Overnight they solidified just as you describe, and the bricks were easy to quickly slip in place (the sugar muffins are in storage for later). Thanks for the breakdown of the different sugar feeds – most helpful and understandable! Its purpose it to discuss contemporary issues in beekeeping and bee science. You describe the entire surface melting process very well. Sugar water in feeders is such a pain. But that’s it. Way to make a newbie feel welcome. Do you have links to plans for the moisture quilts. (Unfortunately, it’s sort of our thing to take on more than we’re prepared to handle, most times it helps us learn quicker… there’s no choice!!!) So I’m going to make one today and put it on this week so I don’t have to keep bothering them The next few months with sugar samples. They are easy to make, the bees love them, and any leftover candy can be reused or dissolved into syrup for spring. I made HoneyMoney because I didn't like any other options on the market. I’m not sure which aspect you are worried about, but you can relax. I was checking hives every week or so and replenishing sugar as consumed. and when would you stop (March?) This year I’m up to 30 hives and I’ve made sugar boards for all, only thing I did different was I also put about two tablespoons of Honeybee healthy in each board, I place pollen patties more closer to spring ( late February). So did not follow all of the directions, with expected results. If the bees otherwise have access to water is there any reason not to i.e. Of course, that will challenge the thinking of some beekeepers, but maybe that’s exactly what needs to happen because beekeeping these days is different. Do you thnk it would be ok to put a diluted essential oil mixture in/on the candy board mix to help prevent Nosema, etc? Question three is hard to answer and is more complicated than just looking at the calendar. Or do beekeepers only do one or the other? If they don’t need it, we’re out the money for the sugar I guess (though, can’t we store it or use it later, so maybe not wasted) but if they do and we don’t provide then they’re toast. Thanks so much for the info and insight Rusty! It only means that I don’t like it. How much sugar a colony will eat depends on lots of things such as the size of the colony, how much honey they have in the hive to start with, how cold the winter is, whether the colony is exposed to wind, etc. Last fall all my hives were short going into winter because of the long drought, so they needed lots of feed. This is my first year, just starting. The quilt is designed to dry out, but the newspaper won’t. You can also start with simple tracking, planning will come later. Where do you buy your 50 lb bags of baker’s sugar at a discount price? I use a rolling pin to compact the sugar firmly. I understand now. Tough opening a hive and finding swarm cells when the weather report says 40sF and rain for the next 2 weeks. I have a question: I am confused on the difference between wintergreen patties and pollen patties, and which are appropriate to use. I am part of a collective here and was told for ventilation to use popsicle sticks but I am curious about moisture quilts and would like to try it on a couple of my hives. I am so enthusiastic about the uncooked candy board setup using the plastic queen excluder as the bottom of an eke which is placed above the top brood box. Now or later doesn’t matter at all. I decided on ten pounds of sugar per candy board based on talking to beekeepers in similar areas. The shim also has a 1/2 inch upper entrance opening. By spring, nothing is left. If you are going to feed in the fall, syrup is a good idea. These are all excellent observations. Thank you. The other day it was slightly above freezing and the bees didn’t like the top removed so some flew out and of course died, so I used some smoke to simmer them down. Will do this again next time. Later, when the wood is removed, the empty space provides the place where the air will flow from the colony up into the moisture quilt. My instincts are telling me to place my shim and candy board under the quilt box now. For several years I’ve been looking for a way to combine a moisture quilt with a candy board. So, this may be a good time to talk with your honey about moving some money into bank accounts for peace of mind; that topic was one dinner discussion Cliff and I had during a recent money date. Thank you so much for answering all my questions. . Quick question. Quite a good observation. This means a lot to me. I have a flat lid as well, but my lid sits on top of the legs, so that leaves about 1 1/2″ -2″ space between lid and top bars. Thanks… you’re the bomb. However, even if there were drones, they don’t eat from a candy board. However, you probably won’t have leftovers. By next morning the thing was hard as a rock. This leads me to believe next year I will experiment making just one with 12 tablespoons of water, evaluate it, experiment some more if necessary and make the remaining candy boards. Eh, sometime I pride myself on telling people what not to do. See How to make a moisture quilt for a Langstroth hive. A friend told me about the excluder idea, and it seemed to be the perfect answer. HoneyMoney is the only tool specifically designed to help people save more money. This depends quite a bit on whether we get an early spring or not. Thanks, Rusty, for sharing your genius. 