Custom Internal Hive Top Feeder

$50 – Pick up at our farm in Ellinger (Central Texas) or Local Bee Club Delivery

Our internal hive top feeders are handmade with select white pine and with a ¼” plywood bottom that holds one gallon of liquid feed in a water-proof reservoir. This self-contained feeder allows the bees to climb internally into the feeder without drowning and protects the beekeeper when the hive lid is removed. The screen is used by the bees to cling on while feeding.

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What is the best type of hive feeder?

It is important for beekeepers to feed their new bee colonies during the summer when the pollen resources are low. There are various types of feeders beekeepers generally use. Which one is the best option that is the healthiest for the bees and safest for beekeepers? Let’s have a look at some of these options:

External Feeders: they are wasting sugar water resources. External feeders promote the robbing of weaker hives and robbing from honeybees outside the beekeeper’s apiary. Why waste resources feeding the feral bees in the wooded areas around your apiary? Bees recognize and follow other feeding bees to their hive to overwhelm the guard bees at the entrance and steal stored honey. Sugar water mixtures in external feeders quickly disappear when the surrounding bees outside your apiary recognize the external feeding source.

Internal frame feeders: although internal frame feeders put the feeding resources inside the hive, the beekeeper must disturb the bees by removing the lid and inner cover to re-fill an inner frame feeder. This type of feeder has design weaknesses as we want a feeding system that does not disturb the bees or take up the space of two waxcomb frames in the hive.

Hive Top Feeder: this type of in-hive feeder is the best type to feed the colonies without disturbing them while protecting the bees from the sun and robber bees coming inside. However, a lot of existing Hive Top Feeder designs allow small gaps under the lid-cover, for ants and bees to enter. Beekeepers must ensure the outer lid -cover is clean of debris and the lid and the top of the feeder is flat. Ants can still enter the feed reservoir to drown. Any gap under the lid-cover could also allow bees to get to the sugar water and drown. We want a feeding system that does not have any gaps for bees or ants to enter.

Our Internal Hive Top Feeder is optimal for bees and beekeepers!

Our internal hive top feeders are handmade with select white pine and with a ¼” plywood bottom that holds one gallon of liquid feed in a water-proof reservoir. This self-contained feeder allows the bees to climb internally into the feeder without drowning. The bee access is screened in, so the bees can’t get to the beekeeper when the hive lid is removed. The screen is also used by the bees to cling on while feeding.

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Hive Top Feeder

Details

Price

We offer this Hive Top Feeder for $50 each, whether you order the 10 frame or 8 frame feeder.

Delivery

Your High Top Feeder order is available for pickup at Ross Creek Organic Farm near Ellinger, Texas. You can also pick up your order at a Local Bee Club. See on our About page which Bee associations I work with and let me know by email when you would like to pick up your order there.

In-hive feeder entrance closed to robber bees

Our hive top feeder design allows bees to enter internally from the hive, so the bees do not drown while feeding from a ladder. This creates a wall between the access point and the sugar-water feed. And visiting bees cannot get to the internal feeding source.

Safer and easier for the beekeeper

Our internal feeder fits on the top of the hive box. It is designed with a 3/8” bee space beneath, so you do not use an inner cover when using our hive top feeder.
It is easy to lift the lid and pour more feeding mixture into the water-proof reservoir. Bees don’t know you are there. Young-hatching bees can follow each other a short distance up to the feeding ladder with no energy spent flying out of the hive for resources.

Bars access to ants

Our internal feeder is carefully manufactured to ensure a flat top surface that seals under a flat lid-cover. We include a thin foil-bubble wrap sheet that acts as a gasket seal under the lid cover. This seals any minor gap-variations in your lid-cover to eliminate the ants from getting into the feed reservoir and drowning.

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Testimonials

“My husband and I started working with Bruce Ford in 2020 in order to secure agricultural status on our small acreage tract. Since that time, Bruce has continued to be a wealth of information with regards to setting up and maintaining bee yards, best food sources to grow for bees to forage, how to identify and resolve issues to ensure the health of the hive, what to do in severe weather conditions to prepare and/or protect your hive, etc. He also continues to amaze us with his intelligence, experience, helpfulness, ingenuity, integrity, and educational opportunities for learning more. He is a true blessing to our homestead and in our lives!”

Tim and Barbara RobertsonWaelder, TX

“Working with Bruce has been a terrific experience. He’s committed to the quality of his work, and basics are well covered: the bee boxes look great, the bees and starter frames are robust, and as part of installation Bruce rechecks boxes after a few days to ensure that queens are present and all is well. He works with clients and the tax appraisal office to ensure Ag exemption requirements are met. And beyond this, if you (like me) are curious and interested to learn about bees and beekeeping, you couldn’t hope for a better mentor in the noble art of beekeeping! Bruce is a gifted, enthusiastic and clear-eyed teacher. And so, what started as a “box to check” to obtain the Ag exemption for our property in New Ulm has turned out to be a joy and an adventure!”

Bekra Yorke, MDNew Ulm, TX

Why choose us?

Small scale family owned

When you buy our Hive Top Feeder, you support a local, family owned, small scale farm and contribute to a thriving community of passionate beekeepers.

Passionate & community-oriented

I, Bruce Ford, am passionate about raising honey bees and getting others involved in beekeeping and I am active in several local beekeepers’ associations. This passion led me to establish and maintain honey bee yards and mentor individuals in the fine art of beekeeping in central Texas. As a result, I now develop new solutions for my own needs and when they work well I share them with my beekeepers’ community so we can improve our practices all together

Beekeeping & homesteading experience

I live with my on family on a 16 acre organic farm near Ellinger, Texas where I practice with different compost designs, microbial brewing with compost and soil microbe philosophy, beekeeping, rainwater catchment, radio communication, growing native plants, herbs and medicinal plants by propagation from seeds and cuttings. As a gardener-farmer, I raise many different varieties of pollinator plants to support the honey bees.

I embrace the grassroots homestead movement in central Texas by sharing skillsets, hosting workshops and promoting the farming community movement here in central Texas. In addition to running a small farm, I consult with new land owners on how to get agricultural exemptions with bees and wildlife management programs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Hive Top Feeder?

The hive top feeder is used to feed new colonies and their bees during summer when pollen resources are low. It is also used to protect the colony from the sun and robber bees. This type of in-hive feeder is the best type to feed the colonies without disturbing them.

Where can I pick up my order of Hive Top Feeder?

Your Hive Top Feeder order is available for pickup at Ross Creek Organic Farm near Ellinger, Texas. You can also pick up your order at a Local Bee Club. See on our About page which Bee associations I work with and let me know by email when you would like to pick up your order there.

What’s the Hive Top Feeder warranty policy?

We guarantee our internal hive top feeder satisfaction. If you are not happy with this product, contact us within ten days by email Rosscreekhoneybee @ gmail.com to get a refund. No replacements or adjustments are available after ten days.
If you need to cancel your order, you will receive a refund if you request the cancellation within 10 days by emailing us at rosscreekhoneybee @ gmail.com.

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Custom Internal Hive Top Feeder

$50.00

The hive top feeder is used to feed new colonies and their bees during summer when pollen resources are low. Our internal hive top feeders are custom handmade.

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