Jan. 17. 1907 



American ^ee Journal 



.^A' 



ProceediniSs 



Report of the Ontario, Can- 

 ada, Convention 



REPORTED BY MORLEY PBTTIT. 

 [Coatintted from paf?e 31] 



Stimulative Feeding — Report.s. 



I would advise anyone who can not 

 stay right with his bees to let stimula- 

 tive feeding alone, and to bruise capped 

 honey whenever the weather is favor- 

 able, and when you can stay right with 

 the bees and see that started larvae is 

 kept fed. 



Mr. Pettit — You might have combs 

 uncapped inside, and take them along 

 to the yard. This saves the wax of the 

 cappings. and saves keeping the hive 

 open while you bruise the cappings. 



The Director's Report, Secretary's 

 Report, and Treasurer's Report showed 

 a successful year for the Association. 

 The Transportation Committee's Re- 

 port showed that some points had been 

 gained from the Railroad Commission, 

 principally the reduction of the mini- 

 mum car-load of honey from 20,000 to 

 12,000 pounds. Beeswax has been 

 changed from first-class to fourth-class 

 rating. 



Mr. Grainger, representative to To- 

 ronto Exhibition, reporting, urging bee- 

 keepers to take more interest in the 

 Exhibition as it offers a great oppor- 

 tunity to educate the public on the food- 

 value of iioney. He showed a plan for 

 the new building which will stand where 

 the old main building stood. It is pro- 

 posed to have windows at the rear, so 

 that the light can shine through the 

 honey. There will be many improve- 

 ments to make the best building we have 

 had to exhibit honey in. 



There was more discussion on the 

 Alexander method of strengthening 

 weak colonies. Some considered it a 

 help, and others thought it a disadvan- 

 tage. 



FALL MANAGEMENT OF BEES 



Fall management consists of prepar- 

 ing our bees for winter, for spring, for 

 ne.xt season, and in many ways it is laj'- 

 ing the foundation for future success. 



The work of the fall season may be 

 lessened to a great extent by the system 

 of managing during the summer season. 

 About the middle of September make an 

 examination of each colony, find out its 

 condition in regard to its strength of 

 bees and quantities of stores, as well as 

 to know it has a good laying queen and 

 is in a healthy condition. If sufficient 

 bees to cover 5 Langstroth frames are 

 found it will be safe to put such colo- 

 nies into winter quarters; if less than 

 this amount of bees it will be better 



to unite with another weak one and 

 have a good colony. 



To do this, remove about half of the 

 hghtest combs from colonies to be unit- 

 ed and, sometime afterwards, on a cool 

 evening, put 2 weak ones together by 

 placing the combs of one with adhering 

 bees alternately between the combs of 

 another. Remove one queen if one is 

 inferior to the other, otherwise the bees 

 settle it amongst themselves. Be care- 

 ful not to get too strong colonies in 

 this way, as they do not, as a rule, win- 

 ter as well as medium ones. 



All colonies going into winter quar- 

 ters should have a laying queen, and 

 colonies that have been queenless a 

 short time may be given a laying queen 

 by some safe plan of introduction. 



If the colony has been queenless since 

 the swarming season it will be useless 

 to spend time and feed on them, as the 

 bees are too old and will die during the 

 winter. 



The most important part of the fall 

 season's work is to provide each colony 

 with sufficient good stores to carry them 

 through until they gather feed next sea- 

 son. If we could supply them with about 

 25 pounds of good clover honey, well 

 ripened and capped, there would be little 

 danger of winter losses. We must have 

 some reliable way of determining the 

 amount of honey each colony contains, 

 as found when on scales, allowing so 

 much for the hive, combs, etc. ; but I 

 consider this unreliable, as there may be 

 a difference of 10 pounds in the make-up 

 of different colonies — a difference in the 

 material of the hive, amount of brood, 

 pollen, etc., in the combs. I consider 

 an examination of the combs the best 

 way of weighing stores, and if honey 

 to the amount of 5 or 6 Langstroth 

 frames is found, it will be sufficient. A 

 colony with less than this amount should 

 be given well-capped combs to make up 

 the shortage, removing empty combs, 

 and crowding the bees on as few combs 

 as the food-supply and quantity of bees 

 will allow, putting in division-boards or 

 dummies; this keeps the cluster more 

 compact, and in a body during cold 

 snaps in winter. 



