Tip courtesy of Bert Laan

I have National hives (14×12 but this tip is suitable for any hive type with top boards) and the conventional square crown board with the two oblong holes for Porter bee escapes.

When feeding my bees from above the crown board I was always in doubt whether I have the food, be it fondant or liquid feed in the right place and centred over those holes.

I decided to draw some “templates” on the crown board so I could always position the feed correctly. Once I got it wrong and the bees could not access the food that was so close.

The photographs are self evident when you see what goes in place.

I cut holes in the bag of fondant to match the two oblong holes so that the fondant does not spread itself all over the crown board. Please do make sure the eke can fit on the crown board with the fondant block in place.

I now also push something like a pencil from below to the top of the fondant bag to make a hole all the way through. That way I can see that the bees are taking the fondant. Before I could only lift up the bag and peek underneath, and get a face full of bees, or wait until they had eaten their way through half the bag, buy which time it might be too late.

The lines to show location of openings.

The crown board used as a template for the fondant bag, but make sure it is not too close to the top of the crown board, otherwise the eke does not fit. I have a “T shirt” available.

Take-away container with hole cut in the lid