Feeder fatalities

[Headnavigator]

I picked up one Miller and one Ashforth feeder at our local auction. I've since renovated them and just put them into use. Am I being precious to be a bit concerned at the number of dead bees I'm finding in them - about 35 every three or four days when I check them. I can't see quite how this is happening, the roof seems a snug enough fit to exclude suicidal robbers, and I can't quite see how they end up floating in the syrup without being submariner bees. Any suggestions, please?

 

[MartinL]

Make sure they have somewhere for a firm footing.
Maybe float something on top of the feed so that they can stand on it and not fall in.

 

[oliver90owner]

Bees should not have access to the bulk. Try laying a straight edge (steel rule on edge, level, edge of a piece of straight wood) across the feeder and across the cover to check if there are any places with too much clearance - only needs a few mm (think Q/E).

Regards, RAB

 

[Winker]

i made a float for mine, 0 dead bees

 

[colinlee]

dead bees in wooden feeders

headnavigator,

I found this to be a comman problem when using these feeders,but I found putting tuffs of grass in with the syrup mix does give the bee a better footing,hope this helps..

 

[Headnavigator]

Both feeders have restricted access to the syrup, both are of the 'up and over and down a narrow slot' type, one with only one bee space width access, the other about twice that with a very narrow float I put in. In both cases I made sure the surfaces were rough enough to give a good grip. Hence my puzzlement! Do others lose bees similarly?

 

[Headnavigator]

Thanks Colinlee, now I think of it I cleared some dead grass from the access holes of the Ashforth, I blithely thought 'mice' but that could hold the key!

 

[Black Comb]

Well I use ashforths and never have a problem. Not one dead bee. AS Rab says check everything. I assume you are putting a sealed crownboard on top? Make sure it's not warped slightly.

 

[WaxManSmokerBoy]

I have Ashforth 'type' feeders with a Correx weir cover that has a shallow cuttout so that the bees can get out into the larger volume when the syrup is all but finished. Ensure that the weir is at the lowest end. I had a small group of dead bees in one the other day. They were at the other end from the weir and the weir was at the high end. The bees had come out into the larger volume while there was still a significant puddle of syrup and I think that their mates caused them to go into the syrup in their enthusiasm. In most of the other ones either one or two dead or completely clean and not a bee in sight until refilled.

So keep them out or let them into the volume only when the puddle is all but gone.

 

[The Apprentices]

I picked up one Miller and one Ashforth feeder at our local auction. I've since renovated them and just put them into use. Am I being precious to be a bit concerned at the number of dead bees I'm finding in them - about 35 every three or four days when I check them. I can't see quite how this is happening, the roof seems a snug enough fit to exclude suicidal robbers, and I can't quite see how they end up floating in the syrup without being submariner bees. Any suggestions, please?

Hopefully its not queenie in the drink, here is my version and no dead bees, leave only a bee gap or slightly less.
One thing you need to watch out for is the guys rushing aloft when your filling her up again, they will dive straight to the first pour and get in the way, so I slide the feeder out of line from the conversion board until its full again.

 

[zubzub]

very good you are indeed correct hardly noticed .

 

[oliver90owner]

leave only a bee gap or slightly less.

Surely the second option will not work?

 

[The Apprentices]

leave only a bee gap or slightly less.

Surely the second option will not work?

Correct, where you don't want them to go, the wire cage I made has slightly tapered ends so the bees cannot get bunched into the corners when I'm filling the reservoir, which also stops queenie from getting into trouble.

It will still work without and just extra insurance when the excluder is removed.

 

[Davelin]

"It deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny prmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghi pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Doesn't important start with an i?

 

[justme]

Well spotted, but it still read ok.

 

[SixFooter]

I had this problem with a home made miller feeder. Improved with the mesh a la apprentices, then improved again with a wooden lid instead of a crown board and completely solved by a heavy weight on top of the roof to flatten the lid and remove any gaps.
Now the problem is solved, I've made one for each hive and leave them on. Any brace comb I cut out during an inspection goes in it for the bees to clean up.

 

[The Apprentices]

"It deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny prmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghi pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Doesn't important start with an i?

An I even.

Those who av geottn uesd to rdeanig txets on tiher mobile phones can read this meme without any problem, silver surfers have a problem, but not all.

Its all in preperation for what technplogy has in store for us next.

A 1984 arena is already here in the form of pads that will touch every persons soul via the new IPV6 currently being installed, run time is I gigabyte per second router free for everyone from a lampost near to you, brought to you from the heavens, a no wires cloud base signal.

We are now officially 96% cash free and the electronic batton is almost complete.

When your labour is still physical and the credit is truly imaginary paid in Zero's and Ones you will be living in a fools paradice without an alternative.

You will still be able to call it what you like, The Euro or the Pound if they still exist, it won't matter wheather you cross your T's or dot your I's it will be life Jim but not as we know it, but a life afertlal.

In the words of BTO, YASNY.

 

[Springer]

I have use a weir type and did not have any problems. I thought the idea was to let the bees into the main areas once the level was virtually down to the base ?
I have also used a Bros. Adams type and even raised the bowl a few mm to let the bees out, again when the level was down?
Is the B.A. type not the answer, as described by Dave Cushman, bowl resting on the base, not like I did it ?

S

 

[Headnavigator]

Try laying a straight edge (steel rule on edge, level, edge of a piece of straight wood) across the feeder and across the cover to check if there are any places with too much clearance - only needs a few mm (think Q/E).

Regards, RAB

Thanks to all for your suggestions, I think this is one of the problems of picking up s/h equipment instead of making one's own. Above RAB has another key to this: the Ashforth uses perforated zinc rather than wire mesh and it is just too stiff to make a good even seal against the top of the 'beeproof' bit of the Ashforth. Second is that I didn't have a good enough seal on the crown board vents, just a bit of wood, needs something heavier. Putting all your clues together I hope I reduced the casualties but will keep checking. Next year I shall try to make from new, but this is the steep learning curve of the beginner and it's not easy when you're trying out 'new' equipment. Maybe I should have stuck to a rapid feeder on the KISS principle. We live and learn.

 

[melias]

I had a similar mystery and then we saw that robbers were getting in and out through the center holes in the ventilators both at the front and the back of the hive roofs.