If colonies are short, and combs of 

 honey are not at hand, liquid feed may 

 be given after first contracting the space 

 for storing, as in the other case. As a 

 rule, pure sugar syrup is fed, made from 

 best granulated sugar ; it may be given 

 in any kind of feeder if fed early in the 

 season. A handy- feeder may be made 

 to go into an extracting super made i 

 inch smaller than the inside of the su- 

 per ; it may be made of undressed lum- 

 ber, waxed at the corners, and made 

 of different depths, to hold just enough 

 for any colonv, and a few strips or 

 blocks of wood for floats put in. 



Place the feeder on the tops of the 

 frames, and if the weather is cool, feed 

 the syrup warm, contract the entrance, 

 :ind feed during the middle of the day. 

 The syrup, I think, gives best results 

 when made of a consistency of 3 parts 

 sugar to 2 of water. Sometimes a little 

 honey is added to prevent granulating, 

 lint I never practised doing it. Our syrup 

 IS made with steam, and it gives good 

 satisfaction. A i^-inch steam-pipe is run 

 down into a barrel or honey-storing 

 tank ; put in 2^ pails of sugar and I of 

 water, until the tank is nearly full, then 

 turn on the steam, which will warm the 

 water and agitate the sugar ; with a lit- 

 tle stirring the sugar is soon dissolved, 

 and the syrup can be drawn off at the 

 bottom. 



In conclusion I wish to say that what 

 I have just given you on this question 

 is solely for the preparation of bees 

 for outdoor wintering. Not having any 

 experience in wintering otherwise, I 

 cannot say that it would answer for 

 preparation for indoor wintering. 



Dennis Nolan. 



Mr. McEvoy — The middle of Septem- 

 ber is too late in the season to look for 

 queen condition. 



Mr. Holtermann — September is too 

 late to know whether the colonies are 

 queenless. 



Mr. Hershiser — You can not tell by 

 examining the combs for the amount of 

 stores. You must weigh the hives to 

 get the best results. 



Mr. McEvoy — There should be plenty 

 of pollen. Be sure there is plenty of 

 honey or syrup, and it should be 

 capped. 



Mr. Newton — I should just try the 

 weight. 



Mr. Sibbald — After weighing several, 

 then you can have learned to tell the 

 weight without weighing. 



Mr. Deadman — The strength of the 

 syrup depends upon the time of year 

 you feed. As to weighing, allow half- 

 pound for one frame of bees. 



Mr. Pettit — The neatest way to weigh 

 hives is with a spring balance and ar- 

 rangement to hook around the hive. 

 Then as soon as the hive clears the 

 stand, the weight is seen at a glance. 



Mr. Couse — You can not feed back 

 honey, as it will granulate in the comb. 



Mr. Grainger — Save the combs and 

 place them back. 



Mr. Holtermann — \^ou should be care- 

 ful about feeding back honey, with ref- 

 erence to danger of spreading foul 

 brood. 



Mr. Nolan — You should not feed too 

 late, because the bees can not ripen it 

 nor cap it. I would rather feed 

 good combs of capped clover honey than 

 any other waj'. 



Mr. Timbers — Will they not ripen it 

 after the middle of October? 



Hr. Hershiser — Isn't syrup not capped 

 just as good as what is capped? 



Mr. Bruune — You can feed in the 

 cellar at any time. Simply take tin 

 dishes and slip them under the cluster. 

 Make a syrup half water and half sugar. 

 It is best, though, to have the feeding 

 done by October ist. 



J. D. Evans does not think it mat- 

 ters if the syrup is not capped. He likes 

 to feed late, so the bees will not use it 



