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Beekeeping for All:
Feeders used in Warré hives
Warré's spring feeder (page 62, Beekeeping
for All)
Bernhard Heuvel's video of this feeder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeXfCBpUSo&hl=de
Warré's autumn feeder (page 60, Beekeeping for All)
This feeder is made in a standard Warré hive box.
Below: top view of Warré's 'autumn feeder' with the lid removed showing the tank, bee galleries and the removable partition.
Below: bottom view of Warré's 'autumn feeder' showing access to the bee galleries.
Modified Warré autumn feeder (below)
This is slightly modified from Warré's drawing in that the removable partition is screwed to the fixed partition with two stainless steel screws. Two wooden spacers (shown) hole the movable partition a bee space away from the fixed one and a bee space from the floor of the tank.
Only the bee galleries are covered. This allows refilling the tank without disturbing the bees. The cover is Perspex/Plexiglass held with two screws.
Below: Bottom of autumn feeder showing access from below for the bees into the bee galleries. The floor also sloped towards the feeding area so that almost all feed has gone before bees gain access to the tank. The tank can be sealed with molten wax, but the joints need to be robust. In this example, the floor is set in rebates in the sides. The vertical partition is set in grooves in the walls.
Warrés top-bar cloth for a small contact feeder
See page 42 in Beekeeping for All ( http://warre.biobees.com/bfa.htm )
Here are photos of the modified top-bar cloth from Larry Garrett:
Below: assorted contact feeders including a one pound honey jar and a seven pound honey tub. The lids need to be leakproof round the rims. Ideally the containers should be no taller than a quilt box, otherwise the roof will not rest on the quilt box rim and there is a risk that the top-bar cloth will be exposed to rain seepage and wicking.
Bag feeder
This is another top feeder and has the advantage of being above the cluster, i.e. not only away from robbers but also where the feeding point is kept warm by the bees below. The following is an illustration of Larry Garrett's application of the bag feeder. More details are shown on his page at http://www.warrebeek.com/bagfeeder.html.
Dry sugar feeder
This method has been supplied by Larry Garrett and has been successfully used by him in the Mid-West of the USA over a Warré colony that had managed to occupy only one box by the autumn. It uses baker's sugar that is ultrafine in particle size. This fineness reduces the likelihood of the sugar being carried out of the hive by the bees. It is placed over the colony in much the same way as candy, but unlike candy it has the ability to absorb surplus moisture in the hive.
Below: Dry-sugar feeder with 4lb. (~2kg) sugar placed on newspaper on the top-bars of the top box in an eke or feeding shim. (Photo: Larry Garrett)
On top of the feeder goes the top-bar cloth, quilt and roof. The ventilation galleries allow moisture to pass to the quilt and to the sugar, which gradually becomes caked. The bees can access the sugar initially via these galleries. Eventually they chew away the newspaper and carry it out of the hive, thus accessing the sugar more directly. In this example, 80% of the sugar was consumed in the course of the winter.
More information: http://www.warrebeek.com/dryfeeder.html
Simple floor feeders
Warré's feeders require a certain level of skill in construction, especially in avoiding leaks. The simple feeders illustrated below rest on the floor of the hive in an empty Warré box. Feed placed in such a position is relatively more likely to attract robber bees. Such feeders are therefore to be used with caution, e.g. during a nectar flow, and, if necessary, by installing robber guards that do not significantly impede hive ventilation. Installing or topping up the feed in the evening when scavenger activity is reduced is another worthwhile precaution.
Simple floor feeder (6 litre) with wood float (Bill Wood, Eugene, Oregon)
This feeder consists of a perforated raft which safely supports feeding bees and floats down as they consume the (honey + water or Biodynamic mixture or .....) liquid. This floor feeder was made from a 6-liter food grade square plastic tub obtained from a restaurant supply. The bees can safely feed from the edges and from the many holes drilled through the board or "raft". For this "raft", 0.5-inch diameter holes were drilled. For ease of illustration and to indicate relative sizes, the accompanying photograph (above) shows the feeder framed in a standard Warré quilt box. It is a floor feeder capable of holding 4 litres to 6 litres of food.
This feeder should be placed on the floor of a Warré hive in an empty bottom box. It is also suitable for feeding bees in horizontal top-bar and other hives. It is most helpful if the tub has vertical or nearly vertical sides to better maintain a minimal border between the raft sides and the tub sides, from top to bottom. It is important that the raft be able to support numerous engorged bees. Hence, the raft should be made from a low density wood, such as dry cedar and that the thickness of the wood should not be less than ¾ inch or 2 centimeters. Bear in mind that the raft may lose buoyancy if it is not sealed. A natural sealer should be used. A natural varnish or tung oil could be suitable sealers. Bees-wax thinned with d-limonene (a natural citrus solvent) is a moderate liquid water barrier. Natural shellac is another choice, but does not resist long term liquid water.
Both the tub and raft are easy to clean and sterilize. (Bill Wood)
Simple floor feeder using ice cream tubs and straw or twig floats (John Haverson, Hampshire UK)
A traditional way of feeding bees is to put the honey or sugar syrup in a suitable container in the hive with the container loosely filled with straw or some other light material such as dry twigs or cork etc. The bees can clamber about on the floating scaffolding without risk of drowning. The above photo shows such feeders made of ice cream tubs placed on a Warré floor. The picture also shows 1) use of a mirror to inspect the inside of the bottom hive box; 2) Warré's L-section entrance piece with the robber-guard that admits one bee at a time in the horizontal plane.