Sugar water feeders

Oh and in case you think I’m being too harsh, I will say I love your products @mrbeesmart. My buddy has six of your covers and they are great.

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There is really no such thing as traditional marketing anymore. Social media, web forums, reviews from online vendors etc are all more important then a standard glossy ad in a magazine or a snappy commercial on tv. So I would argue that 99% of all marketing is Guerrilla marketing anymore.

Outside of sounding kind of canned and cut and paste, Mrbeesmarts posts have been relevant to the topic at hand and potentially helpful to the OP. So really the only issue here is that they happened too close together/rapidly, and were not uniquely applied to the post, but rather cut and pasted. But the information was still relevant to the post in all cases.

That being said I have none of their products and no real stake in the game other then thinking people are being much too sensitive about this.

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Adam marketing is like religion - just don’t shove it down my throat 'cos there is a knee jerk reaction -

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I know. I’m the digital marketing manager for a company with 70 mil. in annual revenue.
Trust me, I know spam when I see it.

What do you guys think of my laze-man’s approach to a bee feeder? We’re currently having lots of rain for this time of the year and the bees need a lot of feeding at the moment. I place it in the super which currently is empty, so I can easily refill it every two days without disturbing them much. They seem not to even notice that I take the 3 frames out and put them back in a couple of minutes later. Don’t even need protection gear or smoke…

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Just looking at it it seems like such a small amount and so easy to spill… Have you looked at info on baggie feeders? I am all for lazy/smart myself and that’s what I like to do.
/http://beesource.com/resources/elements-of-beekeeping/ziplock-baggie-feeder/

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Wow that’s even lazier! Haha, didn’t see that one before… My feeder seems to work pretty well. Lasts for two days approx.

I personally use Technoset bee top feeders from Greece. The benefit of these feeders is they have a plug in the middle that can be removed if you want to feed dry sugar/pollen cakes/supplements etc. You can also install a plug into the lid of the hive so you can fill the feeder directly without opening the hive (I haven’t gone to this step yet)

Here are some photos of my feeders (apologies for quality, I took the photos quickly when I was wintering my hives today)

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Does it fit on the flow hive?

Yes, if you chose the 8-Frame version, it fits perfectly. Oh, the capacity is one gallon per side, so 2 gallons total. :wink:

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@Dawn_SD I thought it probably would but figured I would ask to make sure. Thank you!

Thank @Dawn_SD have that one on my flow! :wink:

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funny, when i took the photo, i lifted the container to confirm what i wrote about the slow drip.
i placed the container back on the blue tray in the v-groove as instructed and placed the v-groove at low elevation.
when i just went back up there, there was sugar syrup leaking again all over the patio.
what a disaster…i finally got bee smart and removed the feeder completely from the area.

Bummer, what a mess. As if the learning curve weren’t steep enough with becoming a beekeeper! If you want to chuck the thing & do a cheap replacement, try a baggie. Freezer bag to be exact, and quart size or gallon size both work. Quart size wil give you zero issues with blocking the hole in the inner cover, and either way the peaked Flow roof fits right over it - no extra box!

http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/entrance-feeder-placed-in-super/6757/4

There’s a previous thread full of great info :honeybee:

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hi Eva, thanks for the baggie idea.
i’ve got an upside down widemouth bottle on there right now.
made a little mod piece so it fits snugly over the inner cover hole w/o jutting too far inside the brood box.
the suction thing definitely works much much much better, although i was diggin watching them feed through the observation window.
will give the baggie a shot next feed.

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I am new at this and have a single flow hive with a 5 frame Nuc installed a couple weeks ago. I have a little giant two gallon bucket feeder that is square. It has many tiny holes in the cover. After I invert it to establish vacuum and install over the hole in my inner cover it leaks. Enough to make a small poplin the back toward the tilt. It even runs down the outside of the hive a little. Of course I have ants now as well.i was advised by mentor to keep feeding and the bees can mostly keep up with the leak.

Any advice?

First of all, for the ants, I wrote my solution here. Click on the link to see the full post:

Secondly, if your feeder is leaking, I would abandon it. Leaky feeders cause more trouble than they do good. The simplest feeder you can use a good quality Ziplock type freezer bag, about quart size. Half fill it with your sugar solution, carry it out the hive. Lay it on the inner cover and slash it once or twice with a very sharp razor blade or craft knife (like X-acto). Surface tension will stop it from leaking if you don’t move it, and bees can easily feed without drowning. I suggest you practice with water in the kitchen first to get a feel for how it works. Lots of people on this forum use baggie feeders like this, and love them. They are cheap, easy and don’t drown bees or leak. When the bag is empty, just throw it away and put a new one in.

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what is the rough amount of sugar syrup a new nuc will consume in a day?
i realize like everything else, it depends, but i’ve read anywhere from 5-6 ozs to a quart a day.
just trying to measure the efficiacy of my bottle feeder.

I had a 6 frame National Nuc with 2 empty Lang frames in. They Consumed about 2litres of 1-1 in about 5 days.

Used a rapid Feeder it is very easy to use and can be inspected and topped up without bothering the bees.

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