Apipasta Fondant is an emergency feed designed to give honeybees essential nutrition in harsh conditions. It strengthens bee colonies during cooler seasons and increases productivity; plus it can even help them survive periods of low pollen flow.
Easy to use and highly assimilable by bees, it requires no preparation or the addition of water prior to feeding to bees in hives without leaving behind residue in hive, eliminating possible contamination with sugars used for nutrition in honey production.
Contents
Paste-like feed
Most beekeepers feed their colonies granulated sugar during Winter as an efficient and cost-effective way of providing energy when needed. Some beekeepers combine it with water in order to form a solution; however, this step is often unnecessary because condensation from respiration provides enough moisture in the hive for dissolving it into solutions.
This product strengthens beehives during cooler seasons and boosts productivity by providing all of the sugars, carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins and amino acids honeybees need.
This easy to use product requires no prepping or water to add. With very good assimilation designed specifically to meet bee needs, its extraction and consumption by bees should go smoothly. In normal conditions it should last 18 months in normal storage conditions without the presence of HMF which is toxic for bees; making this an excellent way to feed weak colonies and supplement winter stores.
Adapted to the needs of migratory beekeeping
Migratory beekeeping involves moving colonies from locations of high pollination demand throughout the year to other places that need their pollination, often at great stress, reduced forage diversity and an increased risk of parasitism and pathogens – although exactly what these risks entail is still unclear.
Migratory colonies often return from almond pollination with lower hive populations than stationary ones, possibly due to diminished forager health or decreased longevity during migration, as well as lack of pollen requiring them to rely on protein reserves stored within their hives as an alternate food source, potentially leading to malnutrition (Smart et al., 2019).
Bees fed only on protein-rich nectar or pollen will consume their stored brood to get nutrients that would otherwise go to waste, leading to decreased sealed worker brood and an increase in honey production. In this study, it was shown that sealed worker brood production positively correlates with collected pollen volume – evidence suggesting amino-rich feeds such as Apimix and Apipasta increase brood raising and pollen collection rates respectively.
Rich in sugars
Beekeepers using this product can assist their colonies by maintaining the health of their colonies between seasons. Furthermore, it can stimulate and encourage brood rearing during short honey flows; however beekeepers should avoid overfeeding their hive as overdoing it could lead to robbing and decrease individual bee lifespan.
White sugar should be used when creating fondant, as its absence of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) makes it less toxic to bees. Prep is easy by combining 12 pounds of sugar with one quart of boiling water and stirring until all sugar has dissolved, then add one teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of cream of tartar until everything has fully mixed and dissipated into syrup form – ready to be fed to bees as patties or shallow dishes! While some recipes call for exact measurements by weight or volume is acceptable as bees don’t care much about exact concentration of sugar!
Rich in proteins
Apipasta Fondant is a ready-to-use paste-like feed containing all of the essential sugars, carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins and amino acids needed by honey bees for survival. Suitable all year round without needing preparation or water addition; bees absorb it quickly without leaving residue behind! Furthermore, Apipasta fondant is free from hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a potentially toxic chemical known to adversely impact bee health.
Researchers in Brazil conducted an experiment where colonies fed with protein-enriched artificial diets showed improved parameters during dearth seasons, suggesting their use may be an effective means for maintaining high productivity during short-term drought conditions.
In another experiment, newly emerged honey bees were fed three commercial diets: diet 1 contained 0.3% protein; diet 2 contained 1.7% protein; and diet 3 contained 7.7% protein. Their glucose oxidase and phenoloxidase activities were determined through analyses at various time points using their thoraxes as indicators of activity.
