Article - Beginners’ Corner - Syrup feeders

For winter stores, you need a thick syrup – 2lbs of sugar to every pint of water. An easy way to get the right ratio of sugar to water is to fill a container with dry sugar and then add hot water to about an inch above that level.

There are various types of feeder that are used for feeding syrup to colonies:

Fast feeders

Fast feeders work on the principle of giving bees restricted access to a large reservoir of syrup. If the access were not restricted, lots of bees would fall into the lake of syrup and drown. The access is usually in the form of a narrow slot, either in the middle, as in the original Miller feeder:

Or at one end, as in the later Ashforth (sometimes called the Rowse-Miller) feeder:

Both of the feeders shown above are large capacity feeders (often 2-3 gallons), of the same dimensions as the hive, so that they can be placed immediately above the brood nest and below the roof. The main advantage of feeders of this type is their speed. For Autumn feeding in particular, it is best if the bees take the syrup, store and cap it in the shortest possible time. A second advantage is that the feeders can be refilled in situ without disturbing the bees, although their capacity is large enough that a second helping is not always needed.

You can also get smaller versions of feeders operating on the same principle, but made of plastic or aluminium, either round or square, and usually with a round central well:

Though these feeders work on a similar principle to the Miller, they have a relatively small capacity (only about 4 pints) and they also require an empty super to house them.

Bucket feeders

A bucket feeder (also known as a contact feeder) is a container with a tight fitting lid. The bucket is placed upside down above the feeder hole and bees take the syrup either through small holes or a section of mesh in the lid.

They have the advantage of being quite cheap to but (or even cheaper to improvise from old emulsion or ice cream containers) Though they work well, they are not as fast as Miller type feeders. Neither do they hold as much syrup (just over a gallon at most), so usually they will need refilling at least once, which cannot be done without removing the feeder from the hive. They also need to be surrounded by empty supers to support the roof. The major disadvantage, however is that they invariably leak when the vacuum inside the bucket is breached. If you have a varroa mesh screen above the floorboard, the bees can’t get to the syrup that has run through it, and so it remains as a sticky mess in the hive.

Frame feeders

Frame feeders are frame-sized containers that fit into the brood box, replacing ordinary frames, close to the brood nest. They hold relatively little syrup (a few pints), so are not really suitable for bulk feeding before winter. Their main use is for feeding small colonies that could not cope with larger feeders. They should incorporate a float to enable the bees to take syrup without falling in and drowning. Apart from their size, the main disadvantage is that the hive has to be opened to insert or refill them.

From: Cumbria Bee Times – July 2001 courtesy of BEES

I am trying out a new method this year, using washing up bowls to hold syrup in an empty super above the brood box. A float of polystyrene prevents the bees falling in and drowning. Initially the bees were slow to find the syrup but are now taking it rapidly. The advantage of this method is cost (99p each) and they don’t leak, unlike some of my home made Ashforth feeders).

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