This DIY bee feeder is easy to build and can be utilized in Warre, Langstroth, or Top Bar hives. The bees can access these jars without disturbing their combs and queen cages – protecting themselves from predators like robbers and predators!
An appropriately-sized hole saw is required to cut the lid holes. Once an adequate seal has been obtained, the feeder can be fastened securely onto the hive and secured using its inner cover.
Contents
1. Space
Most beekeepers choose mason jar top feeders as their main feeding method because they are easy and cost-effective. To create one, simply poke several holes into any mason jar lid before turning it upside down over an entrance hole in your inner cover – any slight leakage of syrup is permissible, provided it does not create too much of a mess!
Jars provide additional insulation from the elements and reduce exposure of syrup to air that could result in fermentation, making this feeder ideal for beginner beekeepers who wish to simplify feeding without spending money on more costly feeders.
hive top feeders are easy to refill, less likely to leak than frame or gravity feeders and less susceptible to temperature fluctuations that could compromise seals on gravity feeders and cause them to lose moisture.
2. Robber Bees
Use of this type of feeder may pose problems with robber bees. Robber bees enter through the hole in the top feeder and gain direct access to sugar syrup; their quick attack overpowering weak colonies to take all their honey trove. Any bees surviving a robbery may become significantly weakened, making them susceptible to predators or future attacks by other robbing bees.
Robbing is a natural bee behavior that ensures survival of the fittest in times of scarce resources. While hive entrance reducers may help, preventing robbery in its tracks by closing off entrances at first sign of nectar dearth is best done using pieces of wood or grass or by purchasing an inexpensive entrance reducer.
3. Predators
Hive top feeders contain a large bucket filled with sugar syrup for bees to consume, placed atop an inner cover and accessible via crawling down an opening in its center. They’re an effective and straightforward way of feeding bees for beginner beekeepers who wish to keep things straightforward.
This type of feeder can also help prevent robbing since it is located inside the hive. Furthermore, its placement allows easier medicating of bees with medications dissolved in sugar syrup without risk of contamination to their home hive.
The Boardman Feeder consists of a white plastic feeding tray that fits into the entrance of a beehive and uses a quart-sized mason jar (not included) with holes punched into its metal lid that allow standard 70mm lid mason jars to fit inside, as well as an easy method for changing them without opening your hive.
4. Nectar
Nectar is the sweet liquid produced by plants to attract insects, birds and mammals for pollination purposes. Plants produce two forms of nectar: floral (present near reproductive organs within flowers) and extrafloral (produced elsewhere on plants to attract animals that consume herbivores or protect themselves against predators).
Nectar production should be abundant in an ecosystem featuring plenty of wild flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs; as well as productive fields and gardens with productive fields. Places rife with wildflowers include woods, meadows, rivers and wetlands. Nectar-rich crops include berry trees with currants gooseberries strawberries; as well as rapeseed sunflower mustard and buckwheat crops as well as decorative plants such as buddleja, cosmos or heather for agricultural fields.
This feeder fits pint mason jars and can be used with Warre, Langstroth or Top Bar hives. It includes a stand that holds the jar as well as an entryway that bees can use to enter. When inverted, inverted jars create a vacuum effect that keeps sugar water suspended while also allowing bees access.