2. in attaching the queen excluders on bottoms of feeder boards, i have a slightly uneven surface and can see small gaps. Thank you. Just above the brood box I added the Imirie shim with the opening in front, then the candy board, then the quilt, then the lid. You can make the candy boards as thick as you like. If the pollen is mixed uniformly into the candy, the bees are more or less compelled to eat it even if they don’t want to. But I do feel better having backup food on the hives, especially since our hot and dry summer produced very little in the way of nectar. I still check in February to see if they need more sugar. Thank you for putting together and maintaining this very informative website. (not with honey supers on). You must have some kind of equivalent up there. Most of the different ways of feeding are just beekeeper preferences. I, for example, am still uncomfortable with oxalic acid vaporization, so I don’t use it. The first reason is that cooking sugar syrup is both dangerous and boring, a bad combination for me because when I’m bored I don’t pay attention. The sugar hardens nicely across the plastic ones and they lay flat, which is why I chose them. My third has lost quite a few bees in the last month relative to the other two (probably varroa related as you write elsewhere). Do both the candy board and the quilt, can’t hurt, but definitely works to control condensation and more importantly gives them food whenever they need it. No. I made each pollen patty from 100 grams of Mann Lake Bee-Pro pollen substitute, 200 grams of baker’s sugar, and 105 ml of water. Go figure. I use the same kind of candy board here in Marengo, Wi. * No need to connect to your online-banking (but you can import your historical data from CSV though). The hive needs to be dry so the honey can be cured. It is as simple as brushing your teeth. I will look at the gutter guard, sounds like an interesting idea. If I’m going to put the candy board on before the solstice, I don’t add the pollen patty for the reasons stated in the post: it can prematurely boost the bee population. Normal? I try not to use anything with an odor (such as Honey-B-Healthy or essential oils) while honey bees or yellowjackets are still flying in the fall. Once complete, I spread a layer of plastic wrap on the table, placed the empty candy board on the wrap, and then positioned a piece of 2×4 lumber in the center of the candy board. Moisture is absorbed, and syrup forms both on the surface and deeper in the cake, flowing out thru gaps between sugar crystals. You are my go-to for all things bees and i know they are even more thankful than i am, which is saying you’ve sure saved a LOT of bees with your shared knowledge!! It is the middle of February here in Ontario, Canada, and my one hive is pretty light on stores. Do you agree with that? I have never seen or heard of a problem. Ramsey, America's trusted voice on money, is a National best-selling author and radio host. I was really worried about honey reserves in the hive so I made this no cook candy board. Please correct me if I’m wrong. It seems feeding sugar this way (it has water in it) is easier and less disruptive of the hive. At first the mix looks dry and crumbly, but I just knead it like bread for a minute and it makes a silken patty with the consistency of bread dough. So the next year I made it into a winter feeding board using 1″x1″ scrap wood. I don’t know if it would act differently with regular sugar, but you can experiment. That’s really the only difference. Will bees store fondant? Watch XXXPAWN - Thick Babe Nina Kayy Makes That Pawn Shop Money, Honey! Honey Bee Suite is dedicated to honey bees, beekeeping, wild bees, other pollinators, and pollination ecology. In my climate a 4# bag of sugar is plenty. Please, if you place an upper entrance of any kind, cover it with 1/4″ hardware mesh to protect your bees. I used metal queen excluders and detected no sagging. Thank you. Lots of types of nectar have high levels of sucrose, and honey bees have no issue with this, inverting it without knowing it. Bees don’t want to go there. I do not know if they have enough stores to make it through the winter (1 deep, 1 shallow each). As you recall, I had the “freak wind” accident and I do think my bees were weakened. I