Division board feeder drowning bees.

[CWBees]

I placed a divison board feeder in one of my hives when i opened the hive to replenish the feeder I saw bees stuck in the bottom drowning. I noticed the feeder is a little warped on one side and the hive had a pretty good incline towards the front. I leveled the hive out a bit to see if this would help. Has anybody had problems with bees drowning in a division board feeder or are a few losses to be expected?

Also I introduced a queen into a nuc I put together last night. How long should I wait before releasing her or should I let the bees eat through the candy?

[Aspera]

You need wooden floats and/or ladders made of hardware cloth. No matter what 1 or 2 always drown in feeders.

[jessbee]

I had a division board feeder in both my hives with floating sticks in them and a plasitic gridded piece the width of the feeder for them to walk down - and they still drowned in large numbers. I am switching to hive top feeders in the fall.

Anyone have any recommendations?

[Gene Weitzel]

jessbee:

I copied this from a post I made on another thread:

I built the Miller type hive top feeder from the plans on this site. I modified it by eliminating all the hardware cloth and the peices that are designed to allow the syrup to flow under and prevent the bees getting into the reservoir(the ones labeled "A" on the plans). It then becomes basically a tray with a slot down the center to allow the bees access. I use baggie feeders in the two "reservoirs" that would normally hold the syrup. I have almost no drownings and the baggies keep the syrup much fresher. I have noticed that a few SHB's will slip into the slits in the baggies and then are trapped and drown, serves the little buggers right!

[Sherpa1]

Jessbee,
I think that the best tophive feeder is the plastic feeder from BetterBee. I have never had any of them leak and very few drowned bees. A hive top fits securely over the feeder so that bees cannot access the feeder from outside. It will hold more than a gallon of syrup. I wish that I could find these to fit a NUC.

[ June 23, 2006, 08:09 PM: Message edited by: NoviceBee ]

[iddee]

Jessbee and Novicebee, Reel's has hive top feeders for nuc's, 8-frame, and 10-frame boxes for 13.00 each.

Reel’s Bee Supply
200 Bee Gum Dr.
Marlon, N.C. 28752
828-738-3017 Harlan
828-738-4636 Anthony
828-317-1526
myronreel@yahoo.com

[SBF]

for what it's worth...I've used the divided plastic model from Betterbee with the fill port as well as the black plastic one from Mann Lake.
The Betterbee model is made from brittle yellow plastic and is difficult to clean out...it crackes and leaked in my hive.
The Mann lake model is of more pliable and thicker plastic with 'tread' down the walls and is easy to clean and holds a gallon.
I've avoided bee drowning by filling with a long necked funnel...slowly, directed at the wall or end.
I've tried the hive top feeders and if you need to take it off it's a bit of a slosh.
With the division feeder I can push back the top and inner cover just a few inches...fill and leave.

[divebee]

I have had good results with the "New Style" division board feeder from Betterbee, with the floats in it. I fill it with a long funnel, trimmed off a bit. The bees are not drowning in these. I have used the other ones and had the bee drowning results also.

[Sherpa1]

I am talking about the PHTF2 from Betterbee. It is not made from brittle yellow plastic. It is made from a brown colored plastic and the inserts are removable for cleaning. It works well.

[ June 24, 2006, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: NoviceBee ]

[jessbee]

Thanks for your help!

[CWBees]

I was using Dadant's. It has ridges all the way down on the inside. I did notice that drowning bees was not such a problem until the nectar flow dropped and they started to crowd in there. This is when they started to really drown. Kinda like a stampede at a stadium. I think the idea to place some floats on the bottom is great. It should make it very difficult to drown.