I'm about to take delivery of four 4# packages of bees. Unfortunately, I don't have any drawn comb frames to help them take off, so I'm assuming that I'll be feeding quite a bit until we get a flow going. So, the question is entrance feeder or frame feeder? Just wanting to know what the preference is and your reasoning why. Maybe I'll get two of each?
Also, do any of you feed pollen patties to newly introduced package bees?
If these are your first bees, I would recommend the entrance feeders. They give you a reference as to how much feed they are consuming without any disruption to the interior of the hive. I have frame feeders too, but not really that crazy about them due to bees drowning in the syrup. You could try pollen patties, I don't think they would hurt in your area, but when you see em bringing in pollen on their own, they will typically ignore them. Cut them in half and leave them on for a week or so. Down here, patties are nothing but a SHB buffet, so I doubt I will ever use them again.
Most Beeks will recommend either feeding from a jar on top of the inner cover or a frame feeder. The reason being when you need to feed in the Fall there Will be a tendency to start robbing with the entrance feeders. If you are feeding on the inner cover you will want to put super or deep around the jar to keep it warm and be able to put your cover on. The pollen patty will probably help your bees get started if there isn't any natural pollen available. The need the pollen to feed the larva so they'll probably take some right away until the first brood cycle emerges and there is natural pollen available for the foragers.
Tim
Read over this and see if it helps you out any on your decision:
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/feeder-compare/ (http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/feeder-compare/)
Great recommendation K9.
Quote from: VolunteerK9 on April 05, 2011, 11:44:50 AM
Read over this and see if it helps you out any on your decision:
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/feeder-compare/ (http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/feeder-compare/)
This is great info. Thanks for the link.