Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Queen castle feeders  (Read 6073 times)

Offline AllenF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8192
  • Gender: Male
Queen castle feeders
« on: May 23, 2010, 08:46:20 pm »
So I have a couple of queen castles and they work real great and today I moved the frames from a couple of sections to 3 nucs with division board feeders to feed them.   They were booming and can use the space also.   The question I have is to the people that use queen castles, do you use any type of feeders with them.  I have not last year or this year yet, but want to push the bees some more for faster growth.   Sometimes it is hard to find a full deep of honey to feed each section.   Would one deep of brood work with one frame of a division board?   

Offline Robo

  • Technical
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 6778
  • Gender: Male
  • Beekeep On!
    • Bushkill Bee Vac
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2010, 10:56:49 am »
I put a pint mason jar in the top of each section cover and put an empty deep with cover around them.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison



Offline AllenF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8192
  • Gender: Male
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2010, 08:52:13 pm »
Did you cut out for the mason jar in the 1 by tops that come with it or did you cut out for the mason jars in thinner plywood tops on each section of the queen castle.

Offline Robo

  • Technical
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 6778
  • Gender: Male
  • Beekeep On!
    • Bushkill Bee Vac
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2010, 01:55:41 pm »
I have my own version of the queen castle

 http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,16515.0.html

Although the pictures don't show it.   I cut the holes for the mason jars in the individual compartment covers (middle picture)  and put #8 hardware cloth on the bottom.   The just add another empty deep on top of that with the cover.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison



Offline AllenF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8192
  • Gender: Male
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2010, 06:50:33 pm »
Thanks for the info.  I like your set up there.   The entrance holes look good.   I should be making them myself instead of spending that money.   I do have mine painted with 4 different colors on each side to keep the bee drift down.

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2010, 02:36:40 am »
Capped honey works great.  A conical dixie cup with a tablespoon of syrup works ok. Just deform it to fit between the frames and fill it with syrup...
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline sc-bee

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2985
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2010, 12:23:42 am »
Robo do you still use the coroplast as dividers. How is it holding up. My castle from Brushy has masonite board, I hate it. Is the coroplast vertical or horizontal for the dividers. I kinda got lost in the old post about vertical or horizontal, but it don't take much for me to get lost.
John 3:16

Offline Robo

  • Technical
  • Administrator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 6778
  • Gender: Male
  • Beekeep On!
    • Bushkill Bee Vac
Re: Queen castle feeders
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2010, 09:21:46 am »
Robo do you still use the coroplast as dividers. How is it holding up. My castle from Brushy has masonite board, I hate it. Is the coroplast vertical or horizontal for the dividers. I kinda got lost in the old post about vertical or horizontal, but it don't take much for me to get lost.

Coroplast is still working great.    If you have a dado in the bottom, then direction of coroplast doesn't matter.  If no dado, horizontal works best, but depending on the size sheets you have, you can still go vertically and just but a small block or brad on the floor on both sides to hold the middle of the coroplast in place.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison



 

anything