Bruce Murphy said; > I put a new top Hive feeder on a hive last week Hive top feeders are the only type I use now. These are the ones that are the same dimensions as a super but 2-3" deep. While I believe these are the best feeders, they have some problems. The commercial feeders that I bought several years ago had a metal cover over the entrance. The bees came up through the entrance over the top and down to the liquid. I found that these covers caused the feeding bees to be pushed into the syrup by their sisters to drown and block access to the syrup. I removed the covers, leaving the entrance open then cut a piece of 1/4" plywood which fits over the entrance and floats on top of the syrup. The bees now have open access to the float which is 1-2" smaller than the feeder leaving a space around the outside for the bees to feed. My feeders are sealed with melted beeswax which has to be remelted each year to prevent leakage. I dribble a little syrup down the entrance hole to attract the bees up. Sometimes nothing brings them up. I guess at several possible causes to be: small colony, lotsa stores, still in cluster etc. I dump a small amount of pollen onto the float which dissapears quickly. Bob Darrell Caledon Ontario Canada 80W 44N