ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATIOX. 



89 



oping the queen cells properly. For the 

 purpose of queen rearing, feed slowly. To 

 feed intermittently, as you must do with 

 some kinds of feeders, as the Alexander, 

 is practically of no use in queen rearing. 



An experiment carried out here a few 

 years ago with the Alexander feeder, was 

 this: There were 'about a hundred stands 

 of bees in the apiraryand about one-third 

 of them fed every evening for three weeks, 

 beginning at the close of the fruit bloom and 

 ending with the beginning of clover. 

 They were given each evening about a 

 half a pint of food, composed of water 

 and honey. 



At the end of the time there was appar- 

 ently very little difference in the amount of 

 brood production; in fact, if there was 

 any difference, it was in faror of those 

 not fed. Now we have in the last few 

 years new methods of feeding bees, which 

 require less labor and are better in many 

 ways. It has been found that in place of 

 a little pepperbox feeder one can take an 

 ordinary ten-pound honey pail such as 

 used for retailing honey, and punch sm^all 

 nailholes, one or more, in the cover, and 

 insert it over the frames. 



There are still easier waj-s than that. 

 My preference is to use sealed combs of 

 honey. We usually get a fall flow and 

 combs of this dark honey, which is not so 

 readily salable as the white honey, are 

 reserved for fall and spring feeding, about 

 two combs for each colony \\antered over. 

 Before the bees are put away I go through 

 those colonies, and lift the hives, and if 

 any are found light in weight I move the 

 cover and take out the empty combs and 

 put in full ones, bringing them up to the 

 proper weight. This is the quickest and 

 easiets way one can feed bees. 



Mr. Stewart — Would you put those 

 combs in the center of the brood? 



The President — No sir, at the sides. I 

 have observed this, also, that in the fall 

 of the year, after the bees are done storing, 

 if the weather is suitable and there is 

 uncapt honey in the supers, the bees will 

 carry the honey down. I found also that 

 the bees not only carried down honey 

 when short of stores but that they also 

 carried it in from the outside combs, 

 leaving them empty. Then to feed in 

 November it is easy to insert the full 

 combs in place of the empty ones, which are 

 at the outside, while bees are clustered 

 near the center. One can go through an 

 apiary of 100 colonies, selecting the light 

 ones, and do all the feeding necessary in 

 less than a day: Usually I keep over a 

 considerable number of these filled combs 

 and in the spring again go through them, 



giving each light colony sufficient stores to 

 last it through. Then between fruit bloom 

 and clover is another critical time when 

 bees are liable to starve and should be 

 watched very closeh', especially if the 

 weather is unfavorable. 



In cases of emergency when bees are 

 starving they may be fed by raising the 

 hive front and pouring in a dipperful of 

 diluted honey or sugar syrup. 



Mr. Wheeler — I have a little different 

 scheme for feeding, and in an emergency 

 like that, two or three years ago, there 

 was a time in the latter part of May when 

 the bees were starving. I began to find 

 them djang around parts of the apiary, 

 and I just went to wrok and collected up 

 a good lot of sugar sj^rup. It happened 

 that cold spring when there wasn't a bee 

 flying and hadn't been flying for a day or 

 two. And towards night I went out and 

 tipped the hives over on their backs, and 

 after we tipped the hives over on their 

 backs on the ground, in their tight covers, 

 I just turned right in a teacup full of syrup 

 on them, put on another cover I had on 

 top there, and let them staj' there till they 

 had that all taken up. I saved an apiary 

 or two that way. It was done very 

 quickly, and the bees of course licked that 

 up in a hurry. It was where they could 

 get it, and it was warm. My. how they 

 came out of those hives! You know how 

 they do. Another way I do when I have 

 old combs left, I use an extra super four 

 and a half inches deep. In the spring I am 

 very careful not to disturb the cover, and 

 not to let any air in the top. 



I store away in the fall all my extracting 

 supers full of honey and partly filled, in a 

 warm basement, and where if it is taken 

 care of it will not candy. Some bee-keep- 

 ers don't know that. In the spring I set 

 the super under the hive. The bees in a 

 few days will find the honey, take it out 

 and carry it up. It is all done without 

 moving the frame, without disturbing the 

 upper part of the hive. 



Mr. Stewart, — At what temperature will 

 honey keep from granulating? 



Mr. Wheeler — I couldn't tell you that. 

 I keep it by a heated furnace, the tem- 

 perature of living heat, I should say. 



Mr. Roehrs — Sixtj' or seventy degrees, 

 yes. 



The President — That is a good point 

 made by Mr. Wheeler, in regard to putting 

 the super under the hive instead of on top. 

 It saves breaking the cover loose and 

 letting the heat out. 



Mr. Roehrs — Mr. President, I notice 

 that several years ago this Society in- 

 dorsed Mr. Thaler's way of feeding; I sup- 



