As a new beekeeper, I read lots and lots of material about beekeeping. I watch lots and lots of YouTube videos about beekeeping. I talk to lots and lots of experienced beekeepers about their best practices. After all of this input, I decided to use hive top feeders on my hives this year. I purchased the feeders from a reputable company (which I will not name in this post). What a let-down! What seems like a great idea and an easy way to feed the bees is one big mess in my opinion.
Again, I'm new to this, but here's the "real deal": The hive top feeders have floating panels in two separate sections. You prepare your sugar water mixture, place the feeder on top of your brood chamber / super / whatever, and then pour the sugar water mixture in. Yes, it does hold more sugar water mixture than jar feeders. That's the only positive that I could find.
After a week, I went back to check the feeders. There was at least 100 dead bees floating around in the feeder. The "floating" panels are more of a trap than a way for the bees to "safely" drink. It seems that when one bee drowns, another bee tries to help, and then it drowns, and so on and so on. My husband is creative, so he decided to add styrofoam pieces to each of the panels. We tested the design and it looked like the drowning problem would be resolved.
After week 2 of using the hive top feeder with the new panel design, I went into the hive again. To my dismay, I had more dead bees than the week 1 check AND some type of larva living in the sugar water. To say it was disgusting is an understatement!
Lesson learned ~ I really don't want to trash the hive top feeders. I would really like to sell them to someone who likes them more than I do. 4 of them at around $20 each is a very expensive lesson.
And that's my rant of the decade!
On a happier note, the ladies are working hard for the honey! I'm planning to add a honey super on Friday!
