Super frame feeder

01 · HOW IT GOES IN AND WHAT IT IS FOR

One more frame, only full of syrup

It hangs by its top bar like any frame, usually at one end of the nest, and sits inside the hive's own volume: the syrup stays at cluster temperature, which is what makes them take it. At 1.2 litres it is a feeder for measured doses, not a winter load — its natural place is a nuc or a colony that does not yet fill the box, where it also fills the gap an empty frame would leave. The three compartments spread the volume and let you read at a glance how far it has gone down.

02 · IT HAS NO FLOAT

The compartments help, but they are no substitute for a foothold

Worth saying before you buy: no float and no grid included. The dividers split the liquid and the vertical walls give some grip, but on an open sheet of syrup some bee always ends up drowning. The fix is as old as beekeeping and costs nothing: drop in twigs, strips of cork, a handful of straw or pieces of cork sheet that float and give them somewhere to stand. Put them in after pouring and check they are afloat and spread across all three compartments, not piled into one. If you would rather have it solved from the factory, tray feeders with a slotted grid come with it built in.

03 · THE SIZE

The top bar decides, not the body

The body measures 160 × 37 mm and the top bar 480 mm. As with any frame, what has to fit is the top bar: if it does not reach both rebates, the feeder hangs badly or falls in. Verified compatibility is with Dadant US — the Spanish measure — and Langstroth. For any other format, compare the 480 mm with your box's internal span before ordering; it is the same check you would run on a frame.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is an internal feeder, and that is its trade-off: the syrup is warm and protected, but refilling means opening the hive. Anyone feeding in cold or wet weather usually prefers a crown-board feeder, which refills without uncovering the nest. And one rule that has nothing to do with the product: do not feed during a commercial flow or with supers on for harvest, because the syrup ends up stored.