Finally, _someone_ found the feeder

[mhorowit]

I'm four combs of honey below where I'd like to be, so I elected to feed them;at the same time, they are fighting off robbers at the front door. So I built a feeder that fits at the back end, that I can reload without going into the hive (it feeds via a piece of pipe).

It takes four days before there is a sign of syrup disappearing!

Does it typically take them that long to discover a feeder in their back pocket? Will they tell the rest of the hive or do they have to discovery it individually? - Mike

[BeeTech]

I built a screened bottom board with a little door on the back so I could stick in a boardman feeder (or not). The first couple of quarts seemed to last most of a week, but, then theys seemed to catch on and started pulling it down about a quart a day.

[mhorowit]

I built a screened bottom board with a little door on the back so I could stick in a boardman feeder (or not). The first couple of quarts seemed to last most of a week, but, then theys seemed to catch on and started pulling it down about a quart a day.

Wow! Don't know if I can row that fast! Gotta keep an eye open for a container with a mouth like a quart mason jar, but able to hold more than just a quart.

[Keefis]

A lot of people use some kind of fragrant essential oil to attract the bees to the sugar syrup.
I just put the open quart jar in the TBH with some sprigs of spearmint in it. They use the sprigs as ladders so you don't end up with bee flavored syrup. works good if you have the room inside the hive.

[Tom Brueggen]

I mixed 1:1 syrup and put in just about 1 TBSP of honey per quart of sugar syrup. It's just enough to give it a smell of honey, without having to actually use a lot of honey to feed back to the bees. They took it happily. I too have schemed on the idea of a feeder at the back of the hive, just haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

As for the bigger jars, look on Mann Lake's website www.mannlakeltd.com. They have jars up to 2 lbs, and I believe they are standard mouth.
Or you can check this site. http://hardyhoney.com/2011/11/22/4-lb-honey-jar/. I got a 4 lb jar of honey as a gift, so I knew they existed. I searched it on google and found this site. Looks like they have larger ones too. Good luck!

[Tom Brueggen]

Whoops! I just realized the second link I posted is for the 4 lb jar, full of honey. I doubt they'd sell you just an empty jar. But that's at least two places I know of that have the 4 lb jars, so obviously they buy them somewhere. Shop around, I'm sure you can find them.

[SteveBee]

We use Boardman feeders stuck in a hole in the back end of the hive. You can fill them from outside, as well as see if they're eating them. Some hives take longer than others to find the feeder. And sometimes they ignore it cause they have a better source.

We have a top bar hive presentation on our web page that shows the setup.

http://honeysunapiary.wordpress.com/tbh-warre/