1907 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FEEDING IN MIDAVINTER. 



95 



How it Saved an Apiary: Some Interesting 

 and Valnable Experiments; Good Can- 

 dy as a AMnter Food. 



BY DR. D. E. LYON. 



I As we were conductins? some experiments in mid- 

 winter feeding, we requested our " long-arm corres- 

 pondent," Dr. Lyon, to conduct a similar series, add- 

 ing we would pay him for any colonies that he might 

 kill in the operation. The results that he gives here 

 are very interesting as well as valuable, and we feel 

 sure our readers will peruse it with unusual care. -Ed. ] 



The purpose of this article is to give the 

 results of some experiments made last year 

 in winter feeding, and to offer suggestions 

 concerning the method of feeding. The api- 

 ary fed was made up of 60 colonies, the re- 

 sult of artificial increase, the same having 

 been built up from ten weak colonies, spring 

 count. 



The divisions were headed by young queens 

 introduced at once at the time of division, l)y 

 aid of tobacco smoke, and each small nucleus 

 was allowed to shift for itself as far as feed- 

 ing was concerned. 



The season was a fair one, and by Sept. 

 10th each of the 60 nuclei had built up to a fair- 

 ly strong colony with full sets of comb which 

 they had drawn from full sheets of foundation, 

 but with less than 10 lbs. of honey to the col- 

 ony. 



Feeders of the Miller type were filled with 

 about 35 lbs. of good thick syrup, and each 

 colony took up about this amount. 



By the way, the writer had the Root Co. 

 make his feeders to order, and I am convinc- 

 ed that the slight change was a big improve- 

 ment. The feeders were made of |-inch 

 wood, so that they would not warp: and the 

 outside divisions were such that the feeder 

 fitted Hush with the outside of the hive all 

 around. When placed on tlie hive it looked 

 exactlj^ like a shallow super, and over it the 

 hive-lid was placed, which could be slid from 



Fig. 2,— Hard candy in position with the prepared 

 ready to setidown over the hive. 



Fig. 1.— Placing the cake of hard candy over the 

 frames. 



one side to the other without the escape of a 

 bee or of a bee falling into the syrup. 



Feeding was over in a few days, and bees 



fixed for the fall and winter, and the outlook 



was favoraljie for l)ees going over till spring. 



The writer was called away for several weeks 



on a lecturing-tour, and did not have 



a chance to see the bees until the mid- 



lUe of December. 



The fall months were very warm, the 

 % bees very active thereby, and, in con- 

 fl sequence of warmth and activity, con- 

 ^ sumed all the syrup that had been fed 

 them, and thus "on Decetuber 23d, as I 

 examined the hives by lifting the ends 

 I was alarmed to find that not a col- 

 ony had more than 8 to 5 lbs. of stores, 

 and the most of the winter l)efore them. 

 To feed syrup in a wholesale manner 

 was entirely out of the question, as I 

 tried it on a few colonies and found 

 the weather too cold for the bees to 

 take it, and I was confronted by the 

 possible loss of my entire apiary unless 

 some plan could' be devised to feed 

 them. 



COLONIES FED IN WINTER WITH HARD 

 CANDY. 



As an experiment, ten colonies were 

 fed each a cake of hard candy, made 



