Beekeepers should remain vigilant throughout the winter and check the weight of their colonies. The mild weather conditions may have caused some colonies to remain quite active, consuming more winter stores than usual. As a result, there may be a risk that colonies will be running low on food stocks and so should be fed with bakers fondant (2.5kg/ colony). Wrap the fondant in plastic film (alternatively, mini plastic bags used to store loose fruit from the supermarket are perfectly acceptable and cost nothing). Monitor them every 2 weeks to see how much is consumed, feeding more fondant if needed. Make a hole in one side of the plastic and place over the feed-hole on the crown board, turning the crown board round if necessary so that the fondant is above the cluster.

For more information please refer to the FERA Best Practice Guideline Number 7 – ‘Feeding Bees – Sugar’ and check the emergency feeding section. The leaflet can be dowloaded from the following link:

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/downloadNews.cfm?id=121

Or by CLICKING HERE to download