Hi Fred,
Well good I’m glad to hear you got into them to check what was happening. Yeah, it’s too bad you lost a few bees. You might put some grass/straw down 4 or 5 pieces, into the holes to give them more traction. Just remember that top feeders have issues too. There are wooden top feeders that may be better than plastic. But look at the reviews before you buy them as they have issues too, such as leaking.
With the plastic ones just remember that if you have to get into the hive and you just fed them, say, a couple of days earlier the plastic container is kind of flimsy and when half full it will twist in your hands and spill some of the contents unless you are really careful. If you go with plastic, make sure you take a hacksaw or knife to the insides where the bees crawl up into where they get the feed. The commercial built in concentric rings aren’t sufficient.
Since bees may not be flying at full capacity during this cold weather, you also may want to provide some protein for the bees. They need that to reproduce. Spence, has some Pollan Pro. I have used that, and they take some, but not a lot. There is also Honey Bee Healthy Liquid Protein might be a better bet since you can mix it in the sugar water. Once it warms up, they’ll be able to get pollen themselves, but it’s nice to have on hand. But if they are actively flying, they should be good this year as I see lots of flowers.
One thing I didn’t elaborate on in my earlier post, was temperatures. Your bees will begin to fly at about 50-55 degrees. But most of those flights are either to relieve themselves or short exploratory flights. Wind keeps them from going even further. You can have a 60 degree, windy, overcast day and you see a few bees on lethargic flights. Or you can have a dead calm day with lots of sunshine and 58 degrees and they will be going to town. On those good days (60 degrees, dead calm and sunshine) you can get into the hive safely, and even pull some frames. But just remember if they have brood on them, they need to be kept warm. So, they should not be pulled out for more than a moment, or the brood can die.
Right now, the best thing is to keep the feeders full and don’t disturb them until it warms up.