Plastic gallon jugs for feeders.

[Anonymous]

Other than needing a funnel to get the syurp in the gallon jug what is wrong with using then as feeders?
  Al

[lobstafari]

The only downfall I could think of Al, is sometimes even the quart size jars grow things inside them, but I guess if the bees were really consuming it, they'd work ok   ---jeremy

[Robo]

Depends on what type of feeder you have in mind.  If your thinking about an inverted type.  The plastic can loose the inverted suction and collapse. If you feeding above the inner cover, this can cause flooding and kill the bees. I emphasis "CAN" happen, but loosing your bees in a faulty feeder just once is too many.   I notice that even the heavy plastic bucket type feeders seem to leak depending on the weather.  I think is is caused by the hot/cold changes.

I know this is exagerating, but fill your milk jug, and a glass jug with water, and squeeze them between your hands.  Think of the cold/hot transitions as doing the same thing as your hands.

I find it isn't worth risking, when you can get gallon glass pickle jars for free from the deli.

[Lupus]

I have chickens and was interested to see the article in the March American Bee Journal suggesting the use of Quail waterers as bee top feeders. I ordered 6 since I can always use them for Bantam watering too. Apparently the Chicken supply houses are now calling them Quail/Bee feeders.

So far I have found them very effective at getting large amounts of syrup to a hive in a short time. I have been doing divides and housing swarms so they have stayed busy. Even my new hives are emptying half full feeders in a day or two. The only problem is the opening for the syrup is just big enough for a bee to crawl through. After they empty the feeders some seem to crawl in and have trouble finding the way back out. This should be easy to remedy though. A large or two medium supers encloses them in the hive.

[Anonymous]

I happened to see some gallon glass jars at a pizzia joint a bit back so asked what they do with them. They said throw them out in the trash. I asked if it would be a problem to call me when they get a couple and I would take them.
They not only call me but also wash them and remove most of the labels from them I now have 12. One of the young girls that works there knew about feeding bees in the spring and fall and askes me about mine when ever I am in to get jars or a pizzia. I now need to give each a bit of honey as payment for being so nice.

On the use of the jars, I take a small scrap of board cut a hole the size of the jar mouth to help support the jar over the intercover hole. You need a deep or 2 supers to place above the intercover to place the jar inside of. Also a deep is just barely even with the top of the jar so the outer cover needs to rest on one edge of the deep.
  Al

[Anonymous]

I also use the tall glass jars inverted over the hole in the inner cover for feeding my bees. I don't waste a useful hive body or a couple of supers to cover them with however. I made up some simple boxes out of some scrap 1/4 inch plywood that I had and made them as deep as needed to cover the jars with a little room to spare. They are light and easy to handle and I can use my deeps and supers for better things, such as holding brood and honey.

[Anonymous]

I just like the 6 5/8" supers as surrounds to the jars because once I'm done feeding I only have to add frames of foundation or drawn comb. Also since I make my own deeps, supers and shallows I have loads of them made ahead of time extra. Learned one big lesson this year, I never had enough boxes or frames built ahead of time so was always doing  crash overtime work many a night just to be caught up. This winters project is to have at least 5 deeps with wired frames & foundation on hand.
  Al