Bee Hive Top Feeder Flange and Lid

thingiverse

This design was created after a discussion with a fellow beekeeper about sizing a hole for Nucs (nucleus hive). Feeder can be made with a mason jar and a metal lid with small holes in the lid. A Mason jar lid is 71mm in diameter and a 71mm hole saw is hard to find resulting in drilling a smaller hole and filing the hole to fit. Even so, you still have a hole when the liquid feeding is over. You can use a block or piece of plywood but they can leak when it rains. With the feeder flange, you need only to use a 3 inch diameter hole saw and push the flange into it to have a perfect hole for a regular mason jar lid to fit. The flange has tapered ribs on its outside to easily start into the 3 in hole and get tighter as it is further inserted. This helps for holes that are not exactly 3 inches and serves to hold the flange in the hole. I use a dead blow hammer to persuade it to bottom out. Feeding is done by inverting a Mason jar with liquid feed (ex. sugar water) so that the bees can feed from the holes in the lid while the flange securely hold the lid and mason jar. The lid is designed to be placed in and seal the hole when feeding is over. It has a slight interference fit so that the lid stays put when you throw the nuc cover on the ground. It is loose enough to be pushed out of the flange from inside the lid. There is also a lid with a handle on it that may be of use, but I decided I like the plain lid better. The handled lid is included because I already designed it before I decided to use the plain one. As pictured, the flanges can be used for inside feeders that go in an empty deep on top of the hive and inside the top cover. Nuc lids and and inside hive feeder that already have 71mm holes can be drilled out with a 3 inch hole saw and a spare board already drilled to 3 inches by clamping it to the board to be drilled if necessary.