Advice on the winter hive

[kirk boy]

I understand that that on top of the brood box is placed a box of stores minus the Q/Excluder if i was to over winter with a block of fondant as a standby where do i place the eke ?

[gavin]

Peter Edwards is the fondant guru:

http://www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/PENotes/Fondant.htm

I'd suggest adding a crownboard and a sheet of polysytrene insulation directly over the eke.

If you are putting fondant on from about October, you can miss out the queen excluder but earlier than that and there is a risk of the fondant seeping down between the frames.

He uses only thymol for Varroa treatment, raises his own native queens, and his winter survival rates are very high.

G.

[kirk boy]

Thanks a lot Gavin when i put the eke on does it go between the two boxes or on top of them.

[gavin]

Hi KB

What the bees need for winter in terms of stores is one single space with enough honey/stored syrup/fondant for their needs for winter. 30lb for native bees, maybe 40-50lb for some continental types. So 6-10 brood frames mostly full. Having extra stores over their heads might help some colonies. For most bees one brood box should be enough, but a super to give them brood and half (or a 14x12 brood box) can work too.

So is that what you are trying to achieve, a brood box and a super all filled with stores? If that is the case - and if your colony is strong - try the eke on the top. But if your colony isn't that strong then it might struggle to take down the fondant (I've no experience of an eke over a super so I'm not sure).

What I suppose I'm getting around to saying is that feed the bees, sure, but don't overdo it.

Simple answer: eke on top if you want them to take sugar down to the super. If your brood box is light on stores, take the super off and feed from an eke above the brood box.

I hope that all of that made sense!

[kirk boy]

Its all new to me Gavin it was the stores and eke that was confusing me you have now made it clear. Thanks