frame) hive that I will either buy a queen to introduce, or (preferably) let the girls make their own queen.

My question is regarding 2 mini mating nucs that I purchased a few months back. I didn't bother opening them to look them over, until a week ago. I noticed that both have a small metal "L" shaped queen excluder, to prevent the queen from entering the food chamber. (The excluder is not shown in the image I will attach, below.)

However, if I were to feed them with syrup, I'm sure many of the bees would drown while attempting to consume the syrup. So, I am going to try a fondant (Candipolline Gold, from the UK). But, I am not sure how to proceed with adding it to the nucs. Do I mix it with water (or sugar syrup)? Or, do I just fill the food chamber with the dry mix?

I appreciate any advice regarding how to sort out these nucs.

[little john]

Fondant is designed to be used 'as supplied'.  It should have the consistency of extremely stiff - spoon-bendingly stiff - bread dough.  Never add water to it (unless you're converting left-overs to syrup) and then feed in an open feeder, as the bees will cover themselves in goo, and you'll end up with a ball of sticky bees which will eventually die.
If fondant ever completely dries out, then one or two drops of water is all it takes to revive it - but it's best to keep unused fondant well covered so that this doesn't happen.

I don't use such small nucs anymore - feeding was one of the many problems I found with them.  I understand most people simply knife a good lump of fondant into the compartment and press it down - but attached here are pictures of a couple of solutions that other people have devised to feed fondant and comb honey within other styles of small nuc box, although some modification to the boxes themselves may be necessary.





Good luck - and welcome to the forum.
LJ

[Asia-Off-Grid]

Thanks for the information in your post.

Fondant is designed to be used 'as supplied'.

If I may ask, is fondant the same thing that is packed into the food chamber of a queen cage, the bees eat through in order to release her?

Good luck - and welcome to the forum.

Thanks. Truly appreciated.

[little john]

If I may ask, is fondant the same thing that is packed into the food chamber of a queen cage, the bees eat through in order to release her?

Hello Paul.
Yes, it is - but - there is a difference in feed quality between what you've bought - which is the 'Rolls-Royce' of fondants, being a completely balanced foodstuff - and what queen producers put in their mailing cages, which is normally 'Baker's Fondant'.

Baker's Fondant is a plain sucrose product, with just a few percent of glucose added to make it more 'plastic' in consistency.  Typically used by bakers (hence it's name) for topping-off iced buns and suchlike.  It's a fairly cheap product - about 1.5 times the price of granulated sugar - and although it's low in nutritional value, the bees in a mailing cage are only eating it for a few days, a week at most. 

It is possible to make your own fondant of course - there are videos on YouTube etc on the method used.  Or finely powdered sugar can be added to and mixed with a small amount of honey until it becomes as stiff as fondant.  Because of it's honey content the bees love it, but it's hard work to make in any quantity.

I would imagine that beekeeping in Cambodia must be very good all year round, with your tropical climate ?
'best,
LJ

[Asia-Off-Grid]

Hi Little John,

Yes, it is - but - there is a difference in feed quality between what you've bought - which is the 'Rolls-Royce' of fondants, being a completely balanced foodstuff - and what queen producers put in their mailing cages, which is normally 'Baker's Fondant'.

Baker's Fondant is a plain sucrose product, with just a few percent of glucose added to make it more 'plastic' in consistency.  Typically used by bakers (hence it's name) for topping-off iced buns and suchlike.  It's a fairly cheap product - about 1.5 times the price of granulated sugar - and although it's low in nutritional value, the bees in a mailing cage are only eating it for a few days, a week at most.

Go figure. I had no - well, almost no idea as to what I was buying, when I purchased the Candipolline Gold. Basically, I read about it on the PDF instruction sheet written for the mini mating nucs. Then, I went browsing, until I found what I was looking for on the Simon The Beekeeper website. I may be off on what commercial fondant should cost. But, I got 1 Kilogram (~ 2.2 pounds) for 3.49 GBP (~ $4.50 US).

It is possible to make your own fondant of course - there are videos on YouTube etc on the method used.  Or finely powdered sugar can be added to and mixed with a small amount of honey until it becomes as stiff as fondant.  Because of it's honey content the bees love it, but it's hard work to make in any quantity.

I've only been a beekeeper since July 22nd, this year. My first two colonies arrived on that day.  (I've been addicted to bees ever since.) While I have read about fondant in the past, I only began exploring it recently, after finally having read the PDF file mentioned above.

I would imagine that beekeeping in Cambodia must be very good all year round, with your tropical climate ?

Since I only have a few months under my belt as a beekeeper, I realize I have a long way to go, and a heck of a lot to learn. But, I can imagine, not having the issues one may encounter while overwintering their hives in countries like the UK. How long is your beekeeping (honey flow) season, in the UK?

[little john]

That's a difficult question to answer, as it's impossible to generalise - the length of season varying enormously from the warm, sunny South Coast right up to the bleak and hostile conditions in the North of Scotland.  But, in my area - in mid-Eastern England - a modest flow usually starts in early April and continues until the end of July - so that's 4 months.  But - this is very much weather dependent: so often the nectar 'stays out there' for weeks on end due to inclement conditions, rather than finding it's way into the hive. 
But it isn't all bad news. Right now - the 7th of October - the bees are bringing in shed-loads of pollen. Heaven only knows where they find it.  Pity it isn't accompanied by a reasonable amount of nectar, but if there is some nectar present, then it's almost certainly being used up as a result of the flying distances involved.
Scotland and English moorland areas which have abundant heather do enjoy a second very productive flow around late August and September - but sadly there's no heather around these parts, other than the occasional plant in people's gardens.
'best,
LJ