420 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr, 15 



colonies, and at an out-apiary for over 15 

 years, and have found nothing equal to the 

 queen-trap. I consider the trap described 

 in Gleanings for Aug. 15, 1904, a great im- 

 provement. 



In answer to numerous correspondents I 

 will say that I will make up a limited num- 

 ber for sale. It is probable that the Root 

 Co. will manufacture them. There are no 

 patents; but it is best to get at least a pat- 

 tern. C. H. DiBBERN. 



Milan, 111., Jan. 11. 



[It has been our practice to use both the 

 clipped-wing plan and the drone-trap. When 

 convenient to do so early in the season, when 

 a colony is not strong we clip. If for any 

 reason there was no clipping, and we are 

 just on the eve of the swarming season, 

 when the colonies are overflowing with bees, 

 making it difficult and tedious to find queens, 

 we clap on the drone-traps. Unless it is to 

 repress undesirable drones we prefer to clip 

 when we can. — Ed.] 



A HOME-MADE OUTDOOR FEEDER. 



BY S. G. KILGORE. 



I send you a sketch of an outdoor feeder 

 of my own design that I use for stimulative 

 feeding. It combines some of the principles 

 of the Miller, Simplicity, and Manum feed- 

 ers. To make, take a common 12-lb. ship- 

 ping-case; knock off the two glass sides and 

 replace with a piece i\ inch thick, same size 

 as sides. Then cut four pieces the same 



thickness, and place two on each side on the 

 inside so there will be two spaces for the 

 feed to come up in, each | inch wide. In 

 putting these boards in they should be i inch 

 from the bottom of the box. Run melted 

 paraffine around on the inside of the box to 

 stop any leaks, and to keep syrup from 

 soaking into the wood; and, lastly, put on a 

 cover with a small hole in the top with a 

 button to cover it, and our feeder is com- 

 plete. No bees can drown in this feeder, 

 and it holds much more than the Simplicity. 

 When it needs refilling push the button 

 back; put in the funnel, and fill. I feed up 

 till clover blooms, and never have robbing. 



For larger feeder I use a 24-lb. case with 

 three troughs for feed. 



CLEATS FOR HAND-HOLES IN SUPERS. 



I like the Dovetailed hive; but why don't 

 you put molding hand-hole cleats on supers 

 as well as on the brood-nest? There is more 

 heavy lifting in handhng supers full of comb 

 honey than hive-bodies ; and I think they 

 would be appreciated by a large majority of 

 your customers. 



FULL SHEETS FOR THE TWO INSIDE FRAMES 

 AT LEAST. 



The Hoffman frames are all right; but I find 

 with me when I use only a starter or small 

 strip of foundation the bees almost always 

 bulge the combs. I think it is just as they 

 get started on the first comb. If the first 

 comb is built crooked they will build the 

 rest the same. Therefore I think that any 

 bee-keeper who can't afford full sheets in all 

 the frames should use, say, full sheets in the 

 two center frames, and narrow strips in the 

 rest, which would give one a set of straight 

 combs. 



COMBS BUILT IN SPACE BEHIND DIVISION- 

 BOARD. 



I had trouble last season with my bees 

 building comb in the space behind the divi- 

 sion-board. If I contract for comb honey, 

 some colonies will fill this space full before 

 going into the supers. What is the cause 

 of and remedy for this ? 



London, O., Feb. 1. 



[The feeder described and shown is virtu- 

 ally Dr. Miller's feeder adapted for use out- 

 doors. This was described in this journal 

 some ten or twelve years ago. But the fact 

 that it is old in design or construction does 

 not, of course, signify that it does not have 

 real merit, but, rather, quite the contrary, 

 for this same feeder has continued clear on 

 since that time, and has been advertised in 

 some of the supply catalogs. 



We do not supply cleats for hand-holes in 

 supers, for two reasons. First, supers are 

 lighter in the height of the honey- fiow than 

 a brood- nest of double the capacity; second, 

 many of the supers are put under a cap or 

 outer case; and if hand- hole cleats were 

 used they would interfere with this cap. 



If you do not fill up the back space of the 

 division-board with extra dummies, the bees 

 will, in all probability, if contraction is car- 

 ried too far, fill such spaces with comb in- 

 stead of going up into the supers. But con- 

 traction should not be carried much further, 

 as a rule, than the thickness of one two- 

 inch division-board in an eight-frame hive. 

 It is wrong in theory and practice to leave 

 any vacant space thicker than a bee-space 

 in the brood-nest in which the bees can 

 store comb. Generally speaking, an eight- 

 frame hive should not be contracted at all. 

 The colonies that do much in the production 

 of comb honey ought to be strong enough to 

 fill out the entire hive without dummies. 

 Excessive contraction has long since been 

 proven to be a mistake. — Ed.] 



I 



