At 10:44 -0500 3/15/99, Ted Fischer wrote:
 
>If you are talking about the division board feeders, those that go in the
>place of a frame, I wouldn't advise it at this time of the year.  Better to
>put a zip-lock bag feeder on the top bars (although not on the bees!) in an
>empty super, then the inner cover on top of that.
>
>Or, if  you expect it to get cold again, put on candy boards.  They are
>excellent feeders for cold weather.
 
I've had good luck with a mason jar with a perforated "entrance feeder"
cover placed in a circular hole cut to fit the jar lid in a piece of
plywood on top of the brood chamber. The perimeter of the plywood is cut to
the dimensions of the box.  An empty box with a cover on top is placed on
top of the plywood. Unlike an entrance feeder, yellow jackets and robber
bees won't get to the syrup unless they can get through the hive. Also, no
bees drown with this system.
 
Yellow jackets get up early in the morning and can start robbing an
entrance feeder before the bees arise. A puddle of syrup can collect under
an entrance feeder if the bees are inactive and some may drown. Yellow
jackets really like sugar marinateded dead bees. Because the jar is inside
a box it is protected from those early morning fast temperature rises which
cause the air in an almost empty jar to push out a bee drowning volume of
syrup.
 
Refilling the jar is easy too. Since no bees are in the empty top box, the
cover is easily removed. I keep a small scrap board in top box which can be
placed over the circular hole to keep the bees out of the top box while the
jar is refilled. Or, of course you could have a prefilled jar to pop right
in the hole when the empty is removed. A few bees may try to get out when
you put in the new jar. With a little care you can push any would be
escapers out of the way as the lid is lowered into the hole. If any do end
up in the top box after the jar lid is in the hole, lift up the top box and
brush them towards the entrance.
 
You want to make sure the plywood is at least as thick as the jar lid is
high so that proper bee space exists between the top bars and the bottom of
the lid. My prototype was made with 3/8 plywood, which let the jar lid
stick through too much, so I cut a small piece of 3/8 plywood to double up
the thickness.
 
Paul