The standard miller feeder has its feeding station centrally
located and perpendicular to the sides, which divides the feed area
into two roughly equal volumes. As hives are never totally level this
causes a slight residue of feed to be left after use. This is a
nuisance as the feed may ferment and cause extra work in cleaning up
feeders. This version has it situated diagonally which gives two
distinct advantages, a one piece feed volume and a longer length for
the feeding station itself.
Another feature which I am not sure is an advantage or
disadvantage is that, as the hive is square, the diagonal path
encompasses almost every frame in the box below (which may shorten
the path that bees need to follow in transporting the feed). Whereas
the standard type will align across the frames or along the central
frame according to how it is placed on the hive.
The one illustrated above is for a National type hive and is
460 mm square. Other hives are not square, but the principle
involved can still be used. It is wise to have a small single bee
space notch in the bottom run of the outer skirt so that bees can
enter the main feed chamber when it is almost empty so that they may
clear up the last few drops of syrup.
Originated... 17 May 2002,
Revised... 18 November 2003,
