# How I feed pollen patties and syrup in a TBH (pics)



## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Old way: baby food jars inverted over spacers. Pros: Its easy. Cons: They'd empty the jars in 24 hrs. I was using a pint jar, but they built comb far enough over I wanted to give them one more bar to build on.










New way: Shamelessly adapted from Mike Palmer's division board feeder design (which, btw, works wonderfully). I used thin plastic instead of masonite sides to maximize volume while keeping external dimensions as small as possible, and also so I can see how far to fill it! It probably holds a quart and a half.
I took a bit of window screen and folded it over the last quarter inch, then draped it over the edge of the plastic to give the bees a ramp. I hate seeing drowned bees...










I only made a 1 inch hole. You could make it bigger to avoid needing a funnel...










About 15 seconds after filling, they're sucking it down.










While I was at it, I made double the parts. I'll stick masonite on one side and fill it up with candy once it gets too cold to open them up regularly. The brood nest is on the other side and they've got about 4 combs mostly capped between this end and the brood nest, but if they get over here they'll have something to munch on.


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## buckbee (Dec 2, 2004)

Tara - is it optical foreshortening or is that a very small hive?


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## the.hines (Apr 13, 2009)

I like it thank you


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Buckbee--no, you're right, it is a very small hive; 2 can fit directly over a normal super. Its the pilot model for my planned mating nucs--follower boards inserted/removed make for easy recombining as I sell queens. I was making another style of mating nuc, but making the frames took the longest so I decided to quit making frames. 

I think the rest of the ones I make will have a 'square' endboard to make the design a little bit simpler and to give it some stability

More details and pics here:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247067


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## buckbee (Dec 2, 2004)

Nice job, Tara! And I have also been known to re-arrange woodpiles in search of the perfect board...

Are these tube-connected hives working as you planned, or are they yet to be tested in Bee World?

(I think you are going to be interested in a new hive design I am working on - too early to announce yet. That's why I'm whispering.:shhhh


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

"Are these tube-connected hives working as you planned, or are they yet to be tested in Bee World?"

Huh? The bees come and go to the outside just fine. They were bringing in tons of pollen for a while. I'm mainly keeping them inside (my garage) because they are so small, and when I open it up, I either open the windows so they can fly out, or work them by night under garage lights when only about 3-4 fly out. By 'Bee World' are you talking about real-life testing, or some magazine or something?


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## buckbee (Dec 2, 2004)

Tara said:


> "Are these tube-connected hives working as you planned, or are they yet to be tested in Bee World?"
> 
> Huh? The bees come and go to the outside just fine.


One of your pics showed a plastic tube connecting two hives - or was that the entrance to the outside world?



> By 'Bee World' are you talking about real-life testing, or some magazine or something?


I just meant 'tested by real bees', as opposed to the bees in our heads! I sometimes get a reality check when something that 'should' work in theory turns out a little differently when bees get hold of it!


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Well, the tube to the outside world seems to be working fine! Its 1" and provides plenty of room for the comings-and-goings in this small nuc.


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

_ or work them by night under garage lights when only about 3-4 fly out._

If you work them at night, try using a red light. Some of the headband lamps have a red light. Bees can't see red light, so they don't fly toward the light.

Bees do crawl at night.


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