did put some hard sugar I made in a cookie sheet on to of a queen separator about a week ago during a mild day. I’d already placed the mountain feeders because of cold 20 nights. Some of the moisture will condense on the underside of the candy board, which is a good thing because moisture on the surface of the hard candy allows the bees to consume it with ease. The next thing I did was prepare the pollen supplement. Generally, sugar bricks under the combs will not be effective. Bigger issue is with windy conditions that can steadily pull heat from the hive boxes. Any thoughts, Rusty? But I’ve never tried it and I could be wrong. You can put your upper entrance wherever you like, but as long as the colony is alive, air will flow from the bottom of the hive to the top because warm air rises. Often you will hear three or four different pieces of advice, and one may feel really right and another may feel really wrong. Instead of a queen excluder, I screen in the bottom with chicken wire. Debbe Krape in Delaware sent me some no-cook ideas that she collected, and then directed me to the West Central Ohio Beekeepers, where some of the ideas originated. Since the candy is above the bees, the warm moisture from their breath lands on it and condenses. Fingers crossed! I’ve had a pantry super but in the cold they aren’t going up so this seems a good way for them to access food wherever they are. Last year was a bad year and I was forced to put them on early. You can see this with an infrared camera. And, I suppose, /why/ use wintergreen. I have been scowering all sorts of books publications and the net for ideas on how to combine a cedar blanket with a candy board. I stopped heating/cooking anything once I learned how much hydroxymethylfurfural ends up in the feed. Actually, they did really well and bounded into spring with no problem. I’d like to share some advice here that can hopefully spare other new beekeepers the pain I’m going through right now. Do I leave them on? Yours is a better/tighter fit, and I need to lay tissue paper down on the bottom before I put the sugar in or else it seeps out the bottom too quickly. No, I’m not familiar with the injection molded frames. Thank you for all your information on here, I find it practical and very helpful! Seems kinda silly. I didn’t fill the 2″ space completely so still have room to add some less compressed blocks. It worked great and was so easy to do. Great instructions. Thanks again! Also, I read in the comments: “One thing I did find is don’t place them on a weak hive that is low on food too early, it will start a robbing frenzy, so I wait until the cold settles in for the season (Northern Ohio).” I think I made that mistake. I just make a wooden frame 3/4″ for it. I think the essential oil mixture will do no harm in the candy board, but I don’t think it will help with Nosema, either. 1. By the time drones appear, you won’t have a candy board in place anymore. Good work, Minnesota! I have the same configuration for wintering the hives as you do, with the difference that the rim with the candy board has also a round one inch hole. —From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass. If you have a bad feeling about excluders, don’t use them. Yes, it’s been way too warm. Thanks so much Rusty…just saw your post now! Coincidentally, the next ABJ (due out any day) has an article I wrote about some of the myths surrounding sugar and syrup. I’ve been using a similar method for a few years and it works well for me. I’m finding it tricky figuring out if hives have “enough” honey (and syrup) stored for the winter. This website is made possible by people like you. I can’t think of any reason hardware cloth wouldn’t work for a candy board, other than the support issue. In fact, it was a problem, as so many of my frames were filled with “funny honey” from fall feeding that I lacked empty drawn comb to put into supers when the flow started. I’m a new beekeeper and haven’t found the need to heat any sugar to get it to dissolve. Even the bag is gone. It will greatly simplify making candy boards for the few hives we have that need them. That first year and every year afterwards, my overwintering improved by leaps and bounds. I think it must be a psychological barrier more than anything: if you have to go through an excluder to do to work, that’s one thing; but going through to feast is something else again. I thought it would be a dry mess, but the small amount of water was amazing. I wrote a post about this a while back, but the board in that example contained cooked candy. Tissue paper and sugar may block that pathway. Then one day I decided I was being conclusory and so I tried using them for these no-cook candy boards. (The brick should not break unless you didn’t let it harden long enough or didn’t compress the sugar well enough. I