Pail feeder with top entrance - robbing?

[Seymore]

I am using a pail feeder for the first time. Setup - inner cover with open entrance, 3/4" blocks under pail feeder, deep over, lid. It made sense to me that the top entrance might help the bees get to it quicker, but they actully are already at the top of the frames inside. I didn't consider that robbing might be an issue and haven't seen it yet, but I'm thinking I goofed and should block the opening. I know this is a dangerous question, but any opinions?

[Vance G]

The way you have it set up, robbers could start with the feeder and endanger the hive. If the entrance was thru a notch in the side of your inner cover and the feeder could be accessed only from the hole in the inner cover, your colony can defend that and a war shouldn't start. If the entrance is thru the top of an open super and the feeder is blocked up so it is open from inside that super as well as the hive, that sounds like a wreck waiting to happen.

[bluegrass]

For some reason I pictured somebody drilling a hole in the bottom of the pail as an entrance :P

[Seymore]

I was a bit nervous about how I had it setup so I plugged the entrance before leaving for work today till I received some input from you guys. With it approaching nearly 70 today, I didn't want to leave it to chance.

If the entrance was thru a notch in the side of your inner cover and the feeder could be accessed only from the hole in the inner cover, your colony can defend that and a war shouldn't start. If the entrance is thru the top of an open super and the feeder is blocked up so it is open from inside that super as well as the hive, that sounds like a wreck waiting to happen.

I guess if it were really cold, this would be moot, right, since no one would be moving anyway? And also, if it were really cold, is 3/4" too large of a gap to retain the heat the bees are generating since an open hive body is just dead air space?

Thanks as always.