BeeKeepClub Resources and Guides for Beekeepers
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Regular monitoring of colonies is necessary to determine when and how much supplemental feed is necessary. When starting a new hive, bees should be initially fed to support comb building and brood production. Additionally, the hives may need to be fed during Spring to prevent starvation if early flowers are delayed due to bad weather. Feeding is necessary to supplement honey stored to provide the bees with enough food supplies during winter, when they cannot get their own.
We are reviewing the Farmstand Supply Ultimate Hive Feeder. Farmstand Supply is one of New Zealand’s largest farming co-operatives established more than 50 years ago, with intentions to provide some of the best supplies in the farming industry at an affordable price.
About the Ultimate Hive Feeder for Beekeepers
The Ultimate Hive Feeder is designed to fit inside a 10 frame-frame box. It sits on top of the frames in the hive. One or two can be used in one hive at a time. It comes with a one gallon translucent tank that can easily be filled or replaced and then added to the base.
The reservoir/tank of the Ultimate Hive Feeder can hold a 1 gallon of water or syrup. The feeding area has many small channels and specially designed caps to allow many bees to feed without crowding or drowning, ensuring the bees’ safety. It comes with automatic valve that prevents spillage, maintaining uniform syrup or water level. Unfortunately, the valve doesn’t always work as intended and sometimes spills the feed into the hive.
The Ultimate Hive Feeder is more expensive than traditional ones. Its one gallon tank lessens the amount of time you’ll need to refill. As mentioned, the sugar syrup may spill at times down into the hive, thus, using this design requires following the instructions carefully.
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Refilling can sometimes be challenging because the bees may invade the base when you take out the tank. So, when you remove the tank, you have to take it carefully and when inserting it back, you have to see to it that you return it without crushing any bees. As always, for your own protection, make sure you’re wearing your beekeeper suit.
Conclusion
The Ultimate Hive Feeder isn’t perfect by any means. If not set up properly, a lot of spillage can occur which leads to bees dying, and that’s a major issue to contend with. Other the other hand, when it works, it works well.
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So many of my bees drowned inside the feeder…it was disgusting. This is a bad design. ?
So many of my bees drowned inside the feeder…it was disgusting. This is a badly designed product ?
Yes this is not a very good product.
This is a bad design. Messy, and bees can get through the hole while the plunger is down to release syrup! I had around 40 bees drowned inside the feeder.