A feeder’s primary purpose is to provide a place where bees can feed without opening their hives, making this solution especially valuable when temperatures are dropping or when there is danger from invading robbers preying upon weak colonies.
Create this feeder using materials you already possess; see below for an outline of what materials will be necessary for one feeder.
Contents
Materials
Materials required for this feeder are readily available and easy to acquire. A large jar, such as a pail, should have a lid wider than its top so that syrup flows freely when bees drink from it. Furthermore, ensure the container remains clean and mildew-free when placing your feeder outside.
Frame feeders and baggie feeders are two common forms of feeders used by beekeepers. Frame feeders are installed into the entrance of hives to supply bees with sugar syrup; their tubes feature ridged surfaces which the bees climb up in order to access. Unfortunately, frame feeders take up a lot of space in the hive and have even been known to drown bees!
Baggie feeders consist of plastic feed bags that have been carefully cut slit in one corner to make accessing syrup easier for bees. While they make refilling simple and are reliable performers in cold climates, their performance may suffer in cold conditions as they could potentially freeze and make accessing syrup difficult for bees.
Tools
A hive top feeder sits atop of a hive and aligned with an opening in its inner cover, consisting of a shallow box covered with hardware cloth that bees can use to access sugar water.
Simple to create using a 1×4 tank end and an outer cover from a Langstroth frame box, this beehive feeder holds 3 gallons of syrup for use both warm and cold weather conditions with little (if any) drowning of bees during refill. Furthermore, its quick refill speed prevents robber bees from entering and its lid can be opened without bees flying out!
This Langstroth hive top feeder is designed to replace one of the frames in an existing Langstroth hive and secured with an empty hive box for protection from elements and robber bees. Bees will travel up the ridged cone until they reach their feed; durable plastic cups help safeguard syrup levels in this feeder.
Preparation
There are various feeders designed to feed bees throughout the fall when their reserves require additional feeding in preparation for Winter. An entrance feeder consists of a tray inserted into the hive entrance with an inverted syrup container sitting atop. While quick to refill, this method may cause robbing in weak colonies as it allows air into its contents, or may freeze in cold temperatures.
Another option is the Boardman Feeder, resembling a standard frame and placed atop a deep hive body to replace one of its frames. Unfortunately, its disadvantage lies in having to be filled daily, disrupting bee activity while potentially opening yourself up to bee stings from opening it too often.
Assembly
As its name implies, this feeder sits atop a colony and access is gained via a deep box with a screened ladder system to prevent bees from drowning in syrup. Furthermore, this type of feeder allows a beekeeper to replace full jars without opening their hive or losing any syrup supply.
Instead of drilling holes directly into a jar, this plan uses a two-piece lid with several small bee-size holes punched with a nail in its flat portion – this lid can then be inverted into an opening in a top feeder where bees climb up a screened ladder and into their respective jars which can then be replaced as needed.
Note that lumber dimensions are based on nominal sizes rather than finished sizes. A 2’x4′ piece of plywood cut to these specifications will produce one complete feeder for an eight or ten frame Langstroth hive; you can paint, stain or varnish it to protect against environmental conditions.
