1880 



GLEAOTNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



583 



FEEDING BEES. 



* -V '"XT'- HAT, says the beginner, have I got to feed 

 the bees? Why, I thought they fed them- 

 selves, and would make honey to feed the 

 bet I.' i fir too. All right; so they will, if we manage 

 them rigrhtly. But there are times when it pays to 

 feed them. If we have some late swarms, and we 

 wish to winter them, the probability is that they will 

 have to be fed. If we take too much honey from the 

 bees during the honey harvest, they may be short, 

 and want feeding to pet them through the winter. 

 Again, the season may be so poor for honey that the 

 bees won't get enough to keep them through the 

 winter, without feeding; but, fortunately, those very 

 poor seasons don't occur very ofteb; but when it 

 does happen, be sure to feed the bees, and keep them 

 through the winter if possible. Remember, that al- 

 most all who keep bees will let them starve these 

 poor seasons. It is not very likely that two very- 

 poor seasons will come together; but if that should 

 happen, stick, stick to the bees. It will be all the 

 better if you come out right and save the bees. 



But what shall we feed? Feed honey if you have 

 it; if not, feed sugar made into syrup. During the 

 months of June and July is a good time to save 

 combs of honey to feed. If one has a good place to 

 keep them, combs of honey in the frame is the very 

 best and handiest way to feed. We can then just ex- 

 change the empty combs for those filled with honey 

 enough to do the bees, and the job is done. But, un- 

 happily for bee-keepers generally, myself with the 

 rest, we don't have a proper place to keep these 

 combs of honey safely from the worms. We need a 

 room where we can smoke them with sulphur, to 

 keep the worms from destroying them. The next 

 best thing to feed is extracted honey. 



WHEN TO FEED. 



As soon as frost kills the blossoms in the fall, look 

 over all the bees, and unite the weak ones. All oth- 

 ers that have not enough stores to last until the first 

 of April must be fed until they have enough to carry 

 them through until that time. 



How much do they want? That depends upon the 

 size of the colony. I never weigh ; I always guess at 

 the amount by the looks. Be sure to give them 

 enough. I find it don't take any more honey to last 

 from the first of October to the first of March than 

 it does to last from March 1st to fruit-blossoms. 

 After that time the bees, as a rule, will take care of 

 themselves, as far as feed is concerned. 



I think if an average colony of bees has 15 lbs. of 

 honey October first, it will last them till the first of 

 March— perhaps longer; but it is better to look them 

 over as soon as the first of March, and feed all that 

 are getting short of honey; and keep feeding enough 

 to keep them until the fruit-blossoms appear. In 

 IsT'.i I fed BOO lbs. of honey in the fall, and then fed, 

 in the spring of 1880, 1600 lbs. more. Of course, it 

 was some work to extract that amount of honey, and 

 then feed it back again; but we can not always tell 

 just how much to take away, for the reason wedon't 

 know how much they will gather after we quit ex- 

 f racting. It depends on the season. This season we 

 had a very short time to extract honey. There was 

 no white clover. We got 0000 lbs. within two weeks, 

 .lust as the basswood commenced to blossom, we ex- 

 tracted all the honey we could get; then we extract- 

 ed all twice more— the last time, just at the close of 

 the basswood season. The last time we extracted, 

 we knew the probability was that we would have to 



feed back perhaps as much as we were then taking 

 away. Then, why did we take it away? Wehadtwo 

 very good reasons for doing it. First, there had been 

 a great deal of wet weather, and the prospect was 

 good for late honey, and we concluded to take the 

 chances. If there should be enough honey gathered 

 after this to winter, all right; if not, we could feed. 

 Our second reason for extracting the last time, was 

 this: Our first honey was very dark and unsalable, 

 while the third extracted was very nice and white; 

 so, if we should have to feed back, we could feed the 

 dark honey and. keep the white. The difference in 

 the quality would pay all the trouble; and, I am 

 happy to say, the result has proved to be in our fa- 

 vor, as the bees have gathered very nearly or qilite 

 enough to winter from late flowers. 



HOW TO FEED. 



Right here is a point where we must be very care- 

 ful, and not get the bees to robbing. When the bees 

 are gathering honey fast, there is no danger. We 

 can have honey about in almost any form outdoors, 

 and the bees will not touch it ; but at a time when it 

 is necessary to feed, it is an entirely different thing. 

 Let the bees now but get a taste of honey outside, 

 and it will make them nearly crazy to get more, and 

 they will crowd in everywhere they can to get 

 honey. For this reason, we must feed in some way 

 so that other bees can not get at the honey. In the 

 spring of 1879 I found that I had to feed about sixty 

 colonies of bees. I had a few Harrison feeders, but 

 not nearly enough, and what I had were too small to 

 suit me; besides, I did not like them. The honey 

 was fed through a cloth, and I found it was a nice 

 job to get the feed just right, so it would not drip 

 too fast, and still be thin enough to enable the bees 

 to get it. I accordingly set my wits to work to see 

 if I could not do better. I got out my A. B. Journal 

 and my Gleantnos (I take both papers), and they 

 often help me out of trouble. I hunted in them for 

 every kind of bee-feeder T could find. I wanted 

 something that would not be in the way of the bees, 

 or interfere with their work after they had emptied 

 the feeders. I examined Prof. Cook's feeder— a sack 

 of cloth hung between the frames, filled with honey. 

 That wouldn't do for me. The feeder would be in 

 the way after the feeding was done, unless I should 

 be on hand to take it out; and for me, with three 

 yards of bees, away from home, I would be very- 

 sure to leave them in too long. Besides, it was a 

 cloth feeder, and was liable to the same objections 

 that the Harrison is. Then, there was Mrs. Dun- 

 ham's feeder, on the pepper-box plan— a tin box or 

 flat can, with holes in the bottom. This was to be 

 hung in the hive between the combs. It had one of 

 the objections of Prof. Cook's. It occupied the place 

 of a comb and would be in the way; and should it be 

 left in, the bees would soon want it out, so they 

 could put a comb in its place. Besides, I don't like 

 the idea of dividing the brood-combs in early spring-, 

 and putting a cold tin can between the combs. I 

 want to feed over the bees, on top of the frames or 

 honey-board. I use a honey-board, and put my 

 feeder over a hole in the board, right over the bees. 

 The bees will then come up under the feeder, and 

 get the honey. The heat of the bees below helps 

 very much to keep the honey warm, and they can 

 get it at any time, and it would not be in the way at 

 any time after the feeder was empty. I finally de- 

 cided upon what I thought would fill the bill, and got 

 up my pepper-box feeder, as I use it now. I don't 



