r lHE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



155 



per cent, of flour stirred in, this kind 

 of candy not requiring any cooking. 

 this was moulded into thin cakes and 

 and a cake kept constantly over the 

 frames of each colony, tucked up warm. 

 These bees built up finely and were 

 in unusually good condition when the 

 honey flow came. My hives are not 

 adapted to such feeding now, and the 

 fault which I have to find with the 

 modern style of hive with its board 

 cover fitting down close to the top of 

 the frames, is that it is not as well 

 adapted to feeding in small quantities 

 within the hive as the old style with 

 cloth covering and a space above. 



The large Heddon feeder as- used 

 on the new hive is by far the best for 

 feeding large quantities of feed, as is 

 needed in feeding for winter, but 1 

 have not found it so well adapted to 

 feeding small colonies in the spring. 



My favorite way of feeding in the 

 spring has always been out of doors. 

 This has some very serious disadvan- 

 tages, it is true, but it is so much less 

 labor than other methods that this 

 alone is almost enough to make me 

 prefer it. It has always seemed to 

 me, too, that feed fed in this way did 

 the bees more good than when it was 

 fed in the hives. Any kind of refuse 

 honey is easily fed in this way. We 

 have often been told that it is unsafe 

 to feed honey at a time when bees are 

 inclined to rob. You can do it with 

 perfect safety at any time provided 

 you take the precaution to thin it 

 down sufficiently. If the bees work 

 on it more vigorously than you like, 

 just add a little more water. For out 

 door feeding any kind of a tight 

 trough with suitable floats, that the 

 bees may not get drowned, will answer. 

 The Heddon feeders are just the thing, 



though I generally use large atmos- 

 pheric feeders holding ten gallons of 

 feed. 



These I make by taking a ten-gallon 

 flour can, such as I use for storing ex- 

 tracted honey, set it on a hive bottom- 

 board, place a grooved board or a 

 shallow trough feeder over it upside 

 down, clamp the two together with 

 wire loops and "spreaders", then in- 

 vert the whole. It will siuprise one 

 who has never fed in this way to see 

 how much feed the bees of a large 

 apiary will carry away in a day. 

 This thin feed which the bees carry 

 in from outisde the hive more nearly 

 approaches to the natural honey flow, 

 and I think has a much more stimu- 

 lative effect than what is fed them in 

 the hive . It is true that some colonies 

 will get the lion's share and others 

 little or nothing, but it is an easy 

 matter to find out which the lazy ones • 

 are and stir them up, which may often 

 be done by feeding a little warm honey 

 in the hive, leading them to go out 

 and look for more, or these few may 

 be fed in the ordinary way. 



I have been in the habit of saving 

 the cappingsfrom extracting for spring 

 feeding. The best way to use them 

 is to cover them with water and allow 

 them to soak for several hours, then 

 feed the sweetned water and allow the 

 bees to work over the soaked cappings 

 and get out what honey may remain. 



At times when bees are inclined to 

 rob, or when a few cross bees are con- 

 tinually following the apiarist about, 

 a little very thin feed will keep these 

 nuisances busy, to the great comfort 

 of their keeper. By diluting it to a 

 proper degree you can regulate the 

 rapidity with which they will work 

 on it to suit yourself, and if you choose 



