Dawn. Did you use these feeders when you kept bees in the uk? I ask because not many folk use them here
Certainly did. I used them for at least 10 years and David used them for probably 25 years or so. They were shorter (could fit inside a normal super) and the mesh was plastic, covering a larger proportion of the lid, but we had great success with them. I think we bought them from Thornes. Getting propolis off the screen was the only downside, but sometimes a couple of days in the freezer would help to make it brittle, and the rest would come off with rubbing alcohol.
I believe that you prefer the rapid feeders, but to my knowledge, they were not widely available when we were keeping bees in the UK 20 years ago.
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When is the best time to order bees and when to start a hive?
You can order bees any time. Here in the uk the best breeders run out of bees really early in the season and lots are sold out the winter before. The best time to start a colony is when there is forage so spring if you have an overwintered nuc and queen in mind and summer if the colony is being started that season. The worst time to get new bees is in the autumn when winter preps are being made. If you’re in a part of the world where there is no real winter then any time is the answer.
PS I se you had bees last year. Have you still got them?
Ok, thank you! Yes, we did have bees last year. We got them in late May but in july they all just vanished. There were hardly any dead bees anywhere around so I assumed they had swarmed and left. 
I am going to try again this year though.