# How to feed a top bar hive



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I used baggies. That's about the most simple method I came up with. I did a boardman behind a follower board, but that was a pain in the butt too. I have some 15-bar TBHs left over and I think I might use those as mating nucs (divided in half).

But even then... it's probably better just to cut the cord from the TBHs. I might make a divided two frame Coates nuc and use it to mate queens out of... One that I could remove the divider from and make them a five framer if needed or at the end of the season. 

I think I'll go that route if I can get all my equipment made by then. Otherwise the TBHs would work in a pinch.


----------



## Beau Diddly (Dec 28, 2015)

jwcarlson said:


> I used baggies. That's about the most simple method I came up with. I did a boardman behind a follower board, but that was a pain in the butt too.


I'm new, so I'll ask, rather than using it behind a follower board, why not mount the boardman traditionally, at the end of the TBH?


----------



## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

I may have come up with my own answer, just involves re-thinking how I do entrances. I've got a few of the pop bottle feeder gadgets from ebay a couple years back, they didn't work well for us because my nuke landing boards were to short. If I re-think how I do an entrance for the smaller top bar units, should work fine. This gadget here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10X-White-H...218850?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkpar

Then all I have to do is use an entrance on the bottom of an end, with a platform that sticks out enough to support a pop bottle in that gadget and it's a fairly quick and easy way to put feed on small nucs in top bar setups. But i did learn the hard way with these things, do NOT use plastic bottles, only glass bottles. And if the platform doesn't support the whole thing, work something up to keep it secure in place. We gave up on the large size plastic pop bottles, but with a wine bottle they worked ok, other than needing the bottle to be secured so it doesn't tip over from being top heavy. If the platform is made big enough, I may just put a couple screws thru the flange on the feeder, and make it a permanent part of the nuc setup, it'll hold the bottle in place better that way too.

I think I can make this work.


----------



## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

Why not just make them a tad longer and stick one or two inverted quart mason jars inside, resting on two sticks or scraps of wood?


----------



## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

I much prefer to be able to feed without opening them up if possible. These will be mating nucs, and have ripe cells in them at times when I need to feed them, so if I can put on feed without opening them, it'll be much better. I'm not planning on making them big, 6 or 7 bars 10 inches in length, these are mini nucs.


----------



## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

OK, I open mine up, and use them for mating nucs. Mine are 13 inches long or so. I too do not like opening them up, but it seemed better for what I want to do. That is the beauty of the TBH, if it works for you, it works! Good Luck


----------



## jadebees (May 9, 2013)

When I Had to do it, I put mason jars right in the hive, and they would take it to combs. Not many other ways with topbar hives that prevent robbing. As a warm climate design, cold weather feeding wasn't factored in. But they had room, at 42" inside.


----------



## Chuck Jachens (Feb 22, 2016)

I use an inverted mason jar on the back side of the follower board but my tbh are 44 inches long on the inside. Feeder on the follower requires about 6 inches of space. 

I build some 2 foot tbh nucs and I was thinking a board man feeder through a slot in the back wall. However, I like the bottle feeder mentioned earlier since the hole will be easy to plug when not in use.


----------



## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Grozzie2, would love to see pics of the bottle feeders in place. I use a mason jar feeder in the back section of the hive behind a follower board, but I was trying to figure out how to attach a feeder to the back of the hive to give the bees more room.


----------



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Beau Diddly said:


> I'm new, so I'll ask, rather than using it behind a follower board, why not mount the boardman traditionally, at the end of the TBH?


Robbing. Plus holes in the outside of my hive body. I was never a big fan of that (still am not).


----------



## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

I build my TBH nucs with extra room so I can use these bottle feeders in there. Cap it off with 2 empty bars so the buyer is getting 5 bars of drawn comb and 2 empty. The Le Bleu water bottles from walmart fit inside my TBHs perfectly. (other bottles don't have the right rings or they are too tall). For a full size hive, I prefer the division board feeders from Beeline Apiary, but that assumes your bars are 19".


----------



## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Get a 3" hole saw or use a jigsaw and cut a 3" diameter hole in the bottom board of the nuc. Attach a wide mouth mason jar canning ring with small screws around the hole on the outside. Place some gutter screen in a wide mouthed mason jar so that it encircles the jar and comes up the neck. Make sure the screen overlaps so there aren't any gaps. Fill with syrup and place sticks inside for floats. It works great for me and takes up no room inside the nuc or hive. Plus, it's very easy to refill and you don't need to open the hive up.


----------



## Steve56Ace (Sep 5, 2014)

Outside of the regional weather issues, I'm going to assume most of these TBHs are hole entrance, likely on the side? I do an open 3/4" slot and just stick an entrance Brickman in. Don't need it much so just leave it as a reducer in winter. My big TBH has an internal camera/ feeder room inside the entrance so can feed that way too w/out actually going into the hive. I build Florida Style TBHs w/ 19" x 1.25" bars. FWIW


----------

