Ambrosia® 12,5kg box

01 · WHEN TO USE IT

For maintenance, not for stimulation

Fondant is maintenance feed: it covers the gap when the colony keeps consuming and no nectar is coming in — preparing for winter, hives you have taken most of the honey from, long spells of bad weather, or confinement by bee-eaters or hornets. It is not the product to start the queen laying: for that you use liquid syrup, which is taken far faster. And as with any feed, do not use it during a flow if you are going to harvest that honey for sale.

02 · COLD AND ACCEPTANCE

They eat it if they can warm it: put it against the cluster

This is the reason behind almost every disappointment with candy, and it deserves saying plainly: fondant does not harden in the cold, but bees only work it if they can reach it without breaking the cluster. In midwinter, in the mountains, or with a weak colony, a bag resting away from the cluster stays untouched and it looks as if «they will not take it». The bag goes directly over the frames where the bees are, cuts facing down and in contact. If the colony is very weak or the weather will not help, start with syrup while there is still flying and leave the fondant for maintenance.

03 · WHY THIS AND NOT SUGAR

Fine crystal, HMF capped and no honey of unknown origin

The very fine crystal size is made for the bee's sucking mouthparts: she takes it without having to dissolve lumps. The maker specifies a maximum of 25 mg/kg of HMF — the compound that appears when syrup is overheated or ages — below the 40 mg/kg at which field studies start to find trouble, and, being sugar rather than honey, it avoids the risk of returning cut-comb or honey of unknown origin to the hive. The sugars come from European beet and the maker has supplied this product to commercial beekeeping for over thirty years, which shows in how consistent it is from batch to batch.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The 12.5 kg box is five bags of 2.5 kg: fewer trips than with one-kilo bags, and a sensible format for a mid-sized apiary. If a bag arrives swollen or the candy smells fermented, do not use it — ask us first.