Terrible drought going on here...not much for the bees to eat. Tried feeding inside one of my topbar hives - robbing ensued. So I stopped that. I'm not sure why, but when I use entrance feeders, they leak and bees drown. Leaking occurs when the sun hits the jar after the 'cooler' (70-80 degree) night temperature. I've tried putting a milk jug over the jar to try to shade it, but that doesn't help. Any one know how I can stop this leaking problem??
They shouldn't leak much if they are sealed air tight. Maybe try some plumber's teflon tape on the jar threads.
Heating and cooling blows out the syrup on the glass jars. Also, I find that entrance feeders cause robbing because the food is right there outside the front of the hive.
Feed everyone, or at least feed the strong and steal from them for the weak...
If you want to try to prevent the entrance feeders from leaking due to the temp changes, you might have better luck with something more insulated than a milk jug. Maybe put some foam around it or a cooler over it. Maybe one of those pop can coolers?
I think you would be better off stealing from the rich and giving to the poor as Michael suggest. Keep the entrances small if you've got robbing.
I have modified my bottom boards so I can put a Boardman feeder in the back of the hive tightly so no bees outside the hive can access it. It also facilitates changing out the jars of sugar water by not being in the front where all the activity is. When I'm not using the feeder opening in the back, I just cover it with a small piece of wood.
MTWIBadger,
Would love to see a picture of how you did that modification, if you don't mind sharing.
Yeah MTWIbadger, I like the sound of that idea... show it to us... or describe a little better where you did the mod.. thanks, Poppi
I had the same issue when I first started out using Boardman feeders. I like them initially until I heard Randy Oliver say in a class to throw them away. I still persisted in using them for a while because I had 10 of them and then eventually saw what Randy was talking about.
If you want your hives to be robbed by other bees, yellow jackets, ants etc., use a Boardman. Do yourself a favor, cut your losses and don't use them. Go to Home Depot and buy the 2.5 quart clear plastic "Versa-Tainer" paint buckets with lids. Wash buckets and lids when you get home. Polk holes in the lid with a small nail, fill it with syrup, turn it upside down and place it on top of your frames using two 3/8 inch shims. Place an empty medium super on to protect it, inner cover them top cover.
Or, place the upside down bucket on top of the hole in your inner cover using shims, medium super then top cover;
Or, cut a larger hole the size of the bucket lid in your inner cover, staple #8 hardware cloth to cover the hole, place bucket over the hole, then medium super then top cover. That way the bees will feed through the hardware cloth to the bucket lid and you can re-fill without disturbing the bees sticking to the lid or flying up in your face. You don't have to worry about burr comb with this option. It's a little more work modifying the inner cover but it's the easiest in the long run for me.
I hope this helps.
A Boardman feeder measures 3/8 inch by 4.5 inches. I notch out this measurement in the bottom board so the feeder fits perfectly. I use these same dimensions as my front entrance so I don't put a bottom board on backwards. The feeder once in place will hang down with the weight of the sugar water. I attach a small landing level with the bottom depth of the notch which helps support the heavy feeder. When I'm not using the feeder, I either leave the empty glass bottle in the feeder or remove it and cover it with a small piece of wood.