Paul Law asked:

>> with 10 undrawn frames,
>> HOW MUCH should food should I put in the hive
>> before closing the top for the first time?

and Tim Arheit said:

> That depends on how often you intend on checking in on them.
> When drawing comb I would make sure that syrup is available
> at all times.  I'd give them a gallon and check on them in 2-3 days.

I'll go further, and ask "how big is your biggest feeder?"
Whatever it is, fill it up.  I've never seen an overweight
bee, and neither will you.  There simply is no such thing
as "over-feeding", moreso when the bees need to draw comb.

> I also have a bordman feeder,
> a 1/2 gallon jug with feeder holes cut in the top
> and a tray feeder.

"Boardman" feeders are junk.  Return it to the criminal
enterprise that misrepresented it as "beekeeping supplies"
and demand a full refund.  Boardman feeders have been found
by all and sundry to have no discernable use in beekeeping.

Boardman feeders may be of occasional use to USDA scientists
wanting to do in-depth studies of robbing behavior, as there
is no quicker way to get a good robbing frenzy started than to
install a Boardman on a weak colony or a split/package/nuc.
It's much like parking an armored car with the doors swung
wide open in one's driveway.  Such actions tend to attract the
criminal element, or spawn the dynamic development of an
ad-hoc opportunistic criminal element which otherwise would
not exist.

Supply houses that include Boardman feeders in beginner kits
should be required by law to send an employee to the home of
each purchaser to refill the darned things at the roughly
6-hour intervals that they are emptied by even the weakest hive.

The "division board" or "in-the-hive" frame-type feeders are
"Broken As Designed", or "B.A.D.".  While they hold more than
the Boardmans (a gallon, as I recall), they end up being a
burr-comb repository when forgotten or left unfilled for even
a few days.  Why?  'Cause they are in the brood chamber, right
next to other frames!  Even when used with style and panache
by hyper-attentive beekeepers, they create a problem, as
when they are removed by the new beekeeper, they force him/her
to replace it with an undrawn frame, often long after the
opportunity to draw comb has passed. (Why?  Because new
beekeepers do not tend to have "extra" drawn comb!)  The entire
concept of "division board" feeders appears to be based upon
the sort of logic that only a beekeeper could appreciate:

  1)  I want to draw comb.
  1a) New colonies need to be fed to draw comb.

  2)  But the feeder replaces one of the frames!
  2a) Just remove one of the frames.

  3)  But when done feeding, I replace it with what?
  3a) The undrawn frame.

  4)  But then how do I draw THAT frame???
  4a) Just remove one of the frames...

Many people have been saying good things about the styrofoam
hive-top feeders.  This may be the first universally-liked
"plastic" item in all of beekeeping.  Hive-top feeders hold
3 to 4 gallons.  The traditional wooden hive-top feeders have
a traditional habit of leaking.  A drawback with any hive-top
feeder is getting the feed to the feeder, which means a transport
feed container and pumping or pouring the feed into the feeder.

The general drawback to styrofoam as a material in beekeeping
is the sudden and highly entertaining phase-change catalyzed
by placing a lit smoker on top of, or even close to any styrofoam
item.  The styrofoam changes directly from a solid to a gas.

I like the one-gallon "plastic bucket" style feeders, as they are
unbreakable, they can be filled directly from one's feed mixing vat,
will not slosh around or spill when being transported, stack nicely
without complaining, and can be swapped for an empty feeder bucket in
seconds.

They are even dishwasher-safe, but be advised that YOU may not be
"dishwasher-safe" if your significant other finds that you are
now using even the dishwasher for your propolis-covered beekeeping
stuff. Another drawback is that one needs to scrounge up an empty
deep or a pair of mediums to enclose the bucket, but this is a good
use for the supers that you bought used only to find that they are
too ratty to use in production, or are extreme violators of bee space
due to sloppy fabrication.  It is the sole use I have for "deeps",
which I am prevented from lifting due to religious affiliation.
I am devoutly lazy when it comes to heavy lifting.

        jim  (Who is happy to report that Sunday's snow melted
           Monday, and budding, blooming and growing continues
           in the mountains of Virginia.  God's press release
           about the surprise snow storm stated that there is
             no proof that it was Coalition snow, but also states
             that even the new "smart snow" can be subject to
           targeting errors, anti-aircraft fire, and so on.

             A representative of Hizbollah took credit for the
           surprise snowstorm, calling it a "strike against the
             Great Satan".  He added "Who needs nuclear weapons
             when even a mere half inch of snow on Washington DC
             can shut down the US Federal government for days?"

             A CNN/Time Magazine instant-poll revealed that 86%
             of people asked were in favor of shutting down
             the federal government, at least until the next
             election...)

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