Plastic Milk Container DIY Feeder

[bee56]

Old Plastic Milk Containers make great DIY feeders and don’t cost you anything, I was told to fill the container with feed and replace the top. When you get to your hive punch several small holes in the side of the container and lay over the feeder hole on it side in the hive .The bee keeper in mention said that he had tested it several times and the bees had sucked it dry

 

[Anduril]

It was in beecraft not so very long ago. You can also use the fruit juice cartons with screw caps plastic or paper version.

 

[For want of a better word]

Bee wary of anything that can dribble and flood your precious bees with sticky sugar solution... Jars with lids punched with holes etc.. they surely were for the LAST century !

I use a rapid feeder... not into dripping or dribbling. trickling anything onto bees.. especially in mid winter!

 

[theboynelson]

I tried using the plastic milk bottle feeder on my bees last month, I have to say that I wasn't too impressed, the bees took down approximately 1/3 of my other colony that were using a rapid feeder, (suppose that is why it is called a rapid feeder).

I am always on the lookout for a bargain as much as the next person, but I reckon for the sake of a few quid, and a rapid feeder isn't exactly expensive, it would be better to use a different method.

 

[masterBK]

The bee keeper in mention said that he had tested it several times and the bees had sucked it dry
------------------------------------------------------
He would say that if it is the person I think it is and he also would have offered to sell you some empty milk containers or a gadget to make the holes!

 

[Travelator]

Rapid feeders (Miller, Ashforth, "Doughnut", etc) are a different thing from contact feeders (jam jar with holes in lid, pierced milk bottle, bucket with gauze panel in lid), and should be used in different circumstances.

Rapid feeders are for getting the bees to take down large quantities of syrup and store it in comb as if it were honey. Contact feeders are recommended for keeping small, weak colonies alive, or for feeding when it's too cold for the bees to work properly.

My suggestion would be:
- Don't try to use a contact feeder to do the work of a rapid feeder
- Consider using fondant instead of a contact feeder because it's less messy
- ...but if you really do want a contact feeder, the plastic milk bottle design seems like a good one, although I haven't tried it myself.

 

[masterBK]

I use 15 litre Home made bucket contact feeders and got the buckets with lids for nowt. My colonies empty them in about 3 to 4 days so never had a problem using them to feed my colonies and the bees will use them for a week or two after they refuse to go into a rapid feeder. Also get the odd bee drowning in the rapid feeder with the risk they could spread Nosema etc when other bees feed on the syrup. I have a dozen miller feeders and find having to soak them and treat them to keep them syrup tight every year a bit of a bind plus I still need to transport the feed in buckets to fill them.

 

[REDWOOD]

I use 15 litre Home made bucket contact feeders and got the buckets with lids for nowt. My colonies empty them in about 3 to 4 days so never had a problem using them to feed my colonies and the bees will use them for a week or two after they refuse to go into a rapid feeder. Also get the odd bee drowning in the rapid feeder with the risk they could spread Nosema etc when other bees feed on the syrup. I have a dozen miller feeders and find having to soak them and treat them to keep them syrup tight every year a bit of a bind plus I still need to transport the feed in buckets to fill them.

totally

 

[victor meldrew]

Bee wary of anything that can dribble and flood your precious bees with sticky sugar solution... Jars with lids punched with holes etc.. they surely were for the LAST century !

I use a rapid feeder... not into dripping or dribbling. trickling anything onto bees.. especially in mid winter!

Not very scientifically minded then?
I use contact feeders in spring time ! Never had a problem with flooding (In spite of seeing dire forecasts).
Invert any sealed container and the syrup will not drip, it will require the bees to literally suck it out of the contact feeder . There is a remote possibility that a sudden and large increase in temperature could increase internal pressure enough to cause a little seepage but nowt the bees can't handle with ease
looking for non-existing problems seems to be the theme here !
VM

 

[Hivemaker.]

I use 15 litre Home made bucket contact feeders and got the buckets with lids for nowt. My colonies empty them in about 3 to 4 days so never had a problem using them to feed my colonies and the bees will use them for a week or two after they refuse to go into a rapid feeder. Also get the odd bee drowning in the rapid feeder with the risk they could spread Nosema etc when other bees feed on the syrup. I have a dozen miller feeders and find having to soak them and treat them to keep them syrup tight every year a bit of a bind plus I still need to transport the feed in buckets to fill them.

Use much the same,from honey jar size up to 10+ litre bucket size.

 

[Skyhook]

Not very scientifically minded then?
I use contact feeders in spring time ! Never had a problem with flooding (In spite of seeing dire forecasts).
Invert any sealed container and the syrup will not drip, it will require the bees to literally suck it out of the contact feeder . There is a remote possibility that a sudden and large increase in temperature could increase internal pressure enough to cause a little seepage but nowt the bees can't handle with ease
looking for non-existing problems seems to be the theme here !
VM

Not looking for, but suspecting... I've always had the concern that after a period of feeding the vacuum will build up to a point where there will be a GLOP!, a bubble of air will be drawn in and a dribble of syrup released on the rebound. Does anyone know if this does in fact happen?

 

[Little John]

Not looking for, but suspecting... I've always had the concern that after a period of feeding the vacuum will build up to a point where there will be a GLOP!, a bubble of air will be drawn in and a dribble of syrup released on the rebound. Does anyone know if this does in fact happen?

It's helpful when considering how inverted jar feeders work to first understand how liquid droplet formation itself occurs.

An armchair 'mind experiment' :

Take a drop of water and apply it to a sewing needle. Rotate the needle vertically and the drop will migrate down to the tip, then promptly fall off.

Take a similarly-sized drop of water and place it on a flat surface (say, a CD). Invert the CD so that the drop is now underneath - and it will not fall off.

The difference is the area with which the drop can adhere (by surface tension) to it's support: the needle provides almost no area, so the water can readily form itself into a globular droplet, with Isaac Newton doing the rest.
But when attached underneath the CD, the water will spread out, thus providing a large (relatively speaking) area of attachment with which to defy gravity.

Sugar solutions of course have a much greater surface tension than water, so they will have an even better adherence to the jar lid.


So - if punching holes into a jar cap to make an inverted jar feeder, it's wiser to punch the holes inwards, to provide a flatter surface on the outside, and to avoid any possibility of presenting a 'needle point' from which droplet formation may more easily occur.

A lot of people become pre-occupied with the size of the holes when making such feeders - I've found that half-a-dozen 1.5mm holes works well with 2:1 syrup. Indeed, it's not the hole(s) themselves that matter - it's the area around the hole which is important - for that's where the surface tension is exerted. And as long as the liquid stays adhered to the lid, air cannot enter to break the vacuum.

Once you grasp the principles, it's possible to make some really outrageous feeders: as a demonstration item, I've made one feeder with a 1 1/4" hole (yes, that's not a typo ... 32mm !) from a pickle jar. It's perfectly possible to wave it around, and tilt it to 45 degrees, and not a drop will escape - although the liquid can be wicked-off easily enough using a tissue ... and that's when half full with water (worst case scenario).

Of course there's a trick involved ... but it's still a 32mm hole.