This top feeder sits inside your hive’s inner cover. It provides many advantages, including being able to monitor resource levels without opening it and being very easy to use.
However, they can quickly become overrun by dead bees which contaminate the syrup and create an unsightly mess. They’re also vulnerable to being targeted by thieves.
Contents
Top Feeder
This feeder holds 2.24 gallons of syrup and fits securely on top of your 10-frame super. Delivered stapled and glued for quick assembly, its floating hive top feeder lets you feed raw or dry sugar without disrupting bees’ resources levels. Plus it makes resource monitoring simple without opening your hive!
Hive top feeders offer greater protection from robbers than entrance feeders, and refilling one is much simpler than having to refill the sugar water tray of an entrance feeder.
Top feeders allow beekeepers to medicate the hive without exposing the queen to sunlight, which may weaken her medication. Also, checking a top feeder is much less invasive than frame or gravity feeder checks and doesn’t necessitate using a smoker – an especially convenient feature for beekeepers with multiple colonies.
Frame Feeder
Frame bee feeders differ from top feeders in that they sit directly inside your hive box and replace one of its frames. With their innovative cap-and-ladder system, these frame bee feeders limit bee drowning while also preventing burr comb buildup in their feeders.
Frame feeders with wide surfaces of syrup enable bees to quickly consume it during times of brood rearing or poor weather, and to add mite treatments without disturbing the bees.
However, its main downsides include having to open your hive in order to insert and fill this type of feeder. Furthermore, this kind of feeder often spills more than entrance jars while monitoring resource levels may become difficult without opening your hive and disturbing your bees. Still, many beekeepers find this method convenient – plus its easy clean-up makes reusing easier than ever!
Contact Feeder
Bees can reach into this type of feeder to feed. Ideal for spring or stimulative feeding, these structures often include empty supers as protection from robbing.
Beekeepers typically employ these feeders when starting up a new colony from nucs or package bees. Without careful monitoring of resources in their environment, new bees will quickly become hungry if left alone to their own devices and may starve without prompt intervention by the beekeeper.
These kinds of feeders can also be very messy. Their constant dripping can leave sticky floors with sticky bee poop. Dead bees and mold may end up pooling in their feeder instead of being available to bees. We therefore suggest the frame feeder, with its built in slope and ability to be protected by medium supers against theft.
Open Feeder
Bees sometimes need a helping hand during difficult periods. While bees are designed to withstand harsh climate conditions, some beekeepers find that additional resources must be made available to provide sufficient resources to the colonies.
One effective solution for beekeeping is an internal bee feeder. These are usually the size of a brood frame and take their place within the hive, enabling beekeepers to easily check resource levels without disturbing the bees directly. They can be filled with homemade syrup or Pro-Sweet. However, there can be downsides to this kind of feeder; firstly it may encourage robbing; secondly it may become full of dead bees which is detrimental for hives as this attracts pests and parasites; finally it may tip over during rainy days or spill all its contents throughout hive leaving sticky messes to clean up afterwards!
