Poly nucs bees have eaten holes to the feeder compartments

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Curly green finger's

If you think you know all, you actually know nowt!
***
BeeKeeping Supporter
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
6,858
Reaction score
4,785
Location
Herefordshire/shropshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
50+
Evening/morning.
Feeding late this afternoon and I have three single nucs that the bees have chewed holes into the feeder, also looks like a green woodpecker has made a fair hole into one side of a roof and a couple on top of one, I've moved the one the woodpecker has had ago at, i had to go back home to get new feeders for the nucs anyway.
Has anyone else had the bees chewing holes into the feeders of poly nucs it's a first for me.
 
They certainly chewed some of the cheaper early ones. Could there have been a small leak in those areas they opened up. If boxes/roofs are not fitting properly daylight can also encourage them.
 
I paint all my home made feeders.

But bees will chew through my Celotex made nucs if short of space.
 
I have one colony that clearly doesn’t like the orientation of the cedar box and has chewed through the back to make another entrance, it is true that it was a hive tool lifting point that started it off but still remarkable.
As for chewing the styrene it happens, we have several different types and it happens with them all occasionally.
 
They are maisemore poly nucs, I don't have any photos as yet but I will grab a few if I remember.
the holes are in the corner edges.
Or where the base of the feeder meets the side walls you can remove to feed fondant.
 
My girls chew at the edges of the feeder slots on the BS Honeybees nucs but haven't got through them yet.
 
I have one colony that clearly doesn’t like the orientation of the cedar box and has chewed through the back to make another entrance, it is true that it was a hive tool lifting point that started it off but still remarkable.
As for chewing the styrene it happens, we have several different types and it happens with them all occasionally.
Yes if they can see a bit of light it starts them off
 
Yes if they can see a bit of light it starts them off
Bloody deadly on the swienty poly supers, the mating surface is so thin the bees often chew a new entrance at the top lip and that's even with thorough preparations of the boxes with masonry paint and yacht varnish- most annoying and for me, justification for spending a little more on the abelo supers when going poly.
 
Wasps tend to burrow at corners of my Maisemore and other poly feeders [coated in maisonery paint]. I put gaffer tape on the outer edges as prevention. reported herein in the past that poly allows micro seepage, hence wasps attracted. A suggestion was to paint the internal syrup container as aid to seepage prevention. Certainly helped.
 
I have never bought a polyhive without being sure the density is adequate. Buy cheap, buy twice.
 
I noticed the other day some bees in one of the compartments when I went to feed, only way through I could see was under the separation insert, so think they have chewed the bottom.

I have some wire mesh lining the channels they feed from as I had some drowned bees, this was the only one I didn’t have it in so will be adding it to this section soon which should rectify the issue.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top