August. 19!2. 



American l^ee Journal 



Second Field Meet of Eastern Illlinois Bee-Keepers. Held at St. Anne, III.. July 22. 1912, [See page 232) 



Prom left to right, top row:— Geo. Martin. I. E. Pyles, C. E. Woodington, Walter Sorensen. C. F. Timmon G. K Gimble. Jjli n 

 Soucie. N. A. Timmon. Tlios. Mayo. J. B. Burillette, A. L. Kildow, Center row. left to right: — Bart Sherill. H S. D.ibv. Mrs. D. Lefeve. 

 Mrs. Olive Uiiby. Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Roberts. Bottom row:— Edw. Manny. Walter Diiby. Miss Lily Lefeve, Mister Jim Shrontz 



Taking into account the difference in 

 strength of the colonies, and several 

 other minor points, Taylor comes to 

 the conclusion that one pound of brood 

 consumes 2 pounds of honey to arrive 

 at maturity. 



In my opinion, that estimate must be 

 too high. In the first place, the as- 

 sumption was made that both sets of 

 colonies gathered the same amount of. 

 honey in proportion to their strength. 

 I don't see it that way. The colonies 

 having the most brood must have gath- 

 ered less than the others, from the fact 

 that a larger proportion of their bees 

 were occupied at home instead of going 

 to the field. If these experiments are 

 repeated, it should be with fed bees, or 

 in some way that the actual consump- 

 tion of honey can be ascertained. 



Then the amount seems to me to be 

 extravagant on its face. The larval 

 food, at least for the workers, is half 

 honey and half pollen and water. 

 Hence, '2 pounds of honey would indi- 

 cate a total of 4 pounds of food per 

 pound of fully grown brood. The lar- 

 vae live, or. rather, are fed for !i days. 

 The first 2 days can be set aside, as 

 these larvse are then very small, and 

 consume very little; that is, approxi- 

 mately. 



The bulk of the food is consumed 

 during the last 3 days, which would 

 give I') pounds of food for one of 

 brood, as the final weight. But a larva 

 8 days old is very small, and one of 4 

 davs considerably less than one of 5. 

 The growth in the .'>th day is by far the 

 largest. Upon the whole, the average 

 size of the larva can not be more than 

 ;-., of the final size. The consequence 

 is, that the brood must consume daily 4 

 times its own weight if Taylor's figures 



are correct; or, at least, 3 times if we 

 correct for the loss that may occur in 

 the stomachs of the nurse-bees, the 

 neglect of the first 2 days' food, and a 

 few other minor points. 



This seems impossible. Nearly all 

 ■the nitrogenous (flesh forming) part 

 of the food is utilized. There is but 

 little waste; the cast-off skins, the co- 

 coons, and a slight amount voided by 

 the bees after they emerge, that is all. 

 Nothing is needed to keep up the 

 warmth since the bees maintain the 

 hive at the proper temperature, though 

 there may be some doubt on this point. 

 All the losses are water and carbon 

 dioxide from the honey consumed to 

 furnish the eiicrf-^y necessary to the 

 growth of the body. 



Suppose a daily production of lr)00 

 young bees. Taylor's figures would 

 give a daily consumption of -,t of a 

 pound of honey for that purpose. I 

 think we can cut this down to >i pound. 



Feeding Back. 



Little information can be obtained 

 from colonies which were fed back 

 honey. The conditions for successful 

 feeding back are : 



1st. Very warm weather. 



2d. Strong colonies. 



3d. The brood-nest contracted and 

 filled up completely at the beginning 

 with brood and honey. 



1th. Rapid feeding. The colonies 

 that do not take large amounts of food 

 must be discarded at once. As much 

 as l.'i pounds has been taken in one day. 



As to tlie results, I pounds have been 

 obtained from ■> of honey fed. But that 

 is a very rare exception, and I think 

 the late Mr. Hutchinson is the only one 

 whoever obtained it. One pound out 



of <S, or 2 from 3, are generally obtained 

 under good management. Rapid feed- 

 ing means on an average of at least 8 

 pounds a day. This would give for the 

 honey consumed by the bees something 

 like 3 pounds daily. We liave now to 

 compare this with the condition of a 

 colony under normal circumstances. 



The back-fed colony is made strong, 

 and is in most cases probably larger 

 than an average one. On the other 

 hand, the warm weather and the con- 

 traction of the brood-nest will de- 

 crease the daily consumption. But the 

 production of wa.x is considerable. 

 When (i, IS, or even more, sections are 

 completed and capped every day, the 

 extra wax required is very considerable. 

 Furthermore, under the stimulus of a 

 bountiful feeding and warm weather, 

 the bees produce sometimes even more 

 wax than they can use. and plaster it 

 over tlie feeders, the sections and other 

 available places. A de.Iuctinn of what 

 honey may be consumed for that extra 

 production could be made, but it is un- 

 necessary, and could be hut an approxi 

 mation at the best. 



CONCLI'SIONS. 



We may take for the working season 

 100 days from the time the bees are 

 taken out of the cellar to the end of the 

 flow. The objection may be raised that 

 during the first 2 or 3 weeks very ttle 

 if any wax is produceil, and the amount 

 of brood startad is not considerable. 

 That's true. 



But judging by the rapidity with 

 which the stores carried over disap- 

 pear, even when nectar is cnming in, a 

 considerable amount of honey nuist be 

 consumed in order to keep up the re- 

 quired temperature inside of the hive 



