Mar. 21, 1907 



229 



^>;%r>-^<^^^^^Am^rican Hee Journal 



,<(«* 



Articles 



No. 1.— Feeding and Feeders 

 —Spring Feeding 



BV C. P. DADANT. 



During the past season a great many 

 bees have been short of stores, owing 

 to the scanty honey crop. Many colo- 

 nies were fed for winter, but many more 

 will need feeding during the spring. 

 It must be borne in mind that there is 

 about as much honey consumed after 

 the real cold weather has passed, as is 

 consumed during the hardest of win- 

 ter, because tlie bees must spend a great 

 deal to rear brood at a time when the 

 yield from the fields is ne.xt to nothing. 

 It is also known that when the bees are 

 wintered in the cellar, they consume 

 even more honey afterwards, because 

 there is no breeding, or very little 

 breeding, in the cellar. 



In addition to feeding for the neces- 

 sary support of the colony in years of 

 scarcity, many people also feed bees in 

 small amounts to induce breeding, in 

 the spring, even if they are not short 

 of stores. It has been stated somewhere 

 lately, that if bees are fed sugar syrup 

 wlien they are not destitute, they 

 will store a portion of this feed in the 

 supers, and thus run the risk of fur- 

 nishing spurious honey. Such an oc- 

 currence can not take place, for two or 

 three reasons. First, no one should 

 leave the supers on the hive during the 

 fall, winter or spring. If the supers 

 are left on at any other than the time 

 of the crop, they will become soiled 

 by the travel of the bees ; they will be 

 glued up w-ith a large amount of pro- 

 polis which the bees gather in quantity 

 during the months of dearth and fail 

 weather ; and in the winter the supers 

 will prevent the bees from concentrat- 

 ing the heat in the brood-nest. In all 

 my bee-keeping experience. I have never 

 committed the blunder of leaving the 

 supers on the hives after the honey 

 crop. Neither should these supers be 

 put on the hive until the crop is at hand, 

 when there is no need of feeding. 



Feeding bees in such an amount as 

 would induce them to put honey, oi 

 some of the feed, into the supers, would 

 be inadvisable and unprofitable. As long 

 as such amounts of food are given as 

 will induce them to increase their breed- 

 ing previous to the honey crop, there is 

 a profit in it, because the bee-keeper is 

 then like the wise general who sees 

 to it that his regiments are complete be- 

 fore he marches them to battle. But if 

 an overdose is given, the bees will be- 

 gin to produce comb from the food 

 given, and, in that case, since it takes 

 no less than 7 to 10 pounds, and perhaps 

 more, of honey to produce one pound 



of comb, we will soon find out that there 

 is a loss in overfeeding. In addition, 

 if we overdo the feeding, the cells that 

 should be used for brood may be filled 

 with the honey, and the queen may be 

 cramped for want of room to deposit 

 her eggs. So feeding to induce breed- 

 ing must be done with a great deal of 

 circumspection. 



Yet, there is no doubt that stimula- 

 tive feeding is advantageous, especially 

 if it is done at a time the bees have 

 only sealed honey left, in moderate 

 quantity. The honey which has been 

 preserved through the winter is thick, 

 and in order to dilute it properly to 

 prepare the larval food, the bees are 

 compelled to go to the nearest water 

 and bring a quantity of this water to the 

 hive. All bee-keepers have seen the 

 bees pumping water from troughs, 

 around wells, or from marshy places, 

 in spring. They will go out on a very 

 cold day, when it is hardly warm enough 

 for them to fly about, and will bring 

 some of this cold water to the hive. 

 It is evidently used to dilute the too- 

 thick honey, for just as soon as negtar 

 is found in the flowers we see a decrease 

 in the number of bees around the horse- 

 troughs. When the crop is well on, this 

 water-transportation ceases nearly al- 

 together, to be taken up again as soon 

 as the crop ceases. The nectar of the 

 flowers' is usually sufficiently thin to 

 make good larval food without the ad- 

 dition of water. 



