Should I be feeding syrup instead of winter patties?

[Jen]

Our temps are ranging from 50-60 most days, 30-40 at most nights. Should I switch from winter patties to syrup?

Lite syrup or heavy syrup?

[Dunkel]

You could introduce some syrup and see how they do.  I know if I ever see those temps again I sure would.

[iddee]

How far away from your house is the hive? If 50 feet or more, you can set a boardman type feeder on the back porch and watch them from the house. That's what I do.

[Jen]

Iddee- I would love that, however, I have my grandchild age 5 and her 6 friends that come back and forth thru the sliding door. If I set up the boardman by the sliding door... one of the kids may get stung, or a brave little boy might tamper with it. This neighbor boy says his dad said if you see a bee "Smack It!" I'm not thinking that will work for me.

I'm thinking a quart jar inside of a deep with the lid on

[iddee]

Or 6 or more feet high.........

[Jen]

I went to www.outyard.weebly.com and got some feeding answers. Awesome Site Scott!

[GLOCK]

I'm thinking a quart jar inside of a deep with the lid on

That's the best feeder in my book . I have used them all and I now use Gal. jars in a deep just like you and it works great .
I use the same jar method on my nucs  just QTs. Better for not causing robbing.
If I was you I would switch to syrup .

[barry42001]

say Jen, I kinda favor teaching a kid respect for insects, by letting the insects teach them, if the parents are too ignorant to the teach them first. I am assuming that you have your property posted as having bees. if not you should for liability purposes. with that said they need to learn respect for all creatures great and small. It's how I learned lol learning curve is really steep, you tend to get the message pretty quickly.
as far as feeding the bees from a personal perspective, I have always favored a gallon jug with the perforated lid over the hole in the inner cover, add empty super, cover with outer cover.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[iddee]

Barry is 100% correct, from the bee's perspective. I just love to sit on the porch and watch them work. 

[riverbee]

"Our temps are ranging from 50-60 most days, 30-40 at most nights. Should I switch from winter patties to syrup?
Lite syrup or heavy syrup?"

no more patties jen, let them finish off what you have left and lite syrup jen, 1:1.
use what whatever method works for you.

when i feed, it's through a 1 gallon pail inverted over the inner cover and covered by a deep box.