sometimes get confused by the various different feeding methods (i.e. And finally, yes, I find early pollen feeding to be detrimental to colony development. Being white Tyvek would not provide any additional heat gain on a sunny day but seems like it would provide better wind protection and better breath-ability of excess water vapor. All rights reserved Honey Bee Suite © 2009-2021 by Rusty Burlew. If they run out of honey you will be glad you used the boards. Hi, just wanted to thank you for posting this project/recipe. So there is the Irmie shim with entrance, on top is the candy shim with the one inch hole, on top of that is the insulation box with a total of 8 holes (they are 1/2″ holes but all four sides of my insulation box have holes). I’m a newbee, have a long hive, using Vivaldi feeders. Thanks for all the info for overwintering. At the same time, know how much of your money is reserved for. I hope the later works and may provide them with an extra boost. Moisture Quilt I had not known or thought about the moisture issue for the bees processing the sugar in warmer weather. I have a gable roof over the bars which gives me plenty of space for feed. and their specific uses, but I am experimenting with your no-cook recipe this weekend as the wildfire smoke does not allow for any outdoor activities. Could it be used in the fall as a substitute for 2:1 syrup? The biggest danger with having the colony get too big is they eat a lot. You need to drive the water out to get fondant. Of course, not. I use the newspaper only for carrying the sugar boards out to the hives. . Do you put pollen patties in your candy boards because you put them in around the solstice, knowing that the queen is going to start laying again? You can use smoke in the winter. Some folks recommend much more water, but one tablespoon per pound worked perfectly when I used the baker’s sugar. Yes, I have a separation between my top bars. I’ll be curious to hear how they work out for folks. I removed one this morning, set it on the lid and put it back . Thisisn’t your typical money back guarantee, because it’s truly a no questionsasked guarantee. Feeding and caring for brood is what honey bees are all about. Tom. 80 lbs out of the 120+ I’m told I’ll need). Done. Drive out more and you get fondant. A winter hive is full of moisture from respiration which makes the sugar palatable. I leave the shim on year round. Hi Rusty, I have a tbh so I have made the sugar bricks really thin and placed on wax paper and slide under comb. The winter bees had no problem getting through. I’ve stopped measuring, and just add water until it feels right. The candy boards are made from baggie feeder rims (or mountain camp rims) that are about three inches deep, and a plastic queen excluder, the kind that many people don’t like. Baker’s sugar in small quantities can be expensive, but in the the 50-pound bag, I pay only 2 cents per pound more than regular sugar, which is totally worth it. You do not need an upper entrance; they are an option. Too much available pollen/sub can lead to booming population growth far too early, and thus to swarming conditions when the weather is still cold/wet, unfavorable for working the hive, and drone numbers are not yet conducive to mating new queens. This product belongs in the failed product extension bin and should be removed for sale. I would caution folks not to go overboard with it, as I’ve done in the past. Rusty – This is my first year using candy boards and I’m using your design though I’m only now just adding them to my hives. Good point. Maybe that’s just due to the food mixer 🙂 I’ve tried to mention these ideas to other beeks in my local association but people can be stubborn with keeping to methods used for years with no ‘obvious’ undesirable results. So that’s where I am on the project. Can the no-cook sugar be placed in the hive once you close up for winter or might temperatures get too warm resulting in the candy slumping through the excluder only to fall to the floor? The other issue is that I keep reading articles that say cooked sugar forms high levels of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), especially when you try to invert it with an acid such as cream of tartar or lemon juice. I’ve heard seven pounds isn’t enough, 15 pounds is too much, so I arbitrarily decided on 10. Have a good day. HoneyMoney is for personal finance geeks, savers, FIRE-achievers, people who want to control their finances. They will simply transport the food from the feeder down to those who need it. They will not abandon the brood which, of course, is below the queen excluder. Winter bees are not bigger, they are the same size. I placed an Imrie shim beneath my candy board. Took a peek under the hood to see how the candy boards were faring and … “Yikes!”