Some more hints:

1.  Straw absorbs moisture.  To a barrel, I start with 1/4 bale.  Push it
down until the syrup barely covers the top.  Go back in 2 days, and the
straw will have come up so far that the bees can't get to the syrup.  Repeat
above.  The bottom layer of the straw will be saturated and the rest will be
partially saturated.  Usually after the second dunking most of the straw
will remain above the syrup, but some pockets of pure syrup will form.  The
bees will stand on the exposed syrup and fill up!

I've had a yard of 20 hives take a barrel of syrup in a week, with (I
estimate) fewer than 200 drowned bees.  That is 30 lbs. a hive, usually just
about what I want.

2.  Rain water will sit on top of the straw/syrup and the bees will ignore
the barrel contents.  It is really a MESS to mix the rainwater with the
syrup/straw.  To minimize the effects of rain, I leave the barrell top on,
and tip it up so rain will drain to one side by putting a 2 x 4 under the
cover on  the uphill side of the barrel.  This will leave a 1.5 inch opening
for the bees, which is plenty, and will divert 90%+ of the rain water
outside the barrel.

3.  Yes, the strongest colonies will get 'most' of the syrup, but so what?
Those are just the colonies you want to go through the winter.  Do you
really care if your weak colonies don't make it through the winter?  If so,
why?

In the days of wild bees, open feeding meant feeding them.  They are largely
gone from the Northeast US, and I don't personally mind feeding those
hanging around.  Feeding a neighbors bees is a different issue.  If there
are other yards within 1/2 miles I would not use open feeding.  Fortunately,
I don't know that I have that problem.

Hope this helps.

Lloyd

-- 
Lloyd Spear
Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacture of equipment for round comb honey sections,
Sundance Pollen Traps, and producer of Sundance custom labels.
Contact your dealer or www.RossRounds.com

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