I installed one of the hive-top feeders I recently built (and managed to get to stop leaking!), which are based on the Miller-type feeder plans available on the beesource.com site. I put it in place of the sugar board, sitting right on top of the makeshift Imirie shim I use to create an upper entrance.
The bees have been very active recently, particularly today as the temperature passed 60 degrees. They've been using both entrances to come and go, doing orientation flights and even visiting the pansies in the greenhouse. However, none of them have gone into the feeder yet.
Should I leave the upper entrance on the hive? Or should I remove it as a means of enticing them up into the feeder where the syrup is? Or should I just wait and see what develops?
By the way, the directions Jay posted for cutting box joints were extremely useful. I ended up making 8 supers over the weekend, 4 deeps and 4 mediums. They turned out really nice and solid. I tried cutting the handles in the sides like he showed, too, but didn't have enough large clamps to do the job right. So I just attached six inch cleats about 2 inches from the top, and that is the only way to distinguish between the newly built ones and the ones I bought last year. Thanks!
-- Kris