Ai-RIL, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



207 



result that purging follows. When it is so 

 bad that during midwinter the bees spot the 

 inside and outside of their hives with large, 

 dark-brown spots, almost black, it means al- 

 most sure death. If these signs of dysentery 

 appear along the middle of this month or 

 about the first of Maj%the colony may or may 

 not recover itself but it will be all summer 

 in building up to be worth anything- 



If there is no fall flow, it is far better to 

 feed the bees in the fall and give them 

 enough food to carry them, not only thru the 

 winter, but also thru the spring until the next 

 lioney flow. Feeding in the spring, especial- 

 ly liquid syrup, should be avoided wherever 

 possible, as it causes too much excitement in 

 the apiary, and often results, as explained, in 

 the loss of a good many thousands of bees. 

 Feeding in the Cellar. 



Bees can be fed in the cellar this month, 

 during a warm day when the bees can fly. 

 as already described. A cake of this can be 

 laid directly on top of the cluster. In order 

 to do this it is sometimes necessary to use an 

 upper story or rim of wood about 1 inch or 

 IY2 inch deep. The candy is laid on top of 

 the frames, the rim is set down over the hive 

 and over the whole a cover. If the bees in 

 the cellar run short of stores, the hard candy 

 is preferable to anything else we know of, 

 except actual natural stores themselves. In 

 the case of an emergency a frame of honey 

 can be laid on top in the same manner that 

 candy is placed. 



The hives should not be opened up except 

 during a warm day when the bees can fly. 

 Then it is important to ascertain whether 

 there are sufficient stores to carry the bees 

 thru. If the cluster is a small one, occupying 

 only two or three frames, it should be crowd- 

 ed over to one side of the hive, and a. chafl" 



KKEDING CAXDV IN THE STRING. 



In early spring there is danger of some colonies 

 starving. Where there are no combs of stores, cakes 

 of hard candy in paper pie plates are much to be 

 preferred to feeding liquid syrup. 



division board should confine it to as few 

 frames as possible. Care should be taken 

 that the bees have at least one or two combs 

 of stores, and these should be placed close to 

 and just outside of the brood, if there is any. 



The colony should then be tucked up warm 

 and left until along about the first of May, 

 at which time the division board may be 

 shoved over and other frames added — as 

 many as the bees can occupy- 



Feeding liquid syrup during April in the 

 North is always attended with more or less 

 danger. Beginners should remember that 

 syrup feeding at any time starts the bees to 

 flying out at the entrance. If the weath.r 

 is cold or chilly, many thousands of bees arc 

 lost. When colonies are short of stores they 

 should be given frames of honey, or frames 

 of sealed stores left from the previous fall 

 or winter. For this purpose it is the practice 

 of our best beekeepers to lay aside several 

 hundred nice combs of honey. During this 

 spring there will be not a few dead colonies 



FEEDING FK0>I AN ORDINARY FRII'TION-TO? PAIL. 



This is one of the good and cheap means of feeding 

 syrup. The top of an ordinary friction-top pail is 

 punched with about a dozen holes, the pail filled 

 with syrup, the top pressed in place, and the whole 

 inverted in an upper story. The bees will take the 

 syrup out very readily. In cool weather the pail 

 of syrup should have jjacking around it to prevent 

 the escape of heat from the cluster. 



and one can take one or more combs of 

 stores from these colonies and give to those 

 that are alive and running short. 



When one has no combs or stores of any 

 kind, and no dead colonies to draw from, he 

 then should feed sugar made over into hard 

 candy, as explained on page 140 of March 

 issue. This should be poured while hot into 

 paper pie plates and when cold they should 

 be inserted over the cluster of bees, but be- 

 fore this is done, the size of the brood nest 

 should be contracted with the division board 

 as already explained. To put on this candy 

 it will be necessary to put on an empty half 

 story or a full story when the candy should 

 be covered with leaves or packing material 

 of some sort. 



In the more southern states or perhaps dur- 

 ing the latter part of this month in the 

 North, liquid food can be given safely; and 

 one of the handiest and cheapest ways is to 

 use in an empty super or upper story a five- 

 or ten-pound friction top, tin pail, such as 

 is used for retailing honey- The cover 

 should be punched with a dozen or more holes 

 made with a 3d nail which is about one-tenth 



