THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



211 



FEEDING BEES AND 

 FEEDERS. 



By P. R. Russell. 



No. 2. 



I begin feeding about the first of 

 Oct. and intend to finish about the 

 15 th. No use to feed before this 

 time for winter stores because the 

 bees are still getting honey and too 

 much brood still remains unhatched. 

 No need to fear unsealed stores. 

 After the feeders have all been re- 

 moved, there are no great heaps of 

 rattle-traps to lumber up the store 

 house as with other kinds of feeders 

 because I have the jars all filled with 

 nice pear, quince, tomato or other 

 sauce for winter ; you see I have all 

 my fixings do double duty if possi- 

 ble. 



The bees are now all ready to 

 pack for wintering on their summer 

 stands. I replace the feeding board 

 with a light frame covered with wire 

 cloth and reinforced centrally with 

 two cross bars to prevent sagging. 

 This I place on the frames, wire cloth 

 down, which allows bee space under 

 and that is all I want. I want my 

 bees to winter on their combs and 

 not cluster in a ball on top of them ; 

 An old piece of carpeting is laid on 

 the wire frames and then the big 

 chaff cushion with plenty of venti- 

 lation above it through the gabled 

 roof. I give them but very little at- 

 tention during the winter, save once 

 or twice I draw out with an iron rod, 

 hooked at the end, any dead bees 

 that may fall to the bottom board. 



I open the spring campaign about 

 March ist by offering a bounty of 



the well known candy mixture to en- 

 courage the recruiting of young 

 bees. We now begin the "grand 

 rounds." I approach the first stand, 

 place my ear at the embrasure, 

 knock lightly on the sally-port, when 

 I hear from within the old familiar 

 challenge : 



Halt ! Who comes there ? 



"Friend with the countersign." 



"Advance friend and give the 

 countersign." 



"Good candy." 

 Countersign correct, advance 

 friend. 



Having removed the covering it 

 gives me great joy to see the little 

 soldiers all massed up against the 

 wire cloth at "present arms" waiting for 

 their rations. All is clean and bright, 

 no foul odor arises, but the fragrant 

 sweet waxy smell of the hive. I 

 take from my haversack their quota 

 of candy dough, place it on the 

 wire cloth directly over the bees, 

 cover it with a little patch of enam- 

 elled cloth, and then go to the next 

 hive and repeat the operation and so 

 on until all have been supplied. If 

 this food is not mixed too thick and 

 only powdered sugar is used, it will 

 all be eaten up clean. But if it is 

 placed so that the bees can run all 

 over it they will suck the honey out 

 of it and leave the sugar to fall down 

 on the bottom board. I keep them 

 supplied with this food as long as 

 they appear to need it. During the 

 pleasant days of April I place a suit- 

 able feeder in the open air, in a 

 sunny nook, some rods away from 

 any hive and each day supply it with 

 a quantity of sugar syrup made some- 

 what thinner than that used in the 



