On 8-Jul-10, at 6:46 AM, Bill Greenrose wrote:

>  Would still mean possibly opening a hive in mid-winter, if last  
> winter repeats itself, but would prevent adding dry sugar  
> unnecessarily.  Hmmmm...
>

Hi Bill and all

I have previously mentioned, on Bee-L,  using fondant for the first  
time last winter.  November was very mild  after killing frosts in  
October.  The hives that I saved with fondant last winter are the  
strongest hives i've had in years.  Had a young beekeeper drop by  
this evening and he said while we were standing beside the 6  
overwintered hives; "How do you keep them from swarming"?  I told him  
lots of early splits and lots of supers in time.  I've taken 6 full  
box splits and 8 nucs off these 6 hives and they have 5&6 medium  
supers on each.  Will I use fondant again? You bet!  Will I continue  
to open hives and check the cluster location on mild days in winter?  
You Bet!

Bob Darrell
Caledon Ontario
Canada
44N80W

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