I've seen the posts on the OA treatment with the flint glass tubing and test tube method. Then I've read the posts on the various feeders and how the bees drown in the syrup etc. I got to wondering (might be my mistake)!
I usually have a vent hole in the rear of my top supers that I pull the wine cork out of in the summer when it's really hot out. Now I know the black tapered rubber stoppers I see in the Materials Lab at work come in all sizes, with and without holes. I know there is also clear tubing that I've seen in the lab and also at Lowe's.
So if one were to take a clean plastic vinegar jug with a hole in the side towards the bottom, insert a black tapered rubber stopper in with a hole in it. Run the clear tubing from the jub, through another stopper with a hole in it which has now replaced the wine cork in the vent hole in the top super, and lay it across the frame tops. Now the end of the tubing inside the hive is stopped with a solid stopper. The tubing can be pricked with numerous small holes making it like those garden soaker hoses. The bees would be able to suck out the syrup from the tubing,not drown, and you'd be able to monitor the amount of syrup used just by looking at the jug sitting on top of the hive. It could be filled without even having to open the hive up.
Okay MB, I know you like to experiment with things,go ahead and pick this apart! It was just a thought and it didn't cost me anything yet!
I usually have a vent hole in the rear of my top supers that I pull the wine cork out of in the summer when it's really hot out. Now I know the black tapered rubber stoppers I see in the Materials Lab at work come in all sizes, with and without holes. I know there is also clear tubing that I've seen in the lab and also at Lowe's.
So if one were to take a clean plastic vinegar jug with a hole in the side towards the bottom, insert a black tapered rubber stopper in with a hole in it. Run the clear tubing from the jub, through another stopper with a hole in it which has now replaced the wine cork in the vent hole in the top super, and lay it across the frame tops. Now the end of the tubing inside the hive is stopped with a solid stopper. The tubing can be pricked with numerous small holes making it like those garden soaker hoses. The bees would be able to suck out the syrup from the tubing,not drown, and you'd be able to monitor the amount of syrup used just by looking at the jug sitting on top of the hive. It could be filled without even having to open the hive up.
Okay MB, I know you like to experiment with things,go ahead and pick this apart! It was just a thought and it didn't cost me anything yet!