Bees propalized a giant hole closed

[yes2matt]

Here are a couple pictures. I have made a top cover with osb and tin foil (radiation insulation) and a corex sign. I don't recommend that you do any of this, by the way. I feed liquid down thru the top with a half gallon pail/lid. At home here I feed liquid all winter.

Anyway what has happened is the feeder got empty, and light enough for the wind to blow off the hole. So rain was getting down thru the big hole into the center of the brood nest. Bad news, bees. But don't worry too much, my bees are smart and used propolis to seal the whole thing. 

You can worry a little about the bear in flip-flops, though, I'm gonna have quite a mess in this box come March.

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[Acebird]

At home here I feed liquid all winter.

You can do as you like but it is not a good practice.  It is in the bees DNA to hoard what they need to make it through winter.

[BeeMaster2]

In Brazil, the use Africanized Bees to make green propolis. They do this by opening up a 3/4? slot, from front to back, between 2 boxes. Green propolis runs about $25 for a one ounce spray bottle here in the states. It is cheap in Brazil. At a bee conference at UF they had a speaker that came from Brazil and talked about this.
Here is a link to one operation.
https://www.honeywayusa.com/natural-antibiotic
Jim Altmiller