FEEDING AND FEEDERS. 



205 



FRAMES, SELF-Sl'ACING. 



can. It would be well to prepare three or 

 four such, as one might need tliem all at one 

 time. Melt off the handle that is on top 

 and then solder it to the bottom. The 

 leason for this will be apparent later. If 

 you have not the proper facilities, take the 

 cans to the tinsmith. Now with a wire nail 

 punch a lot of holes in the top of the can. 

 The smallest holes that you can make are 

 better than large ones. These holes should 

 be about a quarter of an inch apart, and 

 cover the whole surface of the top. Perfo- 

 rate the tops of the two other cans, and your 

 feeders are ready. Fill each can with a thin 

 syrup, clear full, and then screw on the cap. 

 Procure some good strong clothesline : 

 then put the cans on a wheelbarrow and 

 wheel them out to a tree or gro's e about 2(0 

 yards away from the apiary. Select some 

 limb about 20 feet from the ground, without 

 any branches or obstructions beneath. Tie a 

 stone to the end of the rope tliat yon broug])t 

 along, and throw it over the limb and draw 

 the end down. Hitch it to the \\ire handle 

 in the Ijottom of one of the feeder cans. 

 Now haul the can up in the air, upside 

 down, until it is 16 or 18 feet above the 

 ground. At first the syrup will leak out a 

 little ; but it will soon stop dripping if the 

 screw top has been put on tightly. 



This can, elevated in the air, will not be 

 discovered by the l)ees, prol)al)ly, for two or 

 three hours; but the next day a good many 

 will be found working at it. If there, are 

 many bees in the apiary, say one or two 

 hundred hives, it may be necessary to hang 

 up another feeder. When the bees are ea- 

 gerly at work on the cans one may see 

 strmgs of them going up and down to the 

 feeder. Just as soon as a bee gets a good 

 sip, one or more bees will grab hold to get at 

 the same hole, when the two or three will 

 fall together ; but before they strike the 

 ground they take wing and fly up again, and 

 so on the process continues. Sometimes 

 whole bunches of bees will fall at a time, 

 only to take wing before they strike the 

 ground. Up they go, and at it again. It 

 takes a bee almost as long to take a load 

 from one of these feeders as it does from a 

 field of clover, because it has to spend a 

 lot of time up and down, up and down, be- 

 fore it can get enough for a load. And 

 herein is the secret of its success: If the syr- 

 up were fed thick in open cans, thousands 

 of bees would be drowned; or if it were put 

 into receptables where they could get at it 

 rapidly and not drown, they would fill up 

 immediately, and in the course of half an 



hour all the syrup would be gone, and then 

 robbing would be worse than ever. But a 

 feeder put up in the air as explained makes 

 it necessary for the bees to spend a lot of 

 time in order to get the syrup, and conse- 

 quently they are kept busy all day in empty- 

 ing the cans. During this time one can ex- 

 tract, rear queens, and open up hives gen- 

 erally, with scarcely a robber showing up. 



We would not advise this outdoor feeding 

 generally for supplying the colonies witli 

 winter stores, or for stimulating only, 1 e- 

 cause it involves considerable waste of Ijee 

 life and energy. 



For feeding up for winter, or for general 

 stimulating, it is far better to feed within 

 the hive, with any one of the good fee<!« rs 

 just described. The long flight to and fr^ m 

 outdoor feeders is apt to wear out the 

 bees prematurely; and their hard strug.ijies 

 against each other to get a sip causes ibe 

 fuzz to wear off, making them look like old 

 bees very soon. Outdoor feeding is ai'visi d 

 only to stop or prevent robbing, whie im- 

 portant work like extracting after tie hon- 

 ey-flow, or queen-rearing, is going on. If it 

 is necessary to feed up the bees, and rolt- 

 bers are inclined to be meddlesome, we 

 would advise doing so by night or dui>ng 

 rainy days, as previously explained. 



FENCE. See Comb Honey. 



FERTILE WORKERS. See Laying 

 Workers. 



FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY 

 BEES. See Fruit-blossoms, alsj Pollkx. 



FIREWEED. See WlLLOAV-HEKlt. 



FIXED FRAMES. See Frames, Sei f- 



SPACIXG. 



FOUNDATION. See Comb Foundation. 



TTLAHflJlS, SELF-SFACINa. By 



these aie meant frames lield at certain reg- 

 ular distances apart by some sort of spac- 

 ing-device, forming either a part of the 

 frame itself or a part of the hive. Under 

 Spacing ok Frames, elsewhere, and un- 

 der Extractor, we have discussed the 

 distances that frames should be apart. 

 Some prefer li inches from center to center; 

 but the majority, supported by the best of 

 reasons, prefer If inches. Self -spacing 

 frames, then, are those that, when put into 

 the hive, are spaced automatically, either If 

 or H inches from center to center. Loose 

 frames differ from them, in that they have 

 no spacing-device connected with them, and 

 are, therefore, when placed in the hive, 



