feeders

What would you say were the best feeders for 14x12?

I like the big plastic rectangular ones sold by Fragile Planet. They do need a towards the edge hole in the crown board but are inexpensive. And fine for standard Nat and commercial too of course.

I am guessing that 14x12 vs BS Brood would only be relevant for a frame feeder?

We use home-made frame feeders for nucs, which are a pain to check and fill up as you have to open up the hive (rather than just take the roof off).

As regards our top feeders - which would fit on 14x12 or BS Brood:

We use the little plastic rapid feeders from ebay because they are cheap and will go on a variey of different hive types (search for item 320700102206). They are a pain because you need a spare super (and maybe a lift, on WBC) to support the roof and they don't hold very much for Autumn feeding.

We use a magnificent wooden Miller feeder for WBC from Th-you-know-who-nes, which we bought when we didn't know better. The feeder is spectacular in appearance and operation - and price!

We use a plastic M##semore Jumbo Rapid Feeder for national, which is not as cheap as the ebay feeders, but has the advantage of not needing a super to hold the roof up - it has the same exterior dimensions as the hive, so just forms part of the stack. It holds a huge amount and has two feed holes.

barratt_sab said:

We use home-made frame feeders for nucs, which are a pain to check and fill up as you have to open up the hive (rather than just take the roof off).

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I have put a thin plastic crownboard on my P a y n e s nuc and cut a small corner out over the feeder. Re attached with a little duck tape, so that it is then hinged, you can just flip it up and top up feeder with a baby watering can.

Erichalfbee said:

I have put a thin plastic crownboard on my P a y n e s nuc and cut a small corner out over the feeder. Re attached with a little duck tape, so that it is then hinged, you can just flip it up and top up feeder with a baby watering can.

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Now that is clever.

and we don't use...

Entrance feeders - because we once read that they encourage robbing, but having not used them I can't tell you if that's true or not.

Contact feeders - because the first bees we had were a cast that needed feeding. We didn't have a feeder that would fit the nuc box they were in, so we made a contact feeder out of a coffee jar with holes in the lid. The holes were too large so it flooded the nuc. I don't think it did the bees any harm, but I know that it didn't do the beekeepers' nerves any good!

If you're short of ££££'s you can make a contact feeder with a candy-floss bucket or similar (Pound Stretcher in Regent Street had some last year). Make small holes in the lid (1 mm or 1.5 mm drill or poke with something sharp). Unlike bought feeders which are white and you can't see through, get a clear one. Squeeze when you invert and then release the squeeze once lid lower-most to draw in air so it doesn't drip syrup on the hive.

Adam

30lb honey bucket, no lid, with some straw floating on top of the feed.
Cost very little, works well.

Pete

Cheers folks. I'm struggling to picture how feeders work as I have never seen them and the course I did never covered feeding

Small - Frame feeders with a proper sized float so the bees can not drown
Large - Jumbo rapid feeder

Ely said:

Cheers folks. I'm struggling to picture how feeders work as I have never seen them and the course I did never covered feeding

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You have to do the ADVANCED beekeepers course for that then?

Grandad had some wierd glass bottles with an ALADIN oil lamp wick in that was fed through the crown board through a hole in the quilt... I think the bees must have licked the solution off of the wick?

I made frame feeders for 14x12 nucs from 12mm door stop timber from Wickes. I slit it on the bandsaw so that it was approx 12mm x 22mm. I cut the lugs and used 6mm ply for the front and back panels. The insides were varnished and some coated with a latex paint to waterproof them as a couple had failed the seepage test.

Having an internal width of 12mm, I didn't use a float as the bees can reach both sides of the tank. I have not witnessed any drownings, but when empty the bees are happy to mooch and park themselves in the void without any brace comb problems. Two fit in the space of one frame and one can be used as a dummy frame to pad out a National width box of 11 frames. The capacity is approx 1 litre. Weakness is the cut lugs which will succumb to the frame being dropped into a box; more likely if replaced when full. Place, but don't drop.

I like the smaller rapid feeders myself. The ones I have take 2 litres of syrup and I tend to only give a litre at a time. I do have some larger ones that take a couple of gallons, but I find that with 14x12s in normal circumstances that's far too much syrup.

Part of my reasoning for going with 14x12s to begin with was to give the bees plenty of room in the brood box to hold stores so sticking on gallons of syrup just seems un-necessary except in exceptional circumstances.

I've tried contact feeders before but I must admit that I just don't get on with them.

Nellie said:

I like the smaller rapid feeders myself. The ones I have take 2 litres of syrup and I tend to only give a litre at a time. I do have some larger ones that take a couple of gallons, but I find that with 14x12s in normal circumstances that's far too much syrup.

Part of my reasoning for going with 14x12s to begin with was to give the bees plenty of room in the brood box to hold stores so sticking on gallons of syrup just seems un-necessary except in exceptional circumstances.

I've tried contact feeders before but I must admit that I just don't get on with them.

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Thanks can you recommend the rapid feeder you use?