Contact feeder on crownboard or frames?

[Mothman]

I have just recived my first Nuc of bees, my supplier has told me to give then a rapid feeder of sugar syrup, fine I thought, but then he said put the feeder on the frames not the crown board. Is it a good idea to leave the crown board off bearing in mind that the nights are cold and that I will need to use an empty super as an eke? This will leave a large empty space above the bees.

I am told that they are a strong colony - but I won't know for sure until I open them up this afternoon to move them into the hive!

Any thoughts?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

There may be some confusion between a contact feeder and a rapid feeder.

The former is a bucket or jar with gauze covering a relatively small hole for the bees to feed from, this is normally left over a crownboard. Only a limited number of bees can get simultaneous access to the feed, but it is suitable for most of the year.

A rapid feeder - eg Ashforth, Miller, "English" is a container with syrup (or whatever) that allows many bees get access to at the same time - these are normally left over the frames. They come into their own in autumn when you are looking to get a lot of food down quickly.

Which is best will depend on the weather and how hungry they are. You could also consider a frame feeder with suitable floats.

Whatever sort you have, if they need stores it will do a job.

 

[colin]

We used canvas clothe with a feed hole cut in which could be opened for feeding and then closed when the feeder is removed.It was also usefull when checking frames just to pull back and expose what you wanted to see without all the the brood frames being exposed if weather was a bit cool or cloudy.

 

[Mothman]

Definitely a contact feeder - he suggested I made my own by punching (small) holes in a jam jar lid and filling the jar with syrup

 

[oliver90owner]

I would be asking the supplier why there should be any need to feed initially. Any self respecting nuc should have at least enough stores to last a couple weeks.

I would not necessarily be transferring to a full hive until the nuc is needing the extra space.

I would certainly not be putting them in a space with 11 or 12 frames at this time of the year.

All hives, whether full or nucs, should have a crown board (of some description) fitted at all times (other than when inspecting, of course).

A location may be useful, as the climate can be quite different at different parts of the UK.

A nuc is not a strong 'colony'. By definition it is a small colony. You seem to have been given some 'sales hype' (don't know whether or not you are paying for these bees), rather than useful information.

Following the advice in a good beekeeeping book would, it seems to me, to be preferable to thatt 'advice' you have been given.

RAB

 

[Mike a]

Good advice RAB

 

[BeeNice]

I use both contact and rapid feeders, rapid in the autumn and contact in the spring, both go above the crown board and the bees come up throught the hole. For a nuc I would use a jam jar type thing with a small hole in the lid and placed above the feeder hole in the crown broad on the nuc box. Follow Rab's advice and wait until the weather is warmer before transfering to a full hive BB. You have your nuc early, most are available from May onwards.
Good luck. Steven

 

[Arfermo]

Definitely a contact feeder - he suggested I made my own by punching (small) holes in a jam jar lid and filling the jar with syrup

That would be a DIY contact feeder - not a rapid feeder!!! Retail contact feeders have a circular disc of gauze which, when filled, are inverted over a hole in the crownboard. Make sure that you invert it well away from the hive, possibly over a bucket until the inversion vacuum takes effect and holds the syrup back.

As for rapid feeders, these are more commonly plastic buckets similar to the contact feeders but with a central cone and lid which is then placed over a hole in the crown board, or even on top of the frames if you wish. The bees access the syrup by walking upwards and over the top of the cone to reach the syrup under the cap without being able to fly around lest they fall into the surrounding syrup. These feeders can be topped up in situ with no risk of spillage.

Miller/Ashforth feeders are usually wooden trays the same dimensions as the (National) boxes and sit on top af all the supers etc and can be topped up, again without spillage and will contain more than a gallon of syrup at one go.