Irene wrote: "Feeding from the top seems much less intrusive to me than
putting a
feeder in the bottom box,..."

But if you let the heat out at the top when putting on a feeder...

Irene: "I'm thinking ahead
to winter and what I might need to have ready for feeding."

If the colony was started in good time and the forage is average then there
should be no need for a winter feed. But if one is necessary then the
amounts required could be more than what one would consider putting in a
dish with straw in the bottom box. In which case Warré's large (top) feeder
would be indicated.

If you feed honey syrup as Warré suggests this should not be done too late
in autumn and certainly not in winter. It needs to be warm enough not only
for the bees to leave the cluster but also to dry down the feed and cap it
to prevent fermentation. When I used to feed my frame hives as a matter of
routine in autumn I did it in late September. The average temperature at
noon then is 16C.

(I'm not sure if the eke question was answered. It is an empty box of any
height. At the moment mine are 50 mm and 100 mm but I am making a tall one
to insert a frame on end from a National hive when necessary.)
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David Heaf North-West Wales, UK
Warré & 'National' hives at 30 m over mean sea level
Warré beekeeping English web portal:
http://warre.biobees.com/index.html
***OR***
http://www.heaf.freeuk.com/warre/
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