# Bees in Feeder Box



## withakri (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi there,

I've got two boxes just about full and I am planning on adding a 3rd this week once it comes in the mail. I went to feed the bees today and noticed there were a ton in the top box that I have empty with canvas on the bottom and a few circles cut in for the ball jars. Is this a bad thing that they are in that top box without any bars? I haven't opened it up yet to see if there is any comb but definitely lots of bees when i started to slide that top little box filled with woodchips.


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## hotlanta_buckeye (Jul 12, 2012)

I have a similar situation going on with one of my feeders. Every time I feed, there are about 20-30 dead bees and an equal number alive under the cover. I have been letting it go because this is the only hive out of seven that has no ants. I think they are chasing them out. However, if there were thousands up there, I would probably try to seal it up a bit better.


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## johnsof (Oct 14, 2014)

i don't believe that you want to be cutting holes in your quilt box, this defeats the idea. If you want to feed from jars you should bore a hole in a piece of 1/4" plywood or 1/8" Masonite or something like this and place that above your top box and then put an empty hive body box, then put the quilt above this. There is also supposed to be a piece of screen or burlap or other fabric under the quilt box to provide a little ventilation (I happen to use #8 harware cloth as this keeps the bees from chewing on the fabric on the bottom of the quilt box when I don't have a feeder in place).

You can also purchase a hivetop feeder which would go under the quilt box/above the top hive body. They work good and have the small advantage of being able to be refilled without having to have any contact with the bees. The disadvantage is that if you need to get into the hive and the feeder is still full you have to clean out the syrup or be careful picking up the feeder.


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