1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



691 



The above suggestions are excellent, es- 

 pecially the item about making the syrup 

 miite thick and then diluting it as it is used. 

 We often have made syrup stand over from 

 late in the fall till spring ; and where it is 

 made very thin, even if it dees not sour, it 

 changes so as to have a sort of brackish 

 taste. Now is the time to make your syrup 

 and do your feeding, if it has not been done 

 already. I should use nothing cheaper than 

 granulated sugar. 



FEEDING AKD EEEDEES. 



A FEEDER MADE AS A PERMANENT FIXTURE, OR A 

 PART OF THE BBE-HIVE. 



S feeding bees really essential in successful api- 

 cultui'e? I for one wish it were not; but to me 

 it seems that, however much we may be op- 

 posed to it, and although we might question the 

 advisability of stimulative feeding at certain 

 times, yet we must admit, that there will be times 

 when there will be no choice, but either to feed our 

 bees or else lose our colony. I have a feeder to offer 

 that to me seems an indispensable requisite where 

 one feeds to any extent. If you have only a few 

 hives it does not make so much difference; but if 

 you intend keeping over 50 colonies you will re- 

 quire a feeder that will consume the least possible 

 time in feeding-. 



The feeder 1 am about to describe is more practic- 

 able for those who make their own hives; but even 

 those who have all the hives made they require, can 

 accommodate this feeder by making a double front 

 to their hives, or having it in connection with the 

 winter cases that many use with their single-walled 

 hives. There must be a double-walled hive, or at 

 least a double wall on one side or front, so that the 

 feeder itself is in this dead-air or chaff' space, and 

 the double wall forms the sides of the feeder, so all 

 that is necessary to do is to put in a strip of wood 

 the exact width of the space allowed; this can form 

 the bottom of the feeder, and then place another, 

 about four inches above this, to form the top of 

 your feeder, if your hive is on the short side, then 

 the feeder can extend clear across, and the corner 

 post of your hive form the ends of the feeder. A 

 space one inch wide, with a gi-oove along the sides 

 for the bees to walk on while sipping the feed, and an 

 ^8-inch strip down the center for the same purpose, 

 and about 13 in. long and 4 in. high will hold about 

 3 lbs. Of course, you can make it much larger than 

 this if you wish; but in my opinion there is no par- 

 ticular advantage in having it much larger, as this 

 does either for stimulating or for winter feeding. I 

 look on it in this way : That if you have somewhei-e 

 about 100 colonies you would be able to feed nearly 

 as fast as you could get the syrup ready, and it is a 

 very easy matter to feed three or four times in the 

 24 hours. Having your feeder made in the way de- 

 scribed, you then make an entrance to it for the 

 bees, just underneath the regular entrance, so that 

 the bees have to come part way out of the main en- 

 trance, and then go up into the feeder. By having 

 the entrance to the feeder made at one end of the 

 regular entrance you can then place your entrance- 

 block on that end of the entrance where the open- 

 ing to the feeder is. This better controls the 

 ■warmth, and protects it entii'ely from i-obber-bees. 

 If you wish to close it at any time, all you need do 

 Is to place a small piece of lath in the entrance to 



the hive. The next part is to bore a Ji-inch auger- 

 hole slanting into the feeder through the outer wall 

 of the side of the hive, in which to put the funnel 

 when wishing to feed. This is kept closed by a plug 

 of some kind. I find a piece of cloth about as good 

 as any, or, bettor still, this wrapped around a corJc 

 or piece of wood. With this you can feed .50 colo- 

 nies for stimulating purposes in twenty minutes— 

 you can feed at any time. My occupation compels 

 me to frequently feed at night, or in the rain; but 

 with this feeder there is no difficulty. If at night, 

 by hanging a lantern on your arm you can fe«,>d 

 them nearly as fast as you can walk along. 



I have ICO feeders similar to this cup, holding 

 about Ji lb.; the entrance is, however, near the top; 

 but with a large feeder this would draw too much 

 upon the heat from the hive. I intend making 

 about 80 the coming winter, and will make them as 

 above described, to hold about 3 lbs. They will then 

 do for stimulating, or for feeding for winter stores. 



Let me anticipate some of the objections that will 

 arise in the minds of many of the readers of this 

 article. Some will probably say, " If I must have a 

 double wall to accommodate a feeder, then I will 

 never have a feeder." 



To this I would say, that a double-walled hive is 

 worth all the extra expense in making it, and, feed- 

 er or no feeder, cellar or no cellar, I want every 

 hive to be made of 9-16-inch lumber for the sides, 

 with space for chaff' or dead air. With the lumber 

 of the above thickness, no rabbeting is required; 

 for by placing the strip that covers this chaff Or 

 dead-air space U in. above the sides, you have a ledge 

 for the frames on the inside, and a similar one for 

 the cover on the outside. The hive can be made 

 with single boards at the ends, as two division- 

 boards will make them double, so in reality it is 

 very little heavier or larger than a single wall, and 

 yet sufficient protection for the sudden changes in 

 temperature, and also when being first removed 

 from the cellar in the spring. Then again some might 

 suppose that it would be difficult to keep it from 

 leaking. In answer to this I would say, that all that 

 is necessary is to have your corner post, or the ends 

 of the feeder, the bottom and top thereof, to be all 

 exactly the same thickness, which is easily done by 

 cutting them all from the same board, and then just 

 before nailing together, paint the strips with a thick 

 coat of white lead in oil; and then after the nailing 

 is done and paint dry, pour in some hot beeswax and 

 allow it to run around the joints, and you will have 

 a feeder that will not leak, and that will last as long 

 as your hive. I will now enumerate some of the ad- 

 vantages of this feeder. 



1. No feeder to arrange on the hive when requir- 

 ing to feed. 



3. No feeder to remove when feeding is done. 



3. No feeder to remove when wishing to examine 

 the hive. 



4. No distui-bing the cushion, or less of heat from 

 the hive, but, on the contrary, is waimed by the 

 waste heat from the hive. ' i 



5. No cover to remove, thug enabling you to feed 

 in one-fourth the time generally required with or- 

 dinary feeders. 



6. You can feed at any time, whether rain or sun- 

 shine, dark or light. 



7. You have the benefit of a double wall during 

 cold or changeable weather. 



8. The actual cost is less than many feeders in 

 use. 



