>I had never heard of either so  
I asked an old timer, who said, "Guys around here used to use candy  
boards but they were a waste of time! Never heard of fondant!"

Candy and fondant are often confused.  Candy is a hard 'confection' made by
boiling sugar syrup to 243ºF.  It was very popular in the past in the UK
when beekeepers would often put a small box of it above the cluster at
Christmas - like some sort of Christmas present!  Many would add cream of
tartar, thus increasing the amount of (poisonous to bees) HMF.
Fondant is simply a mix of sucrose and glucose syrup that is heated only to
boiling point and then stirred.

> In 2016 I fed 45 kg to 13 hives and nucs (ave 3.45 kg, max 6 kg, min 1 kg)
from Jan to Apr.

We find it easier to feed exclusively with fondant which is placed on the
queen excluder directly over the brood nest.  We usually get this done in
September or early October.  The fondant block (normally 6kg) is surrounded
by a 2.5" high eke or an empty super.  Being over the brood we do not then
see isolation starvation.  This also makes it easy to check stores, so if
hefting the hive suggests that it is a bit light, a quick look in the eke
will show whether there is any fondant left.

Best wishes

Peter

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