Feeding in a long hive

[Occam]

I don't usually feed much but I had another beek that has a swarm trap with bees in it that he doesn't have room for. I checked on the bees yesterday and they've got 4 frames in use and are ignoring the 5th undrawn wax foundation frame and are starting to build some creative comb off of one of the frames. I'll be moving them to my now empty long lang hive this week but was curious since they're a little light and our flow here is drawing to a close about feeding them late summer/fall.

If they don't end up using the whole space and also need feed for winter stores, which I would be pleasantly surprised if they did at this point but would also negate the question, what are your thoughts of using an entrance style jar feeder inside the unused space on the other side of the follower board (I don't have a frame-style feeder). Are they likely to try to start building free form comb on the cover boards on the vacant side of the follower or probably not since their broodnest and other frames of comb are on the other side of it? I don't mind them exploring/patrolling the other side but I don't want to encourage them to gobin the wrong direction.

[Michael Bush]

Boardman feeders (entrance feeders) are prone to robbing.  I would invest in a frame feeder or build a modified division board with a gap for the Boardman feeder or build a division board feeder out of wood.

[Occam]

Are you meaning they're prone to make that hive rob others or encourage other bees to rob out the one being fed (which was always my understanding) ? The boardman would be completely enclosed in the hive with no outside access, other bees would have to come through the entrance, go through the hive, and make their way past the follower to the boardman to even find it. I imagine the hive would be robbed out by that point anyway right? Building a divider feeder wouldn't be that hard though either.

[Michael Bush]

Encourage other bees to rob out the one being fed.  If it's completely enclosed in the hive with outside access, it should be fine.

[cao]

I use to be diligent about using a follower board on my long hives but i have found that the bees don't mind the extra empty space if i don't use one.  I make sure that there are a couple empty frames on the edge in case they need to expand.  The rest of the space is open.  I have left burr comb with honey in it that i cut off frames, in the empty space and they cleaned it up where i removed the wax on the next inspection.  I don't think you should have any problem with feeding in the empty space in your long hive.  As long as they have frames to expand to when needed they will not build comb elswhere.

[Occam]

Rightnon, I appreciate the input. I'm not big on feeding, I'd rather not at all. Just wanting a plan in case it's needed

[Ben Framed]

I used boardman my first year with no trouble, but I was feeding 'all' the hives simultaneously which created, nor gave reason to rob. Top feeding is 'now' my go to choice 'flat out' and 'hands down'....  When I say top feeding, I mean the top has a hole cut in if for the feed jar to fit while the jars 'contents' and volume are visible in plain sight as when using a boardman, yet safe from entrance exposure to other bees....

Phillip