18{j8 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



101 



Report of tlie Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Con- 



ventloH, Held in Chicago, Nov. 10 and 



11, 1897. 



REPORTED BY A SPECIAL BEE JOURNALOREPOKTER. 



(Continued from page 85.) 

 FIRST DAY— Evening Session. 



FEEDING BEES WHEN GATHING POLLEN, OR FOR STIMULATIVE 

 PURPOSES. 



" Is it profitable to feed bees as soon as they carry in 

 pollen ? 



Pres. Miller — How many have had experience in feeding 

 bees as soon as they carry in pollen in the spring ? [Three 

 had.] 



Mr. Green — I never tried it but once : that year it was 

 very successful, but was much trouble. I might say I fed at 

 that time by placing a case of candy under the hive, and there 

 was flour mixt with candy ; I never knew the bees to build 

 up so well, but it was troublesome and expensive. 



Dr. Besse — I have to feed as early as the bees fly readily, 

 whether they gather much pollen or not. I put my feeders 

 out in the yard. If it is warm weather enough so they can 

 have a little taste every day. It stimulates the queen to go 

 to laying sooner. I have practiced it for the last three or 

 four years. 



Mr. Baxter — I don't practice it any more ; I used to do it ; 

 as soon as the weather began to warm up in the spring I would 

 feed them a little before they began to gather pollen, so as to 

 induce them to breed ; and as they began to extend their 

 brood, and the weather was warm, I would move the frame of 

 brood over and put a frame of honey in between, that had no 

 brood in it, so as to force them to extend as fast as they could 

 take care of them ; the result was very favorable ; produced 

 very big crops that way. In 1889 I had 41 colonies fed 

 in that way that produced 23 barrels of honey, an average of 

 over 275 pounds to a colony ; one colony produced 600 

 pounds. My mother practiced it up to within three years ago ; 

 since that 1 have taken care of the bees, but she used to get a 

 great deal more honey to the number of colonies than I did 

 when I didij't do that. It is good, and it will pay. 



Mr. Whitcomb — That would depend entirely upon condi- 

 tions, it seems to me. In Nebraska there is no honey-flow 

 until Aug. 15, and then we get a couple hundred pounds after 

 that. I would not want to commence in the spring and 

 stimulate a colony. I watch the honey-flow, and about 80 

 days ahead of that I do the stimulating; the less bees you 

 have in the hive the better you are off until this flow comes in. 

 Conditions have a great deal to do with it when you have to 

 feed. 



Mr. Baxter — I agree there. I presume the question meant 

 where there was a white clover flow, of course. We are so 

 accustomed to have it all through the Mississippi valley ; we 

 base our assertions on that, I suppose. 



Pres. Miller — The plan in Germany is very popular; they 

 call it " speculative feeding " there. 



Mr. Baldridge — I would like to ask these persons how 

 they feed. 



Mr. Baxter — In the hive, always. My first feeder is 

 simply an oyster-can. Take a piece of flour-sack, put It over 

 the can, tie a string all around it, and put a little piece of wood 

 In to keep it as tight as possible. However, of late years I 

 have been using the Hill feeder, the end full of little holes. 



Mr. Green — The only feeding I ever did early in the sea- 

 sou was by candying ; but later in the season I have practiced 

 stimulative feeding considerable. I much prefer it to feeding 

 out-of-doors, unless there are too many bees in the neighbor- 

 hood. That is the most economical, and less laborious, and 

 stimulates all the bees much more than feeding in the hives. 



A Member — I have had a little experience in feeding bees, 

 following the advice given me, of putting the feed outside for 

 just an hour before sundown ; then the bees would not rob, 

 and only your own bees (if you have other bees in the neigh- 

 borhood) would get the honey. I fed them that way in the 

 spring and late in the fall the past season. I tried to induce 

 them again to rear some young bees, but I have several 



neighbors that have bees in my neighborhood, and I thought I 

 would see whether their bees noticed my feeding ; when I 

 camp over they were more lively than mine were, so I have 

 changed now, and am using an entrance-feeder. I have a 

 Mason fruit-jar placed in front of the hive, so that only bees 

 from the inside of the hive can get through, and none from 

 the outside. I like this better because I can put the feed into 

 the Mason fruit-jar, and do easier work than feeding outside. 



