# What types of feeders do others use?



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

I like the cover feeders Dadant sells. 
http://americasbeekeeper.com/USF splits.JPG
You should use plastic pails. they have a variety from 1 to 6 gallons.


----------



## [email protected] (May 12, 2010)

For ease of use, lack of robbing and close contact with the cluster during cool weather, I love the two gallon devision board feeders that Mann Lake sells. Thye only cost about $4.50 and I leave them in the hive all the time.


----------



## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

Adam, do you get a lot of bees drowning with the division feeder?


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

We use the one gallon size in all our hives and rarely see any drowned bees, the downside with them is the bees do sometimes fill them with comb. You run the risk of drowning a queen if you don't take the time to pull them and clean and dump out any bees and comb before filling.


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

For someone wanting to know the best way to feed its a can or jar inverted directly on top of the hive. Very small hives will take feed in very low temps with no risk of drowning. For someone wanting time efficiency and versatility it's inside "division board" type feeders hands down. With a good pump it usually only takes about 5 seconds per hive to fill a gallon feeder. One man can feed as many as 1,000 hives a day.
Adam: Can you still fit 8 combs in the hive with a 2 gallon feeder?


----------



## MethowKraig (Aug 21, 2011)

Mann Lake's are the only division board feeder I've found that won't drown bees. 

Yes, you can fit 8 additional frames. However, I have some boxes with 9 frame spacers. The eighth frame is little tight with the feeder. Have to bend the tabs over.


----------



## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks Jim....


----------



## [email protected] (May 12, 2010)

I some times have bees drowning in the devision board feeders. This can be eliminated by putting a flat peice of wood in them for the bees to climb on. You also could put a vertical piece of 1/4 " hardware cloth for them to climb on. Mann lake also sells a "cap and ladder " system that eliminates a lot of the drowning. Its funny, some hives will never have drowning bees and other have a bunch. One of those mysterys. Eight frames fit nicely in the hive body with the feeder installed. I have nothing against jars on top, but they require filling more frequently and when I used them, I put an empty box above to protect them. This was more work than I wanted to go through as I usually work my 350 hives alone. When you give 2 gallons of syrup at a time to a hive, its not long before they are fed.


----------



## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

AmericasBeekeeper said:


> I like the cover feeders Dadant sells.
> http://americasbeekeeper.com/USF splits.JPG
> You should use plastic pails. they have a variety from 1 to 6 gallons.


I'm not sure what your referring to that Dadant sells? The 3/4 inch covers with a hole in them?
I'm getting a little tired of the glass jars... I have to fill to often. 

Does anyone know of a good 1 gallon ish bucket? The ones I've tried leak and the bees rob around the edges.


----------



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Mbeck said:


> I'm getting a little tired of the glass jars... I have to fill to often.


Get gallon jars...........


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

I think I need to point out that there may well be a big difference in the potential for bee drownings in the much wider 2 gallon feeders that Adam is using (the extra capacity is width) than the one gallon type that I am familiar with.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Lapp's bee supply in Reeseville Wis. has carried a nice 2 gallon pail with reusable lid. They may still have them available.

Crazy Roland


----------



## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

Thank I'll check it out


----------



## [email protected] (May 12, 2010)

jim lyon said:


> I think I need to point out that there may well be a big difference in the potential for bee drownings in the much wider 2 gallon feeders that Adam is using (the extra capacity is width) than the one gallon type that I am familiar with.


Thats true to a point, but is nearly eliminated by using floats. I feel that the plusses far out weigh the minuses. I prefer to loose a few bees to drowning than whole hives to starvation, robbing etc. The drowning is not really a big problem. Some of the largest beekeeping opperations in the country use them for the same reasons I do.


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I use gallon cans. Singles on the inner cover escape hole, multiples on the top bars. Empty hive body as shell. Never any drowning. Never any robbing if the cans don't leak. You can place 5 gallons at once if needed. Means fast feeding and storage of most in the combs where it belongs.


----------



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Glass jars are fine for hobbyists/niche' pollinators. Mbeck I am talking about the MDO/HDO 3/4. Jerry Latner is making pallets of the same stuff now too and selling at cost. The 2 3/4 hole is too big for commercial/pail feeding. With the one inch hole you can just leave the pail off and the bees will use it as an upper entrance or throw a block of wood, which you probably have color coded to show have status anyway.


----------



## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

I think Dadant has the same covers for Nucs now, I looked at them last time I was there. I use a 1 inch hole in migratory lid now. The 1 inch test caps are suprisingly hard to find locally. I plugged the hole with burr comb when I was running short and the bees chewed them out as needed. Works well and is how I'm doing it for now on some.
A one inch hole is IMO more than big enough they seem to be able to suck down syrup as fast as they want even with just 3-4 very small holes in lid.

I guess the jars work okay, just looking for an easier way. I might try different ways and go back to jars. The the quart fit in a milk crate well (18) 1/2 gallon and gallon are harder to transport and break easier. It would be nice to refill less.


----------



## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

Mother Lode inside feeders with cap and ladders work great. The only problem is when the feeders are empty the bees will sometimes propolize the ladder screen. The ladders pull out easy so I do that to fill and at that time I smack the ladder with my hive tool to break the propolis loose.


----------



## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

All of Our hives have Dadant 1 gallon division board feeders installed, year around.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/Shallotman/DSC00246.jpg

I buy large rolls of 48" aluminum window screen and slice off 7" strips.
Cut them in half and you have 7" x 24" strips.
Fold them back and forth with an inch and a half fold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/Shallotman/DSC00242.jpg

No problems with drowning bees or wax in the feeder.

Here is another thing to consider if you decide to use this type of feeder:
Do you install them to the inside of the pallet, or outside?
Many prople place them to the inside so that they can just slide the lid a couple of inches to fill. That makes sense!
I on the other hand, place them to the outside so that the bees can cluster to the inside of the pallet as they do in the winter and figure that the feeder also serves as added insulation at that time.


----------



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

HarryVanderpool said:


> I buy large rolls of 48" aluminum window screen and slice off 7" strips.
> Cut them in half and you have 7" x 24" strips. Fold them back and forth with an inch and a half fold. No problems with drowning bees or wax in the feeder.


So the bees go down between the folds to feed? Got a pic of the screen b4 being placed in the feeder?

Thanks!
Larry


----------



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Michael Palmer said:


> I use gallon cans.


Are these regular paint cans with holes?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Yes, epoxy lined, gallon cans with nail holes in the cover.


----------



## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

For normal hives I now use 1 gallon epoxy lined paint cans with holes punched in the lid inverted on the inner cover on sticks with a super around it.

In my mating nucs this first year of queen rearing I had 3 deep frames and a 1 gallon Mann Lake Pro frame feeder with the cap and ladders. They take up the extra space of the fourth frame and when I made my nucs to overwinter I waited till they are mated and laying and pulled the feeder and put in a frame of foundation. Works for me.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Some of your choice should be based on whether or not feeding is your management plan or an exception. If it's an exception, a bottom board feeder is the cheapest and works, but if you plan to feed every year it may be worth considering something that works better. They all seem to drown some number of bees some of the time and the bottom board feeder drowns about as many as the frame feeders.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#BottomBoardFeeder

And dry sugar requires no extra equipment.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#drysugar


----------

