Front entrance feeders are notorious for triggering robbing behavior.  Bees from other hives are sneaking in the front just far enough to steal the sugar water from your hives.  While the invaders are there, they'll try to steal some of the honey from further in your hive as well.  Your bees are wasting resources trying to protect their stores and the fighting spills out everywhere.  The bottom line - your bees are probably not getting any benefit from the sugarwater you're putting out.
 
Absolutely, you should move the food to a protected space on top of the hive.   I am a fan of hive-top feeders but even a division-board feeder would be less bad than the front-entrance feeders.  If you don't have time to order a purpose-build hive-top feeder, you can improvise one with a disposable plastic angelfood cake pan and a clear plastic cup.

Mike Rossander    

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