Adjustment to Hive Top Feeder

[The15thMember]

I was given a hive top feeder recently, and I hardly ever feed syrup, so I was standing in the garage looking at it thinking, "What am I going to do with this?", and suddenly an idea came to me.  I bent up the hardware cloth to allow the bees access to the feed chamber, and then I filled it up with some old comb that was full of uncapped nectar.  I put it on top of a hive that was a little light on stores, and they picked it all clean in a few days.  I wanted to cycle out this really dark comb, and I wanted to let the bees clean out what they could from it, but I've been trying to get away from open feeding, since I think it makes mites really spread around the yard in the fall.  Yesterday I filled the feeder up with like a gallon of wet wax from crushing and straining, something else I would have just set out in the past.  I'm hoping this will help with mite management in the fall, and I'm totally psyched about it. 

[Lesgold]

Good thinking Reagan. That?s an excellent idea. It?s amazing how clean the bees can make comb or cappings. If the comb is disease free, your bees will thank you for your efforts. It will also tend to reduce the chances of robbing (especially if you put comb or cappings into the feeder late in the afternoon)