Winter Feeding & Oxalic Acid

Every winter we provide extra emergency food stores to those hives that need it - a backup for those which haven't managed to store enough honey for winter, or those who have unexpectedly used up all their stores.

We also treat our bees with an oxalic acid trickle to help with reducing the varroa mite population in the hives. Oxalic acid is an effective miticide, but must be applied directly to the bees, and is most effective in winter, when there is very little brood in the frames for the mites to be hiding with. Instead, they live on the adult bees, when they are vulnerable to the oxalic acid syrup trickle.

We usually inspect the hives in mid-January, but this year the terrible storms and gales delayed this until now.

The feed we give in winter is called candy or fondant - a kind of hard sugar block, made by boiling white sugar and water together with a very small amount of acid to cause the sugar to invert and remain creamy and moist, rather than going hard like a boiled sweet.

The amount of acid used must remain low, as otherwise it can have a detrimental effect on the bees. We use vinegar in preference to the common tartaric acid, as it is potentially less harmful to the bees.

Fondant Recipe

  • 5kg white (cane) sugar
  • 1.5kg water
  • 1 tbsp vinegar

Mix the ingredients together, bring to the boil and heat, stirring occasionally, to 115C.

Boiling syrup to 115C

Leave to cool without stirring to around 75C. Whisk rapidly (an electric whisk helps!) until the mixture turns a creamy white colour and begins to thicken.

Whisking the syrup to fondant

Immediately spoon into containers, and leave to cool.

Set fondant

Once made, fondant keeps indefinitely, and any which isn't used this winter can either be kept for the next year, or converted back into sugar syrup for spring and summer feeding.