>I thought that it goes over the inner cover hole?
That is one method of many, and a good one. But if you have no inner cover (and I don't) you'll have to do something different. If you make your own inner cover or cover and put a hole the size of a mason jar lid you can feed through that and leave the lid on even when the feeder isn't on so the rain doesn't go through. They will plug the holes in the lid so you might want to have regular lids as well as lids with holes just so you don't have to clean out the holes when you want to feed again.
> That would keep them out of the empty space, but I imagine it might also cut off the ventilation?
Some. Ventilation is a bigger issue in the dead of winter and the heat of summer and neither of those times will they take syrup really.
>That would be handy for keeping an eye on the feed level...
It is.
>I reread your page about that.. I was mistakenly under the impression that you needed a drawn frame or two to encourage proper orientation of the new comb, but you said that a drawn frame isn't necessary with a package. Why is that?
A drawn frame isn't necessary with anything, but when you put a package in they are in one box hanging down from the top bars. When you add a super they are in the box below and the top bars they need to hang from are above them a ways. Adding a drawn comb to that box (which you can steal from the box below) gives them a ladder up to those frames.
>I already have a bunch of solid bottom boards, so keeping those would be the easiest..
If you already have them, I would use them.
> How do you get proper ventilation through the bottom if you use a top entrance and no SBB, though?
I convert mine to a bottom feeder with a screen:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#bottomThey do tend to plug up the area with dead bees when the house bees are too dumb to find their way to the top and stick them up against the screen, but other than having to clean them out a couple of times a year, they work fine.
> I was thinking that perhaps I could make a screen frame (like an impassable queen excluder), and put that on top of the solid bottom board. Then I could slide a tray under the screen. Sound possible?
I'm not sure I follow what you're trying to accomplish. You mean screen that bees can't get trhough over the solid board? You need a beespace above it. Many of the suppliers sell such things but they don't provide any ventilation really. Or not much anyway.
>I assume this setup should also include a removable tray underneath for our winter?
Probably. But the slatted rack will cut down a lot on draft and if the bottom is close to the ground you might get by without the tray.