> >Is anybody on this list familiar with hive top feeders. They work
> >best for me.
 
> I considered hive top feeders and had planed to buy some to try.
> The thing that bothered me about them was that you still had to use
> a float to keep bees from drowning.  In the past with division board
> feeders I have had problems with floats getting water logged and
> sinking.  I really hated to open a hive and fine the surface of the
> feeder covered with drowned bees.
 
<etc>
 
The trick with these above mentioned  feeders is to use thick syrup
-- about 67% sugar by weight.  That way, the surface tension is
sufficient that few bees drown  ( especially if you use some straw in
the hivetops or just a stick in the frame feeders).
 
Thin syrup also tends to spoil very quickly, and to grow molds.
Once mixed, it must be consumed quickly.  Thick syrups, on the other
hand spoil slowly -- especially if mixed with city water which has
been sterlized or with hot water (over 130 degrees F).
 
About Frame feeders:
 
Some plastic frame feeders with very slick
surfaces do  drown bees no matter how thick the syrup is.
 
Wood/masonite are emptied twice as fast as plastic in our tests.
Moreover the latter never have dead bees in the bottom when empty --
the bees keep them perfectly clean, and we seldom find them stinky
due to rain water, either.  For some reason some  plastic ones tend to
catch water and go foul, if not carefully managed and spaced away
from the outside of the box a little.
 
About Floats:
 
Straw makes a good 'float'.  A type of straw that does not waterlog
easily lasts longer, and in the thick syrup does not tend to get too
soggy.  Straw is cheap and easy to find, and can be dumped out when
old.  Wooden floats tend to get pretty grungy before too long if
exposed to water or thin syrup.
 
Choosing a Feeder:
 
For feeding thin syrups, neither frame feeders or hivetop feeders are
optimal.  We seldom (never) feed thin syrup, so we use the frame and
hivetops exclusively, and could not imagine going to the hassle of
dealing with bags, although they work well and are ideal for small
operations.
 
One advantage to baggies is that a new bag (hopefully sterile) is used
each time, so a pile of moldy feeder pails doesn't accumulate from
feeding thin syrup.
 
Funny how one or two small details will make or break a system.
There are so many factors that influence which method is best in a
given situation, and so often one or two critical details are
forgotten in discussions.
 
All feeding systems work well--  in some situations for some
people-- but there are tricks to using each one.
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>