[gregstahlman]

Don't know if my memory serves correct but i thought that about 2 or 3 years ago i seen a machine for filling candy tubes for queen cages. Maybe it was in Bee Culture of Bee Journal, can't remember. Anyways it would be much appreciated if anyone has any info on this.

 

[BEES4U]

C. F. Koehnen has one on their web site.
For filling a few tubes you can buy plastic irrigation tubing and cut it to 1" engths and stuff them with queen cage candy
Ernie

 

[JohnBeeMan]

It would be nice if you could get empty /unused caulk tubes - fill them with candy, insert plunger pad, place in caulk gun and fill away.

 

[power napper]

Never tried but this might work.

Pamper Chef makes a tool for stuffing pastries and icing fancy attatchments--there are several spouts in the attatchments, my Mother in Law uses it to fill the ladylocks with icing.
Easy to use, not hard to clean, buy one for your wife next holiday so you can use it to fill the queen cages.

Number of the unit is 1525.

Pamperedchef.com

 

[Countryboy]

I imagine a jerky stuffer would be more durable than one for icing and pastry stuffing.

 

[gregstahlman]

Thanks for the info guys

 

[JSL]

Greg,

I believe Koehnens sells filled candy tubes for the California Mini Cages, but I do not recall them actually selling the machine they designed to fill them.

Can't remember if I saw it at Koehnens or it was another beekeeper, but there was another way to fill the tubes a little faster than one at a time. They were using small plastic boxes similar to a comb honey box filled with queen candy and then pressing empty tubes into the candy and closing the lid. Looked a little faster than one at a time.

Joe

 

[Merlyn Votaw]

Most everyone has forgot more about bees than I will ever know but I was told thet MARSHMELLOWS make good candy for bees.Itseems to me that MARSHMELLOWS would be simpler than making candy.I am new BEEK so I may be wrong.

 

[BEES4U]

JSL

The C.F.K. web site had a photo of a person filling the tubes by machine. Or, they used to show that photo.
I could modify a tortilla press into a tube filler if I had to.
a little filling jig, a little compressed air, a little ingenuity and it's done
Ernie