[labradorfarms]

Ok Tell me which feeder is best for the long hot summer!

I currently use hive top feeders but do not like the drowned Bee's!!!

What are the good sides and bad sides of bucket feeders? I hear they can wet the hive and wouldn't that attract ants and other pest if it reached the ground?

 

[Zbee]

I used to use top hive feeders with floats, but after weeks of drowned bees and clearing drawn comb in the feeder, I stopped. Now I use a ziploc bag on top of the inner cover inside a 2" shim. Careful not to punch too many holes or fill it up so that it leaks out on the frames below - cheap, and works well!

 

[AR Beekeeper]

I prefer buckets over a hole in the inner cover to the Miller hive top style feeder. When first turned upside down they give a gush of syrup, but if the bucket is held over an empty one until the flow stops, no syrup is lost on the ground. With changes in the temperature there is a little loss, but it is not great, and it is not a problem in my bee yards. I use plastic paint buckets from Lowes, or for my nucs, the 1.75 quart containers that my wife gets ice cream in. I use a drill with a 5/64 inch bit to make the feed holes in the lids. The only draw back with pails or ice cream containers is that I can't see the level of the feed when I pop the hive top.

With top or frame feeders I had problems with SHB getting in the syrup and then the bees would refuse to take it, also there was the problem with drowning of bees.

 

[Ross]

I use metal paint cans, new, from Lowes or HD. They are coated inside. They don't leak when inverted like plastic because the sides don't flex.

 

[drlonzo]

I use hive top feeders myself. But the ones i use only hold about half a gallon of syrup and the bees don't drown. It was a design by The Fat Beeman . They work extremely well, and you don't have to worry about the bees drowning. The bees can't fly up at you while you have the top off either. They work for ventilation both in summer and winter as well too. I'll take a pic and post it in just a bit for you to get a good look at.

 

[drlonzo]

View attachment 11172

Close up of Ladder system

View attachment 11173

These are what I use on ALL of my hives to feed with and winter them with them on as well. NO need for the inner cover with these as they act as one.

 

[bugmeister]

ditto on the paint cans. they can be made well in advance an in large batches stored clean with no ants and anything bugging you, give a good steady supply as needed and i noticed compared to the chicken feeder types i was using, no drowning and no issues with not having perfectly level hives. Very easy for the bees to protect since flow is slow and steady and controlled by the number and sizes of hole punched. BM