One of my nuc feeders sits on top of the hive with a floating platform for the bees, kind of like this one but smaller. The bees are a little annoyed when I open it up, probably because I am disturbing their home. They are pretty gentle, still, especially for late in the year.

I always take the floater out before so I can clean out any debris or dead bees before adding more syrup, and invariably find a few top bar beetles crawling around the inside.

You can see three of them in the picture on the right hand side. They must be trying to hide under the sides of the float where the bees can’t reach them. I take the opportunity to crush them with my hive tool, often killing 5 to 10 of them. The good news is that the bees have chased them out of the hive, so I am just helping the bees along.

I like to think the gals appreciate that I take care of these pests, not to mention the additional syrup. I am feeding this nuc every few days to keep them producing frames. Every week or two I swap out the frames with another hive. This way I can keep feeding a single hive, and distribute the benefits throughout my hives.

May you prosper and find honey.