Paradise poly top feeder 10l

01 · WILL IT FIT MY HIVE?

It is cut for the BeeBox, not for a timber Langstroth

This question comes in again and again, so here it is straight. The feeder is cut for Paradise Honey BeeBox hives, Langstroth and Dadant, 10 frames. On those it seats and closes. The trap is in the name: a polystyrene Langstroth and a timber Langstroth do not measure the same on the outside. The frame is identical, but the poly box has its own external footprint because the wall is far thicker. So the right question is not "do I have a Langstroth?" but "is my hive a BeeBox?". If it is timber, or another make, this is not the feeder for you however well the frames match.

02 · WHY THEY DON'T DROWN

Two clear profiles that limit the open surface

Ten litres of syrup left open would be a trap. What keeps the bees out of it is not a float: it is two transparent profiles that channel where the bees come up and leave only a narrow strip of liquid exposed. The bee gets in, drinks and goes back down without ever walking on the body of syrup — and because the profiles are clear, you can see how much is left without lifting anything. For it to work the feeder has to sit level and bedded all the way round: if it rocks, the syrup runs to one side and the layout stops doing what it was designed to do.

03 · SYRUP, CANDY OR BOTH?

Built for liquid, and one thing at a time

Its natural use is liquid feed, and that is where the capacity earns its keep. Solids work too — some beekeepers take the profiles out and lay the candy or patty straight on the frames, using the feeder as a chamber — though at that point you are borrowing the space rather than using the design. And there is one limit worth knowing before you buy: it is a single reservoir, so you cannot run syrup and a protein feed at once. If your management needs both in parallel, you will have to alternate them or handle the protein another way.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The polystyrene in the Paradise range is extra-hardened EPS above 100 kg/m³, well beyond ordinary white foam: it insulates, weighs little and takes handling without crumbling. As it also serves as the crown board, you do not need another one on top.