GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



COMBINATION HIVE^BOTTOM AND FEEDER 



BY WILLIAM BEUCUS 



For a long time I had wished for a feeder 

 free from the objectionable features of the 

 feeders now offered for sale by the supply 

 houses. The Miller I tried; in fact, there 

 are now in the atlie some twenty of these 

 which will never be used again. The objec- 

 tions to this feeder are: It is made of wood 

 and gets leaky; it must have a super to go 

 liermanently with it, which is expensive, or 

 a super must be emptied to be used, which 

 requires expenditure of time and labor; and, 

 when used in cool weather, a weak or only 

 fairly strong colony will not go up after the 

 feed. 



The Boardman feeder is not large enough. 

 The bees will not take the feed in cool 

 weather; and every time it is used it must 

 be hunted up and afterward put away again. 



The Doolittle feeder is made of wood, and 

 gets leaky. It is too small to be used for 

 feeding for winter, and the hive must be 

 opened to get the feed in. Lastly, like other 

 feeders, it must be removed and stored 

 away. 



The Alexander feeder is too small, but it 

 is in the right place. It is not, however, a 

 permanent part of the hive, and it is made 

 of wood. It will get leaky. 



The pepper-box feeder — well, let's not 

 mention it. 



I desired to have a feeder which would 

 till certain requirements. It must not be 

 made of wood, thus preventing leakage. It 

 must be large enough to feed up for winter 

 at a single feed, if necessary. It must be a 

 permanent part of the hive — always in place. 

 It must be placed where bees will most likely 

 leach the feed. 



An article in Gleanings by J. E. Hand, 

 describing his large pan feeder, adopted 

 fi'om Quinby, gave me an idea which was 



Fig. 1.- — Beucus' feeder and hive-bottom with 

 entrance-contracting block in place. 



developed into the combination hive-bottom 

 and feeder illustrated herewith. 



Fig. 3i^Feeder and float entirely removed, revealing the deep space 

 under bottom-bars, 



Fig. 2. — The feeder-pan pulled out to show the 

 float. 



The bottom is a simple shallow chamber, 

 2% inches deep, with the front removable, 

 as shown in Fig. 3. In Fig, 1 the notched 

 adjustable entrance piece, with wire netting 

 underneath; is shown 

 in place. It is far 

 ahead of the old-fash- 

 ioned entrance-blocks, 

 which are always get- 

 ting lost. 



In Fig. 2 is shown 

 the feeder, a pan 14 x 

 17 inches, and also its 

 float. The tin cover is 

 used to bring a small 

 quantity of feed up 

 close to the frames for 

 a vei'y weak colony. 

 To put feed into either 

 the cover or the feed- 

 er it is not necessary 

 to draw out the pan. 

 Just insert a small 

 Iiose at the entrance 

 and pour the desired 



