[Laurieston]

Having gathered some golden nectar from my ladies (the sheep are girls, but bees ladies I feel) I am now feeding up for winter.  I was encouraged to feed 1:1 which I feed in a bucket inside a spare super, with straw pushed in to provide access.  However, when I looked in to day there were a lot of dead (drowned?) bees in the liquid and none drinking.  Worse still there were a number of wasps inside the hive robbing from the feeder.

Am I doing something wrong that they are drowning - like not providing appropriate access?  And why don't lots of bees drown in a top tray feeder?  Does it have something to do with the thickness of the feed?  I think mine was thicker last year 2:1 and them managed to collect it from the bucket without getting drowned.

Any ideas?  Thanks

[Beewyched]

Hiya 
Never used a top tray feeder - just the little 2 litre jobs - but have never experienced any drowning 
How are the wasps getting in?  They will eventually rob-out the colony.  Have you closed the entrance down to just a couple of bee spaces? - it makes it easier for the Guard Bees to keep them out.  I think because of the poor "summer" we've had there is going to be increased pressure on the colonies to protect their stores.

[anderso]

have you though of getting a lid with a mesh cover for your bucket look at any of the bee stock shops then the bees dont go in they just feed from the lid - you would need a thicker mix
 
or just leave the honey on till spring then recover any surplus

[Plantoid]

Old saying re bees on the syrup
 
 Bees are very funny cos they walk across honey ,
Which must be very tricky cos honey's very sticky.
 
 
The bees are able towalk across the miniscus of the syrup , the surface tension supports them .
 
 re wasps in syrup or hive , you supers are like as not wasp  sealed , they often find away in throiugh  badly fitting lids , broken corners or bad fitting supers , up through ill fitting /damaged hive floors as well as getting in through the front door.
 
 I used only tray feeders on my fifty hives as it was so easy to pump 2 gallons of syrup at a time into them .
 
The tray feeders are designed so the only way into the feeder is up through the hive past all the bees.
 The bit about reducing the hive entrance with a block of wood or foam strip  is sound advice , I used to have a hive block for eachb hive ... a strip of slightly wedgeshaped oak that just fitted the entrance of the hive
 
One face had six double entry points .... rotate it 90 degrees and there was only one gap of 1/2 wide .
I used the six slot  side once I started feeding and put a mouse guard on . After feeding up stopped around mid November I turned the block to one hole & fitted the mouse guartd to make the hole as central to the slot as possible to allow bees out on cleansing flights
 
 If you do this sort of operation do ensure that the top vent in the hive lid is clear so there air can flow easily and it is not blocked with dead bees etc or propolis . or else your likely to get a sweating dying hive on your hands.
 
There is a type of feeder that mimics a hive frame . it has sides of hardboard or plywood and it is filled from the top and placed directly in the outer edgee of the brood box or the super immediately above the brood box.
 
 whilst it's a bit late to do this for this year It can be very useful to overwinter hives on a brood & a half with the queeen excluder above the top super of the brood & a half set up.