Mr. Wheeler — I don't believe out-door feeding is good 

 economy at all. Let your strong ones alone until such times 

 as they need it, and feed the weak ones. 



A Member — I differ from Mr. Wheeler. I believe in not 

 feeding the weak colonies at all. 



Mr. Rohrs — I believe in building up the weak colonies by 

 feeding the strong ones. 



Dr. Besse — J expect to make my money from spring colo- 

 nies. As early in tlie spring as I can I equalize them ; then I 

 use stimulating feeding, aud I saw the beneflt of it this year. 

 I produced more comb honey from my colonies than ever be- 

 fore. 



Mr. Rohrs — As I understand this, it Is stimulating feed- 

 ing, not feeding to keep alive, and therefore my practice is to 

 feed spring colonies ; those are the ones that want stimulat- 

 ing; the weak colonies have all they can take care off; you 

 want to stimulate the strong ones, and when the weak colo- 

 nies get strong, they can take care of more brood, then it is 

 time to begin feeding them. You must be careful ; it requires 

 judgment if it is done properly. 



Mr. Baldridge— 1 don't feed any, and don't believe in it 

 now; I have plenty of honey in my hives, and find the colo- 

 nies get strong enough to swarm about May 20, without any 

 feeding; if I had 20 colonies, and 10 were somewhat weak 

 and 10 very strong, I would simply exchange places at the 

 proper time. I should prefer to do it in the middle of the 

 day, when they are at work. 



Mr. Baxter — That will equalize them, but not stimulate 

 them. I have never found a colony yet that was too strong 

 for me. 



Mr. Baldridge — I don't claim the colonies can get too 

 strong. I claim that the best way Is to equalize them, and 

 make them all strong. There should not be any weak ones 

 when the honey harvest begins, and there will not be if you 

 follow that plan. 



Mr. Baxter — I am afraid to practice that again. I have 

 lost queens in just that way. 



Pres. Miller — The question is about feeding in the spring 

 to stimulate. 



Mr. Baldridge — I wish to say I have practiced this JO 

 years in large apiaries. 



Mr. Wheeler — I have lost many queens that way. If you 

 change hives in the spring you will have trouble ; it comes the 

 time just before the white clover flow, and if a queen is lost 

 then swarming begins, and they are thrown clear out. It Is 

 all right to experiment with a few, but I would not go at it by 

 the wholesale. 



Pres. Miller — Perhaps we must take this Into considera- 

 tion, that what is safe under certain circumstances may not 

 be safe under others. Mr. Bildridge kept bees and workt at 

 it before most of us knew anything about it — certainly before 

 I did — and what might be perfectly safe with him might 

 not be safe with others, because he would be on his guard as 

 to the dangers of the situation. 



NU.MBER OF COLONIES AND SIZE OF CROP. 



" How many colonies has each member, and what has 

 been his crop this year ( 1897) ?" 



Mr. Thompson — Spring count 15 colonies, increast to 17, 

 and harvested 400 pounds of comb honey and 800 of ex- 

 tracted. 



Mr. Kennan — Spring count, 4, increast to 7, and secured 

 450 pounds of comb honey. 



Mr. Rohrs — Spring count, 24, now 4S ; and got a'bout 

 2,300 pounds of extracted honey. 



Mr. Kreutzinger — 102, spring count, 143 at present; 

 5,000 pounds of comb honey, and a small quantity of ex- 

 tracted. 



Mr. Green — I had about 90 colonies in the spring, and 

 about 140 now. I took about 12,000 pounds of honey, half 

 comb and half extracted. 



Mr. York — I had four colonies in the spring; Increast 

 to 8, and had 400 pounds of sweet clover comb honey. My 

 apiary is right in the city. 



Mr. Wheeler— Spring count 370, and at present 458. I 

 took 6,000 pounds of comb honey and 18,000 of extracted. 

 I have six apiaries. 



Mr. Baldridge — 16 colonies In the spring, and 30 now. I 

 don't know how much honey, but I know of about 400 pounds 