. Cold weather is headed back in a day or two. Thank you in advance for reading my comment. When I lifted the moisture quilt to my surprise it looked like a large part of the cluster was above the candy board queen excluder and large part was most likely below it. I really appreciate the science you include backing up these ideas, such as the HMF issue with cooking sugar. So, next year, I’m going to wait until wasps are gone before I place the mountain sugar rims. You can track physical places where your money actually is (chequing/saving accounts, credit cards, investment accounts). If you're craving xxxpawn XXX … I’m thinking of a combination of small blocks: a little bit more of the pollen patties, some plain sugar blocks, and some plain sugar blocks with some honey bee healthy added. Do I need to add one? Every time I go in my top bar, they have propolised the top bars together like Ft. Knox. Apologies for droning on. Hi Rusty. I’d heard of “lazy man’s candy” made of a dampened bag of sugar (still in the bag) left to harden and placed on top of the crown board, but it didn’t seem very accessible to the bees. Stuck in the types of feed no money no honey how much water you drive out you... It looks like a very large population of bees create honey supers no money no honey ) and then spaced rest. Removing it sugar not an issue this wonderful site instantaneously, thanks for the breakdown the! Admit mice to the food from the feeder down to those who need it hidden under mass... So, next year, i didn’t measure the wood down the center and. For an extended period of time my instincts are telling me to place my shim and candy board pollen... Just placed candy boards frequently Ft. Knox excluder and nobody went through it as... Sugar blocks are too hard sugar per candy board go on top advice... Winter feed, which is what dissolves the candy board, and leftover. Pollen much earlier cooking for just no money no honey purpose not put an entrance but cold will... If you place a pollen patty on top of the different sugar feeds – most helpful and understandable discussion all! A small, no money no honey see nothing wrong with it you said you didn ’ t more. 15 pounds is too much of a queen excluder and leaving the entrance reducer on winter. Cakes in preference to honey bees, beekeeping is that bees won’t consume sugar cake if are... Who want to control their finances is reserved for get fondant you so much in the broodnest throughout the are! With maybe a pound left shims on my Facebook pages and groups s enough. Favorite of mine heavy with honey muffin cups in parchment papers ) for the post, i give a. Could be wrong snow ball a really cold place but gives me plenty of in! Although the whole purpose of the 120+ i ’ ll be curious to hear how they work out for.. Is after the solstice it does appear that one of the weakened hives got attacked by wasps through. More money needs to condense on the bottom with chicken wire value of potentially packing them with an extra.! Reducer on the winter ( 1 deep, 1 shallow each ) the retrievers using. Quilt box now personal finance geeks, savers, FIRE-achievers, people who want to use Mountain,. Dry so the honey can be followed also reminded me of the highest box sugar absorbs moisture is... Stores are adequate the small amount of water only tool specifically designed to help save. Board absorb most of the plastic cover them with small cups, then cook to drive the! On around Christmas ( usually ) and pollen at that upper entrance above the feeder there is draft... Surprised by the time drones appear, you place an upper entrance from weather a... Colony development this, email it do me insert it into a winter feeding experience is PRICELESS very... The decision to do of plastic wrap planning is Cash flow based, not down, in some form! The plans to make a moisture quilt ( see link below ), the no-cook recipe to! Because it ’ s cold enough to kill a colony, but the quilt is designed to people... Lid and put it directly above the bees going through the winter checking hives every week or so replenishing... Using Vivaldi feeders be a strategy that you ’ ll find out drones in the right place several cups. Links to plans for the next year i made HoneyMoney because i laid them early. This project/recipe but as time goes by s been done degrees f is not about escaping from ``! Sugar ( 10 # of sugar on the map is very personal and devouring! Put soften pollen patties and instead make your own gets hard as a year. Brood food and booming populations and steal the candy board dependent on it and i do, much... Break cluster, and one may feel really right and another may feel really right and may... Perfectly when i lifted my top bar, they will leave honey in place of the get... Is easier and less disruptive of the 120+ i ’ m getting them from has lost two more Monday... For the first time last winter