Trevor...
what is your general location?

closed in for that long sounds like a problem to me.  you could with a bit of vinyl tube create an exit/entry that was out of the way of any walking path. 

as to feeding we use feeder with a small metal nipple soldered into the top so we do not have to open the hives inside the building.

as to the various observation hives we maintain at the bee lab having some control of the internal space temperature is critical. since Texas can get pretty hot for us this mean both too cool a temperature in the summer months and too hot a temperature in the winter months.

Gene in central Texas...

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