[FrankBarbee]

I just got a new deep queen castle to start raising my own replacement queens and to grow the number of hives I have. My problem as I see it now is that I don't have enough honey frames in the deep size. Until last year I had been using a majority of mediums as my brood and honey supers. I now have 5 hives with deeps but at best the honey on the deeps would be less than half a frame so far. Should I use medium honey frames or just put 2 deeps with eggs and capped brood in each section and feed differently? If the later, what are the best options?

 

[MillerLane]

I run multiple 4 way queen castle mating nucs, split to 2 frames each. Normal deep frames. 2 frames of brood and bees is ur best bet to stock. I cut 2 inch holes in the individual lids, and use 750 ml glass pasta sauce jars as feeders. Empty deep super on top to protect jars. works great

 

[msl]

toss a 1/2 cup of drivert in the back ?

 

[JWPalmer]

I do similar to Millerlane. 2-3/4" hole in the top of each board, staggered to allow the jars to fit. Cover the hole with #8 hardware cloth and use an inverted pint mason jar. Cover with a medium box.

 

[AAIndigo]

Stagger the holes but I also inset the outer holes to allow for a deep box to fit over

 

[JWPalmer]

Ditto on the inset of the outer holes.

Works well. I use medium supers to cover, mainly because all my deeps are being used as hive bodies.

 

[JasonA]

JWPalmer,

You set the pint jars on top of the #8 hardware cloth? I had always been curious if the bees could still get the sugar water out of the jar with it sitting directly on top. I'm looking for ways to feed queen castles as well. Do you use the standard band style lid with the removable center piece that would normally provide the seal if you were canning with them? Hope that makes sense.

 

[Woodstove]

All you have to do is flip the canning lid over. I use 1 gallon paint cans for most everything now, but when I used mason jars, that's what I did. I was skeptical at first, and didn't think they would seal properly, but on the advice of others here on Beesource, I tried it and never had one leak. With the lid flipped over they can reach through the screen wire just fine.

They seem to like packing propolis in around the edges of the ring which makes for messy hands when removing the rings to refill the jars. At least that's what my bees did, anyway.

 

[JWPalmer]

I use the solid mason jar tops I get off of the Classico brand spaghetti sauce jars. They sit flat on the hardware cloth. Use a staple gun to punch the holes. Like woodstove, the bees tend to propolize around the top of the jar so it does get sticky.

 

[JasonA]

Thanks, for the reply JW and Woodstove. I will give it a try.

 

[little_john]

A slight variation ...
I leave my feeder holes completely open - that way I can feed syrup, damp-set sugar or fondant through the same holes.
LJ

 

[fcsciteacher]

I recently used JC’s Bees video https://youtu.be/ghbbJNvfrHI to make pint jar feeders. Drill holes in center of each cover and use a medium to protect the jars from sun. Easy to re-fill and know which nuc needs more feed.

 

[FrankBarbee]

Jim, how are those working was looking at that the other day. not for the queen castle but for the Coates NUCs I plan on building over winter for use next year.

 

[Eikel]

When I do use jars to feed, another alternative is a feeding "shim" that allows multiple jars over any hole.