Plastic Boardman Entrance Feeder

Also known as an entrance feeder, our Boardman feeder is a white plastic feeding tray that fits into the entrance of your hive.  It is used with a quart-sized canning jar which screws into the metal lid inside of the feeding tray.

Each feeder comes with one metal lid with pre-punched  70mm holes. These holes allow for liquid to drip through  once you’ve attached a jar with sugar syrup.

1 part sugar/ 1 part water in spring

2 part sugar/1 part water in fall

Made from a heavy-duty, one-piece,  white molded plastic, our Boardman entrance feeders will last for many seasons.  They fit into the entrance of a standard Langstroth hive and if you use a clear jar, it’s very easy to see the level of the liquid feed without having to get into the hive.

Some beekeepers simply put water in their Boardman feeders as a convenient way to provide water to their bees over the hot summer months.

Although inexpensive, convenient and quick there are some important issues to keep in mind when using a Boardman feeder. The first is that they should not be used for cold weather feeding. If used when nighttime temperatures drop below 50 degrees, the syrup has a tendency to get very thick making it hard for the bees to feed.  Another issue to keep in mind is that when bees have to travel very far outside of their warm cluster surrounding the queen, they lose much of their energy and are more likely to die.  This is especially important for a newly installed package of bees that haven’t had a chance to build their colony yet.  It takes all the energy they can get just to stay warm in cooler spring weather.

Our Boardman feeders measure 1.12” high by 3.12” wide by 5.5” in diameter and do not come with a canning jar – you will need to supply your own.  If your feed stops going down, check the holes to make sure the bees haven’t plugged them up.

Boardman feeders can be easily cleaned with warm, soapy water.  We recommend cleaning  at the end of every season