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Mild winter lite hives:Emergency feeding

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greg755:
I put an inner cover on top of the supers then a medium empty super on that with the telescoping lid.  I also put a brick over the hole in the inner cover to cover up the hole.   In the middle of winter I just take of the telescoping cover and remove the brick to see if the bees are clustered at the top.  If they are I dump in a bunch of fondant right over the hole of the inner cover.  If they are not I just put the brick back over the hole and the top cover back on.   Very little disturbance to the hive very little heat loss.  Oh and I vent the inner cover with a penny on the two front corners.

andrewjones:
I have had excellent results feeding winter hives with fondant..  Coat the fondant with pollen substitute and place it into plastic bags.  Cut a vee in the side of the bag that will face the frames.  Place the bags on top of sticks to give the bees crawl space.  Use a two inch shim on top of stack and fill the empty space around the fondant/pollen patties with grain bags, bubble wrap etc.  This will prevent the bees from using the sugars to build wax.   Lastly, place a piece of blue foam board on top of the shim.  I put the foam board in an oversized zip lock bag to prevent the bees from chewing it.
 

OldMech:
Good plan!
   I have found that if it is cold the bees dont build wax, and they dont chew my insulation..  the only time I would have problems with either is if I left them on too far into spring.
   http://www.outyard.net/wintering.html

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