FEBRUARY 15, 1914 



147 



brood that will be present at that time in 

 all strong colonies. 



One other point that leads me to see the 

 utter uselessnpss of early spring feeding is 

 this : In my experience, colonies that are 

 weak in the sjoring, and yet have a good 

 queen, always have all the brood they can 



care for, but are likely to be short in bees. 

 If stimulative feeding is for the purpose 

 implied by its name, lo cause the queen to 

 lay more freely, what good will this extra 

 laying do if the bees already have all the 

 brood they can care for? 

 Mt. Joy, Ontario, Can. 



SOME DIFFERENT IDEAS ON SPRING FEEDING COMPARED 



Feeding the Entire Amount Necessary, at One Time. 



BY E. S. MILES 



The subject of spring feeding is, perhaps, 

 one that is about as little understood, and 

 one about which there are as many diiferent 

 opinions as any question connected with our 

 pursuit. Who has not heard the mysterious 

 phrase " stimulative feeding," and who 

 can say positively just what it means? One 

 will tell you confidently that, if you feed a 

 little syrup each day through early spring, 

 even when the l)ees have plenty of honey in 

 the hive, you will always have strong colo- 

 nies for the harvest. Another will contend 

 earnestly that, if you see that your colonies 

 have an abundance in the fall — so much, 

 indeed, that they will under no condition of 

 weather run short, you will always have 

 strong colonies for the harvest; and while 

 you are turning these statements over in 

 your mind, hopeful, perhaps, of an ultimate 

 reconciliation, a third steps up and asks, 

 " Did you ever see bees breed as they do 

 when there is a nice flow from fruit bloom, 

 and they have plenty of empty comb ? " 

 Now, these three statements do seem at vari- 

 ance at first thought ; but, like many things 

 we hear, there is truth in all, and the whole 

 truth is there in the three propositions. 

 There is, however, a little error mixed in 

 the truth of these statements. (How a little 

 error does hinder one from seeing the 

 truth!) So if we are to get at the truth in 

 this, as in any thing, we must begin by 

 eliminating the error. 



Experience has shown that, given a good 

 colony of bees in a suitable hive, with good 

 combs and an abundance of stores, so much 

 that the bees will not use them all, no matter 

 how bad the spring should be, they will 

 breed up for the harvest. If this is true, 

 there is an error in the fii-st statement, and 

 the bees build up, not because of the daily 

 feeding, as claimed in it. but in spite of it. 



But what of the question of a good flow 

 and plenty of empty combs? Do not under- 

 stand us as claiming the bees will build up 

 under any circumstances, without all the 

 comb tlie queen needs being available: and 

 as we all know that empty comb alone will 



not be sufficient to enable the bees to build 

 up, it follows that 'A must be the flow, or, in 

 other words, the feed. This brings us to the 

 conclusion that we can do no better than to 

 have a good colony with plenty of food, and 

 leave it alone through early spring. 



But another question arises : Suppose, 

 through some misfortune, we find ourselves 

 with colonies not in this ideal condition. 

 Can we feed them after the manner of the 

 natural flow? If so, how? I have done 

 considerable feeding of bees, and under al- 

 most all conditions of colonies and circum- 

 stances of weather; and my experience thus 

 gained has shown that it is impossible to 

 obtain by feeding as good results as come 

 from a natural flow. A little reflection will 

 show why this is so. ^The necessity for 

 feeding in spring arises almost invariably 

 from bad weather, and bad weather aggra- 

 vates the troubles of feeding. On this ac- 

 count, no doubt, we have found it difficult 

 even to approximate, by feeding in bad 

 weather, the results of a natural flow. 



We have always observed that, when bees 

 are fed, and especially the first time when 

 they are short of stores, it creates a great 

 excitement among them. If it is daylight 

 they rush from the hive in great numbers, 

 and without noticing, apparently, where 

 they came from or where they were going. 

 In bad weather, no doubt, many never re- 

 turn. If this is repeated day after day, is it 

 any wonder the colony does not increase in 

 strength? If we wait for good weather the 

 colony may starve, and we would feed in 

 any weather rather than allow that. 



But if the ideal spring condition is, to 

 quote an eminent authority, " Millions of 

 honey at our house," and if from any cause 

 we find ourselves short of this, why not 

 bring it about by feeding enough at one 

 time? 



It may not be possible to do this by syrup 

 feeding in the case of weak colonies; but 

 with good fair colonies it is quite practica- 

 ble. It must be mentioned in this connec- 

 tion that we have no use for anv feeder 



