Annette, I am sorry about your loss of those bees, there are so many lessons in life that we have to learn the ding dang hard way. I am one of the biggest learners of these hard life lessons, I always wonder when I will graduate from that school of hard knocks, I don't think ever, hee, hee, ;) :) :). I have used two methods of feeding with the baggie feeders, you will see by the pictures. In both scenarios I have used a "shim", one shim you will see is the small one and the other is just a deep super, both work well. My Husband has made those two inch shims for all my colonies now (me lucky woman, hee, hee, he always makes things for me). He shakes his head when I don't use some of the things, like when he made all the screened bottom boards for me, now I have gone back to solid bottom boards. I will always keep the screened bottom boards and may go back to them one day, or not, who knows. Eeeks, off track here, sorry girl.....that be me.
When I place the baggie on top of the inner cover, there is a hole that has a plug, I open that hole a little bit and the bees come up and eat.
When I feed this fall I am going to be using 2 gallon pails, that seems the easiest way to deliver a continuous supply of a large amount of sugar syrup, without having to check the baggie feeders every couple of days. I will begin to feed the bees around the middle of September. Our flow should still be going strong then, so they may not even require feeding. The baggie feeders are wonderful, they have their place and time, certainly. We have had a massive flow this summer, lots and lots of sunshine, a day or two of rain, and then more sunshine. I anticipate a massive amount of honey, for the first time ever with my bees, yeah!!!! I hope my aspirations come to pass. Eeks, off topic again, sorry.....have that most beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi