George said:

> My choice of feeders is a gallon glass jar upside down
> right on top of the frames.

and Lance Parr asked:

> Don't you have to open the hive to refill the jar?

I use the plastic one-gallon buckets with the fine screen
mesh openings in the top.  I don't like glass - too fragile
(or perhaps I am simply too rough on equipment).

Unlike George, I place the bucket on the inner cover
so the bucket hole sits over the hole in the inner cover.
(I also cover the other (vent) holes in the inner cover
that I have added.)

Since the inner cover keeps the bees below, and the
bucket is surrounded by a pair of empty medium supers,
one can pop off the outer cover with ease to swap empty
buckets for full ones.

> And what keeps the bees from filling the space around the
> feeder with comb?

Same thing - the inner cover seems to be an effective barrier.
With a weak colony or a spilt, one may not need this.
I think that the "risk" only applies to strong colonies.

If one is feeding in early spring, the risk of wild comb being
built is also low, as they are assumed to have lots of empty
comb to fill, and comb-building would not be "triggered" unless
they were running out of space.

> I still like my division feeders because a lot of bees can get to
> the syrup at once and I don't need an extra deep super to put
> around the jar.

I think that the extra super(s) are a good thing, since it is a visual
cue to force one to not forget the feeder.  I have stenciled numbers
on my supers, so I put the feeder-enclosure supers on upside-down
so it will be obvious that they are not regular supers.

I have seen too many division-board feeders forgotten, and later
filled with wild comb.  I also like the speed with which one can
swap buckets, and the lack of need to disturb the bees when
doing so.

> I can feed a gallon every two days like this to a colony that's
> starting to build (which means that I have to fill the feeder every other day).

This sounds like a pain - have you considered the wooden hive-top feeders
that look like a shallow super?   Here's some plans:

http://members.aol.com/beetools/buildit.htm

They have an "entrance" that goes up between the two "swimming pools"
of syrup.  The bees climb up to the top of the pool wall, and climb down the
other side, which puts them between the wall, and a mesh "ladder" both
which go down to the syrup.  They can hold 5 Gallons, 10 Gallons, whatever.
These feeders must be (re)filled on the hive, as they would be difficult to carry
when full.

While sealing the corners so the feeder does not leak is a constant
issue, these feeders allow one to refill much less often.

        jim

        farmageddon