Hive Top Feeder

rail · September 05, 2011, 09:11:16 AM

I purchased a Brushy Mountain wooden hive top feeder, any modifications or problem areas that I should take care of before installation?

Would like to here any comments about this feeder.

Katharina · September 05, 2011, 11:59:53 AM

A fellow beekeeper in our club bought it and he said it was a stinking mess. It leaked so badly that he can only use dry feed in it. Make sure all the seems have plenty of silicon caulking in them.

I have a one from Dadant. It does not leak, but the upper wood joints spread apart a little bit. I assume the moisture did it, and I never fill that high anyway. I will fill these areas with wood glue and a few extra wood screws. That should fix it.

Anther one out there is made by Mann Lake with plastic insert. The plastic is very slick and promotes drowning. There are also extra spaces underneath where the bees will put a lot of burr comb.

psbeekeeper · September 05, 2011, 12:07:25 PM

My Dad and I have 3 of them and had no problems. The only modification that we made is, we put a screen over the top so the bees won't fly all over the place when we take the cover off. Actually I'm probably going to be buy 3 more tomorrow.....

FRAMEshift · September 05, 2011, 12:22:32 PM

Quote from: rail on September 05, 2011, 09:11:16 AM
I purchased a Brushy Mountain wooden hive top feeder, any modifications or problem areas that I should take care of before installation?

Would like to here any comments about this feeder.

Don't know where you are in the Piedmont, but we buy our feeders from Busy Bee Apiaries in Chapel Hill. Busy Bee is an outlet for Brushy Mountain but I don't know if the ones we buy are actually from Brushy. The ones with the feeding area in the center works very well and you can feed half a feeder at a time which makes the feed level higher for a given amount of syrup. Never had a problem with those.

Finski · September 06, 2011, 01:34:12 AM

.
In Finland we use only plastic feeders. The biggest model is 20 litre.

Several models are 15 litre. It means that you fill once the box and one langstroth hive gets almost the whole winter food.

GeezzzBeezzz · April 25, 2012, 11:57:22 PM

I just bought one and the bees took to it right away. I had a couple of inverted mason jars above the top cover hole before and the bees did fine with that too. The top feeder is much easier to refill for me.

danno · April 26, 2012, 08:59:36 AM

I have a pile of Miller hive top feeders that I make in my shop. They have a screened center that keeps the colony bees from fly up when opened. I seal them with caulk and laytex paint. They work well. One problem they have always had is bee's getting through cracks between the feeder and the lid. I use migratory tops. These do kill alot of yellow jackets but take there share of honey bee's also. The past winter I fixed the problem by screening the entier top with #8 wire.
http://www.beesource.com/files/mrfeeder.pdf

GLOCK · April 26, 2012, 09:21:34 AM

I have all LANN LAKE top feeders {10} and i caulked along the screen area and have no problem with drowning bees they are great feeders for summer plus free shipping .
The plastic insert comes out and ya can clean it easily a plus for sure.