Candy boards (sometimes referred to as winter patties) provide emergency food supplies for bees when their honey stores run low. Not only do these provide food and insulation but also serve as an exit/entrance.
Combine sugar and water until clumpy, roughly one cup per 10 pounds of sugar.
Contents
Materials
Candy boards provide honey bee colonies with additional food when natural forage is lacking, such as in hot and rainy conditions or during winter. Beekeepers can use candy boards as a supplemented source of nutrition that will temporarily replace what would normally come from water, pollen and nectar sources.
Small colonies or young and/or new colonies that have not had time to build enough food reserves through foraging may benefit greatly from feeding supplementations, which will protect them against food shortages during winter.
Making a candy board requires only simple materials: you will need a plastic storage container used to store dog or cat food, along with some parchment paper cut with an opening roughly 2″ square. Once familiarized with their surroundings, bees will find it easy to chew through this paper and enjoy their sweet treat!
Preparation
Candy boards are simple wintering devices designed to protect honey bee colonies over winter by insulate, ventilate and feed their hive with one piece. Construction of one of these is straightforward and will ensure healthier bee colonies during the cold season ahead.
Candy boards offer several distinct advantages when used during cold temperatures, mainly the ability to reach sugar supplements without disrupting cluster structure and thus risking loss of winter stores.
Candy boards are created with shallow super frames or plastic queen excluders and filled with sugar syrup cooked until soft ball stage. Once spread on the bottom of the frame, wax paper, newspapers or any other suitable material must be laid over it to keep it from falling through hardware cloth. Finally, an access/ventilation hole must be drilled on the front edge for access/ventilation purposes.
Putting it Together
Many beekeepers provide winter patties or candy boards to their colonies as an extra food source should their bees run out of honey over Winter. Though not essential, having these foods on hand could mean the difference between a successful or failure hive come Springtime.
Mix together dry sugar and water gradually until you achieve a thick, syrup-like mixture that’s neither too wet nor too dry.
Some beekeepers add apple cider vinegar to the sugar syrup solution to suppress mold growth, while adding pollen substitute can provide additional protein for early Spring brood rearing.
Fill a candy board frame with mixture, spreading it out evenly. Some beekeepers will insert staples into its center to help secure it to a wooden hive rim or inner cover shim (shim).
Testing
Candy boards aren’t necessary to successfully overwintering bees, but they can provide valuable extra protection from starvation, raccoons and mice. Not only will it serve as food source during winter but they’ll also absorb any extra moisture that threatens honeybee colonies – potentially fatalities to their survival.
Making candy boards (sometimes known as fondant) can be both complicated and expensive to construct, as the process requires large amounts of sugar that has to be heated to its soft ball stage before being poured onto a form. Unfortunately, this process can also be messy, sticky and attract ants – as overheating could create harmful compounds like HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural).
The Candy Board should then be installed atop the hive, often taking the place of the inner cover. Ideally, position it so that its face points downward just above your winter cluster for optimal results.
