# Candy Board Frame for TBH (or other winter feeding methods)



## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Hi everyone. It's my first year beekeeping with two TBHs and a TBH nuc. I think I actually have enough honey/capped syrup stores in my hives to get the girls through the weekend, but I'm wondering what other TBH owners do if they have to feed sugar during the winter as emergency feed. Has anyone tried making a vertical candy board with a frame in the shape of the TBH? Any other ideas?
My hives have screened bottom boards which I plan to cover over the winter, but they curve upward, so I don't think I can just put dried sugar on the bottom. The cover probably only has 1-1/2 to 2 inches of space on top of the top bars which I hope to fill with some kind of insulation.
Thanks in advance! Look forward to you suggestions.
David


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## Bees of SC (Apr 12, 2013)

What I did with my top bar long lang was make a feeding shim the size of the box, I use lang frames so there is a gap beetween the frames for the girls to go up. The top is hinged, I take the top off,put the shim on,put the candy or sugar or what ever in the shim, cover with a quilt box and put the top back on. You still need air flow, just what I do..Sam
PS: make sure NO air will blow in the bottom...


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

take your follower board and put some screws in the face with the heads sticking up about 1/2 in. make a dam around it with some masking tape. Mix up fondant and pour it on the face of the follower board. When it sets you can remove the tape. Another method is if you have drawn unfilled combs, fill them with dry sugar and mist it lightly with a sprayer and stick them on the end.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

Last year I made fondant and mushed it into old drone comb.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I especially like the idea with the follower board. At the moment, I don't have many, if any, empty combs to fill with sugar or fondant (1st year). I'm not even sure I'll need it, but I want to have ideas ready if the clusters starts moving through the capped stores faster than expected. I do plan to put solid boards on the bottoms of my hives for the winter. To vent the humid air, I have an entrance hole at the top of one end and another, screened hole at the top of the other end. I have follower boards that also have ventilation holes towards top. Not sure if that defeats the purpose of the follower board, but I wanted to increase/decrease the space as needed while still allowing airflow near the top.


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## ChuckReburn (Dec 17, 2013)

South of Atlanta... Winter lows bump near 32 and highs are usually over 50?


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

ChuckReburn. The temps swing around quite a bit here. Generally the lows can hit mid 20s and the highs in the 50's. We can have a week or two that is in the colder range and then have a couple of weeks that seem like beautiful Spring weather. I'm not sure how all this affects overwintering bees. Somewhere I read that the bees will consume more honey because they are more active. On the other hand, as I think Ruth pointed out in a different thread, they get more chances to break cluster, stretch their little bee legs and get out some. Any thoughts would be welcome. This year I'm in sponge mode. Taking in all the info I can.


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