feed with top on ??

[smgchandler]

its been raining here for the last two days and i wanted to feed the girls some sugar water but cant go in the hive - also it would be nice when the sun is out to not disturb the bees but yet still be able to pour the feed into the top feeders - anyone know of a way (port hole) or even an insert where it seals but that you can have an opening to open to pour feed into both sides of a feeder and not take top and inner cover off of -- a flat 90deg that goes through a hole thats sealed and stick you a funnel in the top after taking a plug out or something -- does something like this exist or have i lost my mind completely ?? - just a thought but has anyone ever tried this without problems arising ??----- ok ok it is raining and im bored so that is where this came from :D

[MichelinMan]

I have never used a top feeder like you have. I use friction pails. You can fill them without opening the hive per se. Why don`t you just put the inner cover (with hole in center) between the feeder box and top super. That way the bees could go through the inner cover hole and up to the feeder and when you want to add syrup just remove the top cover and... voila.

[smgchandler]

not sure what a friction pail it but this is what everyone told me to get - the top feeders from brushy mtn - they do hold a lot and dont leak and the bees seem to like or use them - i dont see where putting the inner cover under feeder would make a difference as far as opening the hive - i dont take the feeder off to fill it - i just raise the inner cover and pour it in - ----- i just got back from feeding them as its been raining for several days in a row here and when i took the top off there were several bees on the bottom of it but when i took the inner cover off (first time this bad but) the inner cover was covered in bees - i mean hanging off of one another and you usually have to pull on the little floats in the bottom of the feeders to unstick from teh bottom if they are dry and there is so many bees in there its hard to do this - if i go ahead and pour sugar water in it will melt loose eventually and float again but lots are going to have to swim utnil they come loose - i figure if there is a pipe ? for each side that you can use to pour in the feed then seal back up somehow it would be great no to have to open the hive - i hope there is nothing wrong in the bottom of the hive cause it seemed that all the bees were in the top - i guess in the next day or so if weather permits i need to take a look down in the bottom just to make sure there's not some kind of monster down there making them come to the top - maybe they were hungry ?? - they sucked the bottom out of all the feed i put in and its only been 4 days and i filled them up last time but i understand from bee meetings that there is just not much nectar at all around here for some reason --

[MichelinMan]

OK, now I get it. Gee... you sort of got a dilemma there. The way I see it now, the problem comes from the fact that the feeders are empty and the bees are hanging out in the feeders? Not sure how to remedy that without opening the hive and shaking those bees back down into the supers. I never heard of a pipe thingy but I guess you could easily invent one. With such a pipe in place you could conceivably add more syrup without removing the inner cover... BUT ... if the feeder is empty again you will still be drowning a lot of bees and this time you won`t see it. Maybe someone with more experience will chime in but that`s as far as my thinking brings me.

BTW friction pails are just pails turned upside down with a number of small holes punched in the lids. They don`t leak and I find them easy to manage.

Good luck. Hope the rain stops soon.

[Eaglerock]

If you have a top feeder how are the bees getting to the inner cover. My top feeders (from Millers) I have, are screened so they can only get to the feed and not out of the hive. So when I open the cover I see nothing but board, screen and some bees.

What do yours look like?

[smgchandler]

eagle i will do my best to describe them - the feeder is half the depth of a super and of course the same outside dimension as a super - imagine two boards that run the middle of the box with 1 inch open area in between two boards run down the middle of the feeder -- this leaves an inch slot from one end to the other for the bees to enter and then on both sides there is about a 1 1/2 gallon slot thats sealed with some kind of clear epoxy looking stuff - so you have two areas to fill on each side of the center entrance - i just sit the inner cover on top of the feeder then the top - inside the two areas where the water goes is small slats that float in the feed - as the feed level goes down the floats go with it - sometimes when the bees eat all the syrup the float gets stuck to the bottom of the feeder but it can be pried off of the bottom or if you put the feed in it will eventually float again once the dried syrup is dissolved again - take a peak at brushy mtn site and it may have a pic of one - they are kind of cheap also

[Southern Bee]

