If you’ve been wanting to make a homemade honey bee feeder, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll find several different ways to use a mason jar for your bees. These include using it as an entrance feeder, pollen patty, or watering station. The possibilities are endless! Let’s get started! Let’s start by looking at the basics of making a honey bee feeder.
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Using a mason jar as a honey bee feeder
One way to use a mason jar as a feeder is to place it between the top entrance and inner cover hole. You can also place it between the back wall and top entrance of the hive. Make sure that the jar’s lid is tightly installed. Then, fill the jar with syrup. You can place more than one jar on top of the frames.
While it’s tempting to simply pour syrup in a mason jar, this is not a good idea. Bees are not designed to eat sugar water. While you will get a honey-like substance from a mason jar, the liquid won’t be true honey. Sugar water contains only one percent sugar and ninety percent water. It can be measured by volume or weight.
Using it as a pollen patty
The use of pollen patties can help to provide a complete diet for your bees. Bees feed their larvae and nurse bees from pollen. The growth of your colony depends on the amount of pollen available. Pollen patties help strengthen your colony before the natural pollen source is available. They are especially useful if you live in an area where the growing season is short.
In the past, you would place a pollen patty immediately above the brood nest. This method would reduce the chance of the colony developing too much brood. The quantity of pollen patties was small enough for the bees to eat within a couple of days. Unfortunately, this method was only effective if the colony was struggling. Using a mason jar as a pollen patty was more time-consuming than it is worth.
Using it as a watering station for bees
When you’re installing a watering station for honey bee colonies, there are a few tips to remember. Place the station where the honey bees can easily access it and not too far away from the hive. If the station is too far away, the worker bees might wander several miles in search of fresh water. If the station is too far away, the bees may fly miles to collect water from a neighbor’s saltwater or chlorine pool. If you don’t want them to go out to the neighbors’ pools, don’t use bird baths – the bees can drown.
Beekeepers use a watering station to cool down and regulate the temperature of the hive, dissolve honey, and provide drinking water to the bees. A bee watering station helps ensure the health of a hive and its worker bees throughout their life cycle. A bee watering station has a lower part called a hygienic waterer and a top part known as a balloon waterer. Bees need a surface on which to land, and a landing pad helps them do so.
Using it as an entrance feeder
If you’re new to the world of beekeeping, you might be wondering whether or not you should use an Entrance Feeder. Entrance feeders are plastic containers that fit in the front entrance of your hive. Each one comes with a perforated lid and a 1 quart jar of HLH liquid bee feed. The jars should be placed over the entrance of the hive, out of reach of raccoons.
An entrance feeder is a top-entrance hive feeding device that consists of an inverted jar or feeding tray. This feeder is easy to use and makes it easy to monitor the amount of syrup inside. It is best used with a reduced entrance because it is less effective in cold weather, where the liquid may freeze and the bees may not be able to access the syrup.
