We are coming in to our two toughest winter months, February and March, for the honeybee. Yet it was 62 degrees on Wednesday and 48 degress on Thursday – quite warm as compared to last winter. Our bees have been very active due to the warm winter we have been experiencing in New Jersey. So we made our first winter feeding pass through our 120 hives this week. So far the hives look good with about 8% losses in our (15) production yards and about 10% loss in our two winter nuc yards. Last February we drove to C.O. Nolt & Sonin Lancaster, Pa. and picked up 150 pounds of fondant. This is the fondant we used this week. The following series of pictures provide an overview on how we prepare fondant before distributing it amongst our hives as winter feed.
