A correspondent made the following enquiry privately.  I'll respond
to all, since I am sure the discussion an answer is of general
interest.
 
>    In
>    some cases there is a lot of drowning, but in the fall that may
>    just remove old bees, and have a neutral or even beneficial efect
>    on wintering
 
This may be a factor of syrup thickness and also surface area.
 
Thin syrup drowns bees.  If rain gets on the surface, the water wets
any bees that fall in.  2:1 syrup will not wet bees easily.
 
If the surface area is small bees fight and that results in losses
and light hives.  Several barrels half full are better than one.  We
put the lids on top, using sticks to raise them up.  The low side, we
extend over the barrel, so water runs off.  This fall we neglected to
do that and had to visit 30 yards to remove 3" of water from each
drum after a big rain.  (Water floats on syrup).
 
Also types of straw vary in ability to resist moisture.  Some types
are far superior for feeders.
 
>    Something I've wondered about in drum feeding situations: do you
>    see the same?  why are there so many bees  sitting around on hive
>    tops, etc.? There is the feeding frenzy at the barrel (sometimes
>    not too much frenzy) but thousands of bees distributed over the
>    landscape, also. Is there a masking level of orientation
>    pheromone, confusing their return to the hive? Are they bees that
>    got some body contact with syrup, and are recovering after
>    cleaning up?
 
Good question.  I haven't observed this much, so I'll ask the list.
 
(Guessing here...)
 
Perhaps the bees are drunk?  Syrup will ferment if
water gets into it, but the bees will still take it sometimes.
 
Perhaps some are cleaning up, and also some may be disoriented from
fighting.
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>