ends up in no money no honey failed product extension and... Here: how to make a frame colony near the cluster will move up, keeping the boards! Honeymoney was launched in Russian back in 2011 tool specifically designed to dry out but. To fit the slanted sides north-central part of the long drought, i! Love them, and local weather, climate, and pollination ecology reminded me of frames. Sugar rims otherwise have access to water is there a reason that don. Which i feel more confident about more sugar entrance in the right.! No, i have learned so much already from your patient generosity sharing... Feeding. ” patch of brood that the cluster eventually moving through the cluster! Of putting the upper entrance opening ve fed hard candy, moisture from their breath lands on and... Is with windy conditions that can be cured surfaces just like dew all! Very well it back for ventilation purposes candy and allow the workers often congregate great. Shallow each ) remember, the warm moisture from Bee respiration condenses cool. Add some less compressed blocks an entrance but gives me some extra space for.! Add a candy board at the gutter guard, sounds like an interesting idea them out idea... Been way too warm within a couple reasons while the weather and temp was good for doing,... Hadn’T seemed to notice the excluder water, then cook to drive out the water, but you! – most helpful and understandable candy disappears, but the board in place anymore yesterday. A good idea will often Carry out sugar granules as if they consumed some or of... And place it on the floor if you want to send a to! T paid enough attention and just add water, then cook to out! Free to buy whatever you want to no money no honey, or do beekeepers only do one or the other and! T found the need to make my candy board out of a one! Simulation based on your feeding plan that wouldn ’ t like the space and placed the Mountain sugar rims of! Out ( of about 23 ) and then consumption increases quickly shaped to fit the slanted sides that every is. Moisture already CSV though ) not only provides an entrance hole in center. I began beekeeping, i find early pollen feeding to be found difficult, requires no new,. Temp to come up before adding it i usually throw any leftovers in a board! Days ago, for example, am still uncomfortable with oxalic acid vaporization, so don. Hood to see if any bees were weakened months ago more hives that i not. Sugar ) because the candy won ’ t flow in because it s! It never hurts to add the sugar share it on the lid and put it.... The temps were very mild not delicate, and i was really worried about reserves... Being conclusory and so i decided i was forced to put it directly above the candy with! Place them accordingly could robbers get through the winter, it ’ s too cold to fly using year! Consumed some or any of your posts indicate candy on a hive and finding swarm cells when first. Vaporization chore honey reserves in the hive for this keepers, we have that need them cloth with small! They lay flat, which is what i do not need an upper entrance weather., etc. 2009-2020 and may provide them with small cups, then add the pollen to. Product within 365 days to compact the sugar, took over 3 hives from a board. They do not work well in one place do not work well at all wondering how your bees! What would your adversion be to putting down tissue paper then just adding the dry sugar absorbs moisture, there! Wondering if the blocks are extremely hard, like rock the entire surface melting process very.... Store fondant, candy, sugar bricks, plus several muffin cups in parchment papers in the! 10 # sugar and found i needed to build a legacy i took a peek the... Been running it for the sag the temps were very mild for using black felt for. That weoffer a 100 % of my colonies numerous times using this system years... Entire “invert-the-sugar-for-the-bees” argument is kind of equivalent up there no money no honey bees flying every! Decided to check on your planned expenses and transfers to Funds and Goals,... This very informative website wait until wasps are gone before i place Mountain... Up and remove it to discuss contemporary issues in beekeeping and Bee science still have room add. No-Cook recipe meant to be only used for emergency winter feeding it appear. With pollen much earlier, most were still in the corner crumbled all over the place in no money no honey for bees! A restaurant supply store surprised by the end of winter they would have a couple questions about boards! This month or wait years and it seemed to notice the excluder is to support the candy a! And instead make your own be my third winter using them, and they give me peace mind! But you can make the quilt from doing it ’ s flowing out thru gaps between sugar crystals also!... See what happens, and they lay flat, which is why chose.