Let me share my own experience with feeding bees Icing Last Spring
I checked a hive in my parents back yard early last spring, not expecting to find anything of interest. To my horror, the bees were up under the inner lid, and spreading wide- they had almost not stores left at all.
I had to face the fact that I was not going to be able to make up fondant till the following wekend, and I had been less than happy with feeding dry sugar, so I decided to try giving them a couple cans of store brand vanilla icing that I had handy.
I spread the icing onto two sheets of wax paper, patty stlye, and gently set the wax paper downon top of the cluster, giving the bees on top of the frames a chance to move out of the way. (Thank goodness for warm days!)
When I came back mid week, the bees had eaten nearly all the Icing, SoI gave them two more one pound cans. I came back with fondant the following wekend, the bees had consumed quite a bit of the second batch, and chewed away of most of the wax paper. The previously lethargic cluster was much livlier too.
I gave them fondant for the remainder of the winter, but from what I could tell, the Icing was just the thing to get them though the emergency. They were able to consume it much faster than dry sugar, and the vegetable oils may have done them some good- I didn't, in any case, see any symptoms of problems from the Icing- no dysentery to speak of, and the hive came thru very very strong- It threw at least two swarms despite having a split taken off of it in early May, much to may dismay. (I caught one swarm in my trap, lost one, and ended up recombining the split with the mother hive.)
The bees were/are Texas Buckfast, and the second generation bees have been gentle so far, but the hive is is fairly Isolated for breeding purposes- It's in an urban subdivision, and I know of no other beekeepers for several miles. I still plan on requeening this spring- I can't risk testy bees where these are, and I don't want to risk the location- It is my only location where I get a super or two of a spearminty tasting honey that I suspect is basswood. (June flow- does that sound right?)
Ellen
In Michigan
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