In spite of their price, I bought 15 of the polystyrene miller-type feeders
this fall.  It was late in the season and I was anxious to feed bees with
little time left in the season for the bees to take the feed.  By the time I
got the feeders painted and on my hives it was mid/late October.
Fortunately we had one of the warmest autumns on record and the 15 feeders
were sufficient to service my 4 yards averaging 20 hives each.

Pros: The feeders hold a lot of syrup.  My bees are in very good shape this
fall and feeding was actually unnecessary other than to get Fumidil-B into
the hives.  The recommended 2 gallons of medicated syrup (I used HFCS) was
easily held by the feeders, hence only one fill was required.  With warm
weather (a full week of uninterrupted flying weather) the bees emptied the
feeders within the week.  When the weather was less ideal, days when bees
didn't fly at all or only in the afternoon, they didn't take the feed as
readily and in some cases I had to empty the excess feed to remove the
feeders for use in the next yard.  Some hives only took a gallon or so,
which was noted in my records to see how those hives are in the spring.  I
view fall feeding as the start of the next season rather than the end of
this season.  By the time the feeders got to my last yard I figured it was
useless to even use them figuring the window of opportunity had passed, but
I used them anyway.  I was evaluating them and figured I'd push the envelope
just to see what I could see.  Roughly half the hives in the final yard took
all the syrup.  The feeders were installed in the yard the weekend before
Thanksgiving.  I hauled about 12 gallons of syrup out of that yard the first
week of December.  It had not occurred to me to leave the feeders on over
winter, but I like the idea.

Cons: 1) The feeders I bought are sized for styrofoam hives, not standard
Langstroth hives.  I was warned of this prior to purchase.  A telescoping
cover will fit on top of the feeder and close it, provided the telescoping
feeder is square and placed correctly.  And correct placing is a close fit
with no more than 3/8 inch leeway on any side.  Improper placement or uneven
telescoping covers leave enough room for bees to rob from the feeder
resulting in many drowned and assassinated bees.  However, when the
telescoping cover is placed improperly the bees will take all the feed in a
day, just not the bees you're intending to feed!

2) The feeders can be in the way if you're also dusting your bees.  If the
bees take longer to empty the feeders than you intend, a half empty/half
full feeder makes it very hard to get into the bees.  This can be a problem
and upset dusting and inspection schedules.  Of course, this con can be
avoided with better scheduling of one's fall chores.

3) They're pricey!  At just under $30 US they make for one of the priciest
pieces of equipment I own outside of the extraction room!  I hope the new
model that Bob spoke of will be more reasonable.  The cost of styrofoam
equipment always AMAZES me!

Aaron Morris - thinking I'll have to purchase polystyrene hives to match my
feeders!