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Author Topic: feeders  (Read 6500 times)

Offline lee

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feeders
« on: April 29, 2005, 12:52:00 am »
i put my bees in the hive. 4 days ago, today i went to check on them it my me sick to look and see. how many of them drowning.  :cry: i had put frame feeders in there .

Offline thegolfpsycho

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feeders
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2005, 01:08:33 am »
There have been several discussions on the boards about feeders.  I guess I'm a cheapskate, but I really like the gallon glass jars.  Get them free from deli's.  Someone here gets them from pizza parlors too.  Just put a dozen or so small holes in the lid, turn them upside down over the hole in the innercover, and check them in a few days.  No drowning, dishwasher safe.
Also, they are right over the center of the hive and above the cluster if the weather turns cool on ya.
If you use frame feeders, it is suggested you bend some sceen material into them, or put some sort of floats in them to help the bees get back out without drowning.

Offline Michael Bush

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« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2005, 09:15:02 am »
About the only kind of feeder the bees don't drown in are upside down jars of some size or the other.  And if they leak, they can drown bees too.

When I use a frame feeder I always put in a ladder and a float.  I prefer the frame feeders from Brushy Mt that are made of wood or masonite because the take up only one frame space, they don't bulge and they have limited access with a screen wire ladder.

But no matter what you do bees do drown in frame feeders.  It's just a matter of how many.  With a ladder and floats it will be less.

My favorite feeder is a Rapid Feeder from the Beeworks. (www.beeworks.com).
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Offline Finsky

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« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2005, 09:52:21 am »
I use to pour sugar syrup direct into combs and then I put frame into hive or in the deep under the brood box.

When I have little nuc, I pour syrup into combs, or I take a food frame from another hive. I do not use little feeders.

I use 8 liter feeding box.

Little feeding from top of hive keeps hive cool. Warm escapes from feeding hole.

Offline Chad S

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feeders
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2005, 11:29:24 am »
I have frame feeders.  There are grooves on the sides, and the sides are tapered down.  I did two things to reduce the number of drowned Bees.  One I cut a block of wood roughly the with of the feeder when it is empty.  Then drilled a hole through the side of the feeder through the block, and out the other side.  Then tie wraped the block in place, this prevents boulging.  Then I cut a thin strip of wood that fit into the bottom of the feeder remember the sides are tapered, so I did not want it to get fetched up as the syrup levels lowered.  I cut the wood thin so it floats about level witht he syrup.  So if a Bee falls in they can crawl out.  Seems to work there are a few dead Bees, but about 1/2 a dozen in one weeks time.  When re-filling I pour the syrup in slowly, and they all walk up in front of the rising syrup level.

Having said all of that I think I will go with hive top feeders in the future for a couple of different reasons, but the frame feeders were free, so the price was right.

Offline taw

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miller feeder
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2005, 11:05:29 am »
I am new to this whole thing, but I bought hive-top miller feeders:
http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=724

Alas, working with the feeder inevitably has bees landing in the pool of syrup before I get it closed. To take care of that, I am simply going to go buy some wire screening of some sort and screen the whole thing. That should eliminate the drowning (though even then it is minimal).

I am very happy with the miller feeder, and apparently, so are the bees. They are downing the syrup rapidly and happily.

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Offline crw13755

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« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2005, 11:13:47 am »
I use the frame feeder as well I use wood chips in mine so they can land on and just a few suicidal bees had took the plunge but there isnt very many Pshychiatrist bees out there LOL , but I also had a jar feeder but it seemed to attract flys so I just use the frame feeders now but I like the ideas above and will try those as well

Offline JoshK

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feeders
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2005, 12:03:08 pm »
When I installed this year's package, I forgot my Boardman, so I initially placed a frame feeder in the hive (I happened to have it in the trunk).  As a float, I used a thin wood paint-stirrer, the kind you get from the Home Depot when you buy paint (this one was unused, of course).  I only filled it about the third of the way, and by the next week it was empty and no dead bees.  I removed it and put the Boardman in, but last week the Boardman was found halfway across the yard.  If the case is the same this week, I'll put the frame back in.

I used a top-feeder early on in my other hive.  The telesoping cover sits flush on it; for the life of me I can't figure out how bees get in there outside the screen to drown.  I can understand a single bee or two madly rushing in just as the top cover is closed - but a dozen?  :?:

Offline Lesli

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feeders
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2005, 06:01:41 pm »
This year, I'm using the frame feeders with built-in floats from Betterbee. I tried the paint stir trick last year, but it didn't work with a full feeder. These seem to work--no drownings so far, two weeks in.
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Offline Kris^

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Re: miller feeder
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2005, 08:40:59 pm »
Quote from: taw
I am very happy with the miller feeder, and apparently, so are the bees. They are downing the syrup rapidly and happily.


My first hive project was making miller-type feeders.  Getting them watertight was not easy for me; I got one with both sides that keep syrup, but the others only hold syrup on one side.  Still, there's lots of room for lots of bees to get syrup at the same time, in the hundreds.  With the inverted jars, it seems you can only have a dozen or so sucking at the holes.

-- Kris

Offline Jerrymac

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« Reply #10 on: May 03, 2005, 11:21:35 pm »
Kris,

Have you tried melting wax into the joints to seal it up, or any other crack there might be?
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Offline JoshK

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« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2005, 02:16:08 am »
Actually today I went down to the shop and bought a "cap and ladder" setup for my frame feeder.  It consists of a cap (duh) that covers the feeder, with two square holes in it.  From these holes, two plastic thick-mesh "ladders" extend down into the syrup.  Bees will be contained in these inch-and-a-half-wide tunnels whenever they enter the feeder, so less drowning.  Pretty cool.

Offline Kris^

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« Reply #12 on: May 04, 2005, 10:41:50 pm »
Quote from: Jerrymac
Kris,

Have you tried melting wax into the joints to seal it up, or any other crack there might be?


I didn't have enough beeswax to run around the edges, and wasn't sure "Gulf wax" would work.  So I first used aquarium silicone, which worked not at all.  I finally just ended up putting regular clear waterproof silicone caulk to seal them as well as I could.  I admit there are various "manufacturing defects" in the feeders, and will make new ones this coming winter that correct the problems with these ones.  These were my first real woodworking project of any complexity.   :)

-- Kris

Offline crw13755

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« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2005, 10:45:18 pm »
LADIES & GENTS Kris the toolman Feller  :lol: