Frame Feeder Fumble

Today I thought I should check the sugar syrup levels in the inverted jar feeder. It is contained inside the second box resting on top of the inner cover. I had placed the feeder there on the 2nd day when I was concerned  the bees wouldn't travel to the frame feeder when the temp was below zero. The bees seem to feed off it and it was emptied in about a week. After a couple of days of rain it was 5 days since I had checked the feeder. I knew the bees had a frame feeder full of at least 8 liters of sugar syrup,  if they used it. I guess they liked the jar feeder as it was empty. [caption id="attachment_106" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="top box has jar feeder in it"][/caption] Weather was cloudy and about 9 Celsius. I didn't smoke the bees but brought the syrup spray bottle just in case. The bees were mellow and although I didn't remove the frames, I moved them slightly and  could see the comb was drawn out further.  Capped cells were sighted! There was not a bee on or around the frame feeder and the two feeding tubes  had dead bees floating in them. I had been told  that a bit of cork will stop a few of these bees from a sweet death. Wine with my meal this weekend. I'm thinking that I'm going to continue with the jar feeder but get a bigger jar or a pail feeder. [caption id="attachment_153" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="small jar feeder"][/caption] Here is a few pics from day 1 [caption id="attachment_110" align="aligncenter" width="276" caption="Bees"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_112" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bees not really doing much. Very mellow"][/caption] The pics look better larger on my Picasa page steve