Hi Allan and all
 
I have found, in my limited beekeeping experience, that different feeding
methods are useful, or useless, depending on the time of year.  I hope I'm
not stating the obvious, but I find boardmans excellent on nice warm sunny
days, when they can get to it, not on cold days, like the previous post
mentioned.  That would be a time to use an inverted pail over the inner
cover hole, where they can get to it easier.  Previously I have found that
the bees almost entirely ignore the inverted pail method on warmer days,
but it may have been that the nectar source at that time was more
attractive than the sugar/terramycin/fumidil-b mixture I was giving them.
Right now I'm feeding some nucs as they finish building up their second
brood box, and they empty a gallon pail in about 4 days even though they
are in the middle of at least 15 acres of Goldenrod. *grin*
 
Which reminds me..... of an "experiment" I'm conducting.  It might be a big
mistake too.  I wanted to try to harvest some of this goldenrod honey, so I
decided to not add a second brood box to one nuc after it completely filled
the first. Instead I added a queen excluder and a drawn-out honey super.
Already it is beginning to fill with honey.  My plan is to get one or
(fingers crossed) two supers from this colony, and then put on a brood box
and feed till the cows come home.  After all, though I'm not sure how much
sugar it will take to draw out and fill this second box,  I'm sure it isn't
worth the $90.00 per super I get for honey...:)
 
Any comments would be welcome...
 
Ian Watson    [log in to unmask]
real estate agent     gardener    baritone
beekeeper---> 11 colonies
 
----------
> From: Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Boardman Feeders Are Problematic
> Date: Wednesday, September 17, 1997 5:47 AM
>
> > I had a starter package I installed early April, just before
temperature
> > dropped to low 20's.  It stayed cold for a couple days.  I had a
boardman
> > feeder on the front but the bees clustered up & away from it & died.
>
> This is exactly why a boardman feeder is a bad idea for beeginners (along
> with robbing and sun exposure), yet the books, and many 'gurus' continue
to
> recommend them.  IMO, they are for experts only, and of limited
usefulness.
>
> Allen