# How do you feed a TBBH?



## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

I have a Kenyan style TBBH I'm getting ready for spring. The bee entrance(s) are basically 3 - 1" holes, no landing ledge. How do you feed them??


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

I'll try to describe my setup, it's too cold to open them up and take a pic. One of my follower boards has a hole drilled near the bottom. On the other side there is a small 'box' for lack of a better word, that is covered with screen. I set a quart jar of honey or sugar water on that screen. There is a loop of wire attached to the board that supports the top of the jar. The bees enter through the hole and can access the feed slowly dripping through the holes in the lid of the upside down quart jar, but can't access the rest of the empty section of hive.

Did that make any sense?


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

Yes, and it gives me an idea...How about a 1" or so hole in the follower, with a box on the back end so that a "Bordman feeder" with the bottom removed sit on top of the box? Fix it so I can remove the feeder, plug the hole, and again just have a follower. Does that sound right?


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I do not care for 'in hive' or 'on hive' feeders. In my experience they tend to encourage robbing. I prefer to use feeding stations. Place at least 50 ft away from your hives. This can be very simple, such as a container full of sugar solution with a piece of board floating in it.

When I started doing this instead of using hive feeders my robbing problems almost completely disappeared.


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

If you have a solid bottom and a tight fit you can pour some syrup on the bottom just before dark every night. If you judge it right they will have it all cleaned up before morning. You can use baggie feeders on the bottom. You can make a frame feeder. you can put some dry sugar on the bottom and wet it enough to get them to take it. You can even mix it up with a little water into a thick dough first and then put it on the bottom...


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

Michael Bush said:


> You can make a frame feeder. you can put some dry sugar on the bottom and wet it enough to get them to take it. You can even mix it up with a little water into a thick dough first and then put it on the bottom...


Top Bar Hive, no frames. Bottom is screen only.


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

TxMex said:


> I do not care for 'in hive' or 'on hive' feeders. In my experience they tend to encourage robbing. I prefer to use feeding stations. Place at least 50 ft away from your hives. This can be very simple, such as a container full of sugar solution with a piece of board floating in it.
> 
> When I started doing this instead of using hive feeders my robbing problems almost completely disappeared.


Question? Why would 'in hive' or 'on hive' feeders lead to robbing...Don't the robber bees have to get past the guard bees to get to the feed? Pardon my ignorance.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Our top bar hive has a lid. I can remove the lid and access the top bars. I can place a tin plate on those top bars and then put grease-patties or syrup in the plate.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Adron said:


> Question? Why would 'in hive' or 'on hive' feeders lead to robbing...Don't the robber bees have to get past the guard bees to get to the feed? Pardon my ignorance.


Yes they do have to get past the guard bees. When active robbing takes place the guard bees get overwhelmed. Especially if you use an entrance feeder. The trespassing bees just nip in and get the sugar water and leave quickly. A really strong hive can repel the robbers. It is your weaker hives that have problems. Once the sugar water is gone the robbers will go after any food stored in the hive proper. Robbing is a really bad habit to get started. In my hives I have observed that a strong hive that starts robbing has a tendency to continue that trend at any opportunity. Funny thing is that it will do so year after year as long as it is a strong colony.

Another thing. When using entrance feeders most people remove the entrance reducer so the feeder will fit. This gives a very large area to be guarded and it is much easier for the robber bees to get in. If I am using an entrance feeder on a langstroth hive I modify an entrance reducer so that it can be put in alongside the feeder. This will greatly reduce the opportunity for another hive to rob.

With a top bar hive I would suggest greatly reducing any entrances if you plan to feed inside the hive. The feeding stations are so much easier and so much more like normal foraging activity for bees that I will not use feeders in a hive again. In nature it is unnatural for such a food source to show up in the hive. I believe the bees will be happier if they are performing what nature tells them to.....foraging. True, you may feed some feral bees this way, but I don't begrudge them the food.


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

TxMex: OK, that begins to make sense now. I have always used entrance feeders and smaller entrance reducers.-I usually make my own, so cutting them down is not a problem. 

Or I have used the entrance feeders(2) with the bottoms removed and placed on top of the top board, inside an empty HB, then the cover put on. I prefer this method best since I can change feeder bottles without actually opening a hive, and any robbers must come thru the entire colony to get to the feed.

However if I wanted to feed ALL the colonies at the same time, your feeder station sound like just the thing. Thanks.


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## FrankRichards (Dec 9, 2004)

TxMex, I use internal feeders. I understand your point about robbing and entrance feeders, but I don't see how the robbers find out about the internal ones.

Feeding stations however just won't fly up here in New Hampshire, because the bees probably can't either when they need feeding. If the weather is good enough in March for bees to fly, the Red Maple is in bloom and all is well. If the maple isn't blooming, they couldn't fly to a feeding station either.

I agree this wouldn't be a problem on the Mexican border, but I'm a bit surprised it doesn't arise in Arkansas.


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

You have to build the frame feeder. Yes you have no frames, but you can build one. There are many examples I've seen pictures of. Basically if you build a frame that fits your hive and put sides on it and a hole for access and a hole in the top to fill it...


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## Birdman Jack (Feb 2, 2011)

For a TBH. 
What I did was get a pet waterer that holds a three and 3 1/4 quarts of syrup and screen the bottom where the pet sticks its head to drink.The level stays the same all the time so no need to worry about having something to float for the bees. I pull the top bars on the back of the folower board and replace it with one solid board to save taking out a bunch of top bars every time. I place the pet feeder inside and close it back up. It is good for a few days. Do not forget to put hole in folower board. 
I have a picture at http://birdmansroost.com/TBH Forum/index.php/board,6.0.html
The screen has been removed.


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## moontime (Feb 24, 2008)

We simply have our food in shallow dishes atop the bars, but under the roof we made for the hive. We never took their honey last year though, so they have that too. Saw a flat feeder somewhere that we are going to get for next year.


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