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Author Topic: Cold weather feeders  (Read 2150 times)

Offline Bush_84

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Cold weather feeders
« on: April 07, 2014, 03:18:44 pm »
I made a nice little feeder.  I had a topic about it earlier but I thought I'd post a picture or two.  It encloses a jar and you put light bulbs in it to keep the jar warm.  It has worked wonders.  It has allowed my bees to take down syrup 24/7 even when it's to cold.  Otherwise the syrup would cool and I'd have to be out there daily to change the jar.  

http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af52/dpboll/f3c329c128f57dc1592548438ae63351_zpsf9cd9bca.jpg

http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af52/dpboll/1ea1cc03b42acbab828205d7dae1b98f_zps60de1814.jpg

I just put this right over the bees with a deep over it.  You could also put over the inner cover.
Keeping bees since 2011.

Also please excuse the typos.  My iPad autocorrect can be brutal.

Offline BlueBee

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Re: Cold weather feeders
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2014, 06:20:00 am »
Looks like a good use for those old obsolete Edison light bulbs  :)

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Cold weather feeders
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2014, 12:56:13 pm »
I hope you are using low wattage bulbs. I would be concerned about it catching fire.
Jim
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Offline Bush_84

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Re: Cold weather feeders
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2014, 01:26:00 pm »
Each bulb is 15 watts.
Keeping bees since 2011.

Also please excuse the typos.  My iPad autocorrect can be brutal.

Offline capt44

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Re: Cold weather feeders
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2014, 02:50:09 pm »
A person could do the same thing with a low wattage incubator heater with or without a fan.
Set the thermostat to keep the temperature above freezing or 101 degrees where ever you want the temperature.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline BlueBee

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Re: Cold weather feeders
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2014, 04:53:28 pm »
I hope you are using low wattage bulbs. I would be concerned about it catching fire.
I just hope the government doesn't get involved in setting building codes for bee hives, or I'll be in trouble.  :-D

Another option might be solar heated syrup.  Maybe cover the top of the feeder box with polycarbonate; turning it into a mini greenhouse.  That would probably warm the syrup up nicely on a sunny day.  Sun provides something like 100 watts of energy per sq foot, that's more energy than the light bulbs.

 

anything