Now, many of our practical apiarists 

 save their bees the trouble of transport- 

 ing this cold water, by giving them a 

 small amount of sufficiently liquid food 

 to fill the requirements. This food is 

 warm when given. Just think of the 

 difference between having to go out in 

 the cold to get water — cold water — and 

 finding this water in the hive, warm and 

 sweet enough to serve the purposes for 

 which it is intended ! 



Yet the practice of feeding for tlie 

 stimulation of breeding is not generally 

 followed, and is opposed by some noted 

 bee-keepers. This is because it requires 

 a great deal of care and attention, and 

 in some instances it is overdone. But 

 whether we wish to feed to stimulatp 

 breeding or simply to keep the colony 

 from starvation, the fact remains, that 

 feeding is often necessary. Warm food 

 a little thinner than would be given m 

 the fall, and in smaller amounts, is 

 needed in spring feeding. As to the 

 nature of the food. I think diluted gran- 

 ulated sugar is the best — even better 



than honey because it has less odor, 



and is less apt to cause robbing. We 

 must remember tliat the bees have e.x- 

 cellent olfactory organs, that the least 

 odor is noticed b.\- them. But thev are 



most attracted by the odor of the prod- 

 uct they consume — honey — as well as 

 by the odors of the hive, the smell of 

 old combs, the odor of the queen, etc. 

 So it is of some importance to give them 

 food which does not attract the neigh- 

 bors, for the colonies which need the 

 most nourishment are often the least 

 powerful and would be the most easily 

 robbed. On the other' hand, if inex- 

 perienced people think that by feeding 

 sugar syrup in spring we run risk of 

 causing adulteration, they may easily 

 be undeceived. The food given by a 

 careful bee-keeper will all be used up 

 before the beginning of the crop. Other- 

 wise he would have an unprofitable ac- 

 count on his hands. If he is in doubt 

 as to what he should do, let him only 

 supply the bees in their needs. 



.•\fter this preliminary statement con- 

 cerning spring feeding, I will take into 

 consideration the feeders in use, and 

 their qualities and defects, for no 

 feeder has yet been devised which is 

 exempt from defects. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Effect of the Pure Food Law 

 on Honey 



BY W. W. MCNEAL. 



The National Pure Food Law may 

 not mean so much to honey-producers, 

 after all, unless it is sufficient to save 

 them from their own follies. The adul- 

 teration of honey is a most culpable act, 

 no matter how it is done. But the de- 

 mand for honey will not be increased 

 materially, nor the price advanced, sim- 

 ply by curtailing the traffic in glucose. 

 It is commonly believed by consumers 

 that pure honey will not granulate, and 

 since glucose retards the natural tend- 

 ency of honey to candy, it follows, as 

 a matter of fact, that a compound of 

 that kind will be looked upon with bet- 

 ter favor than any article which shows 

 a disposition to granulate. The fight 

 for renewed integrity and better prices 

 must be waged more particularly 

 against adulteration with cane-sugar. 

 While the standard of conduct bee-keep- 

 ers hang up for themselves continues to 

 look bad under the lime-light, the pub- 

 lic will not take kindly to anything 

 that ma}- be said about pure honey 

 granulating. Honey-producers should 

 study their occupation more from the 

 standpoint of the consumer ; should see 

 themselves as others see them. 



The time has fully arrived for the 

 introduction of extracted honey in the 

 granulated form. But it will requirs 

 something more than the persuasive in- 

 fluence of a new law to convince an 

 incredulous public that some of the lies 

 told about manufactured honey are not 

 true. What does it avail one under 

 present conditions to produce a gilt-edge 

 article when such exceeding taste only 

 serves to confirm the belief of the con- 

 sumer that it was really manufactured? 

 It is lamentable that such a state of 

 affairs exists : and, moreover, that it 

 should foster slovenly habits in the pre- 

 paration of honey for market. But it 

 need not be so if the fraternity will act 

 in concert for the betterment of these 

 conditions. 



