636 



■July 26, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



Dr. Miller has been asked the question, "Shall I feed to 

 stimulate brood-rearing in the spring? and shall I spread the 

 brood?" His answer was in this wise: "Stimulative feeding 

 and spreading brood is a pretty safe thing for a beginner to 

 let alone;" which is no doubt true, but I would answer it in 

 this way: 



Stimulative feeding is important, and brings good re- 

 sults if properly done; but spreading brood in the spring 

 should never be practiced, as it nearly always results in harm. 

 If bees are fed properly they will spread the brood as fast 

 as they can cover it to keep it warm. 



My hives all face the east, and in winter and spring they 

 are covered with four thicknesses of newspaper on all sides 

 except the front of the hive. It is very necessary that the 

 hive be warm during cold spring winds. I use an empty 

 super over the brood-frames which contains clean rags, cloths, 

 carpet, or anything that is clean and warm. I feed only at 

 dusk in the evening, and feed only sweetened water, using 

 about 54 'uke warm water and % honey or sugar, and never 

 begin feeding until maples are in bloom. 



I use an atmospheric feeder, which is made by punching 

 small holes in the edge of the cover of a pint Mason fruit-jar, 

 or jelly tumbler. This feeder I place upside down on a little 

 block on the brood-frames under the cushion or cloths. If a 

 Mason jar is used, 2 empty supers are required, as one is not 

 high enough; but usually I use jelly tumblers, and for ordi- 

 nary colonies that have considerable honey in their hives I 

 consider one tumbler full enough at one feed ; but if they are 

 a little short of honey I give them a full pint. 



When the day has been warm, and they have been gath- 

 ering pollen freely, they are not fed at all, unless they are 

 short of honey. 



The reason I feed sweetened warm water thus is as fol- 

 lows: It does not tax the strength of the bees to the extent 

 that it does for them to fly out in the cold wind and sip the 

 almost ice-cold water from the puddles on the ground. Bees 

 carry lots of water in the spring to be used in rearing brood, 

 and I am satisfied that each colony loses many — perhaps thou- 

 sands — of bees that become chilled by carrying cold water ; 

 not only so, but the temperature of the cluster of bees in the 

 hive is lowered, and thus the brood becomes chilled. 



Some bee-keepers claim that feeding causes bees to fly 

 out more in cold weather, but I find that when I feed as 

 above described they do not. They may buzz around in the 

 morning, but if they have a supply of warm sweetened feed 

 the evening before, they soon become satisfied; while colonies 

 suffering for water will send a lot of bees for water, and 

 thus they dwindle. Any practical bee-keeper can readily see 

 that a few more bees reared in early spring, and a few saved 

 from becoming chilled, will mean many more bees later on 

 when they are so much needed. And if many more are 

 reared, and many saved, a very strong colony at the begin- 

 ning of the honey-flow will be the result. 



There is one more point I wish to mention, which is 

 this: When a colony of bees are fed every evening when the 

 day has not been favorable, they have a continual income 

 of food, and brood-rearing will be steady, and not spasmodic. 

 Not only so, but the bees will evaporate this sweetened water 

 to some extent, and their continual activity will cause the 

 queen to become more prolific in her egg-laying. 



Now I doubt not many bee-keepers will say that a tumbler 

 of sweetened water would not amount to much, but I find 

 bees should not be fed much, but just enough to supply water 

 for the brood, and have continual work. 



Three years ago I succeeded in getting 250 pounds per 

 colony on the average, J4 of it being comb-honey, and I 

 increased my colonies 400 per cent, notwithstanding they were 

 very weak in the spring. I have some neighbors who are 

 pretty well up-to-date bee-keepers, but they did not feed in 

 the spring, and none of them averaged 100 pounds per 

 colony. 



Some bee-keepers will say that if you succeed in getting 

 your colonies in a very flourishing condition, they will spend 

 their time in swarming, and not in gathering honey. Let me 

 say that such is sometimes the case, but if you succeed in 

 getting very strong colonies the swarms will be large, and if 

 manipulated properly, they will gather lots of surplus honey. 



If white clover is abundant and shows signs of profuse 

 blooming, or if basswood trees show signs of abundant bloom, 

 I give first a super of shallow frames — combs if I have them — 

 and let the bees use them for brood-rearing until the be- 



ginning of the honey-flow. This will prevent the swarming 

 fever, to considerable extent. 



I have had new swarms, when they were very large, tff 

 fill 60 sections in less than 2 weeks ; but of course not cap 

 them all. 



A colony of bees gather at least from 100 to 200 pounds 

 of honey annually to keep up brood-rearing, and for winter 

 stores, even if we get no surplus; and if I have a clover or 

 basswood honey-flow, with plenty of bees in each colony as 

 fielders, it won't take long to get an extra 100 pounds of sur- 

 plus honey per colony. Williamsfield, 111. 



-™ 



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Canadian 

 BQedom 



Conducted by Morlet Pettit, Villa Nova, Ont. 



Strong- Colonies 



This season has impressed upon me more strongly than 

 ever the absolute necessity to insure sucess of having colo- 

 nies strong. With many of us the very mild winter of 1905-06 

 was extremely trying on cellar-wintered bees. Consequently 

 some of the colonies came through the spring in a weak con- 

 dition. These have been almost at a standstill ever since. 

 While strong ones have gained tremendously and stored 

 some surplus, medium ones have built up strong, but have 

 stored nothing, and weak colonies are weak still. 



The questions arise, Why is the great difference in strength 

 of colonies? For how much are the queens to blame? To 

 get at this matter more carefully, I have not practised equal- 

 izing brood at all this year. If a queen is poor or failing, 

 I see no object in bolstering her up at the expense of a 

 good queen. Her work is watched from week to week, and 

 if she does not gain — if the brood-chamber assumes that 

 honey-bound appearance so indicative of a poor queen — off 



comes her head. 



m 1 ■ 



Ontario Honey-Crop Reports 



This department will be glad to receive, short, post-card 

 crop reports from all parts of Ontario. Those received 

 already are not very encouraging. Norfolk County reports 

 no white honey in the south, owing to continued dry weather 

 in the spring. North Norfolk has some surplus, but very 

 little. Brant County seems about the same. 



H. G. Sibbald, of York County, has about 25 pounds 

 per colony. 



R. H. Smith, of Elgin County, has about the same, and 

 Wm. Couse, of Peel County, is ho better off. 



J. R. Colman, of Middlesex County, can report nothing 

 better. 



Since writing the above the following reports have come 

 in, and are monotonously bad : 



Martin Emigh, of S. Oxford — "No clover." 



B. Davidson, of Ontario County — "Failure all through." 

 W. H. Bowen, of Niagara Falls — "Failure ; will have to 



feed for winter." 



Edwin Dalton, of Halton — "Clover very light; basswood 



prospects good." 



J. F. Davison, of East York — "Nearly total failure." 

 J. J. Hurley, of Brantford, sends the best report I have 



received yet. He expects 50 pounds per colony. 

 Jas. jack, of Haldimand — "Bees doing nothing." 

 M. B. Holmes, of Leeds County — "Failure." 



C. C. Farran, of Farran's Point, on July 11 — "Bees are 

 working well these 5 or 6 days on white and sweet clover ; 

 have had but 1 swarm yet; supers are about half full on 

 about one-third of the colonies." 



J. B. Hall, of Woodstock, reports very little hone}', and 

 excessive swarming. 



Chris Grimalby, of Owen Sound, says the season is very 

 poor. 



