> The picture -- http://www.sbkaimages.homecall.co.uk/Fondant1.jpg --  seems 
> to show plastic.  Is that something different?

The fondant comes in 12.5kg blocks, wrapped in blue plastic.  I cut it in 
half lengthwise and place the cut side down on the excluder, leaving the 
plastic surrounding the other sides; that stops it from drying out and the 
bees just eat their way up into it.  If they don't need it all then some may 
still be there the following spring; I can then wrap it in the plastic and 
put it over the crown board.  Ekes are left on the crownboard under the 
'telescoping roof' - just a roof to us!  This space is quite useful for 
dumping wax scrapings (brace or 'burr' comb), maybe with honey in them; the 
bees recover the honey and we can collect the wax at the end of the season.

Juanse: the picture shows an 'eke'; it is just 4 pieces of wood to make a 
frame to extend the hive.  'Eke' can be a noun, as in this case, or a verb - 
you can 'eke out' something to make it go further - perhaps with food, where 
you might perhaps add cheap potatoes to 'eke out' expensive meat.

Ekes were common when people kept bees in straw hives (or skeps), the eke 
was made of rings of straw placed under the skep to increase its volume.

Best wishes

Peter 

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