[mrspock]

I was reading about feeding with bee candy and really like the idea - I can prepare it ahead of time, it seems less messy and easier to deliver than liquid feed.

Moreso, I think I could rig up a jig to fill a frame with a block of hardened candy - Making a candy - frame.

What's the drawback of feeding with candy?

Also, on an related note, do I need to feed the bees at all, provided I'm prepared to leave them enough honey overwinter?

If I'm getting a nuc, won't there already be honey in the frames, so I won't need to feed them at installation time?

 

[Ravenseye]

Let's start with the over wintering question. No...if you have ample honey stores, there's no need to feed anything. Bees know what to do and when they do it right, you don't need to feed. If you do need to feed, fondant works good. Easier to handle than syrup or sometimes even dry sugar. It's just a bit of work to make.

As far as the nuc goes, there's no guarantee of honey in the frames. Should there be....yes, and pollen too but if the queen has been laying well, the stores could be depleted. Certainly, you can check and decide at that point. I rarely feed nucs anything but syrup but I always install a nuc into a 10 frame box and I usually give them foundation for the new frames so I'm feeding to help them draw new wax.

Be wary of light nuc's. I've seen nuc's with five frames of comb and bees, a busy queen and thus, a colony living on the edge.