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Thanks for all the replies. My big feeder seems to have caused some controversy!! I actually took some proper measurements today and in reality the volume is more like 12 litres I think. I didn't account for the bee space between the two chambers. It has worked well with my other colony though...

The feeder is a sturdy home made miller feeder and to save trips to the apiary to fill it up I made it large enough to take about 15 litres/kg of syrup so that I could feed them more or less in one go. It is a big feeder!! but it seems to work... usually... The feeder is sitting on the queen...

In mid September I began to feed my second, smaller colony... I went to top the feeder up several times but on each occasion it's clear that the bees have not touched a drop of the syrup. Why is this? What should I do? I don't want to lose them through starvation. Have not "hefted" the brood...

Hmmmm i went to see the second colony today to top up the feed and I swear that they have not touched a drop of what was in there!! it was still nearly full with no bees drinking at all... it was a nice day so maybe they just preferred to forage... there was a lot of pollen coming in!

thanks for all that advice. I have been feeding my second colony a lot of food in a short time as suggested anyway.

Ok... so all the cells are full of honey and there is nowhere for the queen to lay and the colony becomes unsustainably small thru winter??? Hmmm ok thanks. I will do a full inspection next time the sun shines and see how they're doing.

I have been feeding one of my colonies and they as fast as I fill the feeder they gobble it up. Is it possible to over feed them? do I just keep filling the feeder with more syrup until they stop taking it? I think that they have had nearly 10 kg of sugar now (= 30lbs of syrup)...

thanks for the pics of your frame feeder. so the bees crawl through the hole, sit on the bits of wood and can drink the syrup, correct? i checked again today and the bees have still hardly touched the apiguard. they've got another dose after this one!! i think that I'm gonna have to start...

have never seen a frame feeder... my dad and I made my miller feeder between us. i am on bee base but don't get any mails from them. i will log on and see if i have got some setting on there such that they don't send me stuff. thanks for posting that.

thanks for that. I had already started feeding one colony in accordance to advice in Hooper who suggests starting to feed at the end of the first week in September. They're currently chomping through their second lot of 5 litres of syrup! the second Apiguard tin had been on for ages... they...

Is it ok to have my miller feeder on the hive *and* be treating the bees for varoa with apiguard at the same time?

thanks for those additional replies. i have checked them out and they seem like very good options.

thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I think that Hooper is a great book but it's very much about the techniques and intricacies of bee keeping. I think that the kid hopes to go and get involved with bees locally at some point.

A friend of mine has got a 9 year old who wants to be a bee keeper when she is older. can anyone suggest good books to read as an introduction for bees and bee keeping for a more junior reader please?? thanks.

the bit about bees is right at the end of the programme. I read about it online in the Daily Heil... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1305695/Beekeeper-Ron-Hoskins-breeds-indestructible-bee-protect-mite.html

i have put two apiguard in at the same time - don't know what I was thinking... will this harm them then? when they have cleared out the trays, should i put another in to continue the treatment into the next 2 weeks??

i've found that even a humble jam jar with jam at the bottom and water in it is often enough to get them. once in they can't get out :) I've closed my entrances right down and will put the mouse guards on as well so that there are just 2 small holes for the bees to defend.

can you post a photo so we can see what the damage looks like? it sounds like some one may have accidentally crushed the comb when taking a frame out. the frame needs to be lifted out perfectly parallel to the ones either side of it else it will catch on the top of the adjacent frame. My...

thanks for the suggestions. I went through both supers awaiting storage an couldn't see anything in terms of moths nor larvae. however I am relatively new as a bee keeper so I may have missed something. I like the idea of the vacuum seal bags. Nothing, not even wax moth larvae, can live...

Which is the best way to store supers over the winter? I am planning on putting mine in the loft but don’t know the best way to stop wax moth getting at them. I have extracted my honey now and put the supers back on under the brood box with the queen excluder in between for the bees to lick...