I have top feeders from Millers like Eaglerock and another very similar to the Brushy Mountain one but without the floats. In the middle where the retaining walls are, where the bees come in, there is a screen. It goes from the bottom of one reservoir over the entrance and down to the bottom of the other side. There is about a 1/2 inch space on each side for the bees to climb down the retaining wall and climb onto the screen. This allows the bees to access the syrup but not get into the entire feeder. If the screen fits properly, when you take the top off the feeder will not be filled with bees. Shouldnt be hard to modify the feeder yourself. I have thought about getting a Brushy Mountain one myself and doing just that. I think I will stick with the Millers style top feeder though. The bees tend to make alot of burr comb right under the entrance of the double top feeder, a big strip of burr comb down the center of the hive. They havn't done this with the Miller top feeder.

My double feeder is from Mann Lake and has a plastic insert. I thought I would love it, but the screen does not fit real well. Once the syrup gets low enough the bees can get into the feeder but then can not get back into the main hive. If I dont check it often enough I end up with lots of fried bees in the empty feeder. Since the reservoir is plastic I cant nail or tack down the screen without putting a hole in the reservoir. Think maybe I will caulk it down but then that will cause a problem when it comes to cleaning it. Also because the plastic insert fits down into a 4 3/4" wooden super there is a space under the feeder between the plastic and the wood where the bees like to congrigate. With the wooden feeder from Miller Bee Supply if I need to clean the feeder I just take it off and brush the bees off the bottom into the hive. With the Mann Lake plastic one I set it on its side next to the hive and hours later there are still bees up under the reservoir, they propolise it also so often the bees get stuck there. If one has wood working skills and tools it does not look like it would be hard to make a Miller style feeder from a super. Unfortunately, carpentry is not one of my talents, but I am getting better at it.

I like your idea about a syrup shoot. Maybe a 1" round hole either thru the side or thru the top cover, with a length of hose and a cork. If it went thru the side it would also have to go thru the side of the telescoping cover unless you used a migrating cover. If you went thru the top you would have to go thru the metal (if your top has it) and make sure you seal it good so rain doesn't leak in.

Edited to add links. Duh.... why didnt I think of that to begin with. A picture is worth a thousand words.....

http://www.millerbeesupply.com/Page19and20.htm

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page23.html

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/prodinfo.asp?number=688

If you look at the Mann Lake feeder you can see how it would be easy to modify the Brushy Mountain one the same way.

[Southern Bee]

Another PLUS in favor of a good fitting feeder screen. With the Mann Lake feeder when I refill it I have to
- remove the telescoping top
- chase out the live bees
- remove feeder to dump out any dead bees
- replace the feeder carefull not to squish anybody
- fight with the bees to keep them out of the syrup while I refill it.

With the Miller feeder I just slide the top open about 2" and quickly pour the syrup in. A daily occurance since they are slurping down about a gallon a day right now.

I also have an all plastic feeder from Brushy Mountain. Don't have an opinion on it yet cause I just got it, but it has one reservoir with a covered entrance at both front and back. Top doesn't fit it very well but that might be cause mine is for a nuc and nucs come in so many sizes.

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/prodinfo.asp?number=423

[Durandal]

I purchased three different hive top feeders this year to test them.

One of the Betterbee plastic brown ones, a Beemax styrafoam one, and a Brushy Mountain wood one with floats.

The Brushy mountain is by far the best of the three. I get almost zero drowned bees and I simply lift the top cover and fill. If the bees are clustering in it when empty you can still fill and the bees seem to simply "pop" up to the surface and crawl onto the floats. A great system. Pricey though.

The Beemax seems to collects mold really quickly and the brown palstic one is cheap and fits poorly...and tough to move if you have gloves on or if its half filled more more with syrup.

Just an opinion...for what its worth.

Right now though I am using the boardman feeders with jars inside the hive. I just place another super on top and put up to four feeders. It makes use of equipment that doesn't seem to work well but is cheap and easy to come by. The bees also seem to like the airspace created by the extra space on top of the hive. I know it helps regulate the heat by giving it some room to move up and then out, especially if I throw a shim on. Lots of air flow...

That and baggies...