The simplest way to fill is by gravity from a tank (pickup bed etc.)with a
garden hose and shutoff.

An upgrade is a trash pump which will not blow lines when not in use.The one
I use, Bell Hill Honey uses and Sleeping Bear farms I ordered over the net
several years ago for around $200 which included shipping.

The ladder feeders are a pain and few (if any) commercial beeks use those as
hard to fill with a gas type end. If they use inside feeders most use a
folded wire for the bees to climb on.

You can use a tank, tote  or 55 gallon drum with a lower bung or welded in
fitting in the back of a pickup and 1 or 2 gallon plant water cans. This is
the way Kona Queen puts syrup in its feeders. Really a primitive method in
my opinion but no worries about breaking down ( I did have to replace the
spark plug on my pump after three years!)

I could go on and on as I have seen many labor saving ways invented by
beekeepers to save the back breaking work of feeding lots of hives. If you
plan on building up to a large number of hives I would go ahead and make a
tank & trash pump combination.

Many  of us use a 275 gallon tote with a 2 inch suction line to a trash pump
and a 1 inch ag hose to the fill fitting.
or
You can pay a thousand bucks for a factory made pump for syrup.

bob

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