1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



403 



FEEDING SYRUP IN ZERO WEATHER. 



Hot Bricks to Raise Temiierature of Hives. 



BY W. B. RANSON. 



As this subject is now on in Gleanings, 

 and experiments ai'e being t-onducted by 

 yourself, I offer this little item. I have gone 

 all along the ground covered by Dr. Lyon, 

 p. 95, and failed; but by a different method 

 I have succeeded admirably, and for the good 

 of bee-keepers I offer the method as follows: 



Take an escape-boai'd and a Miller feeder. 

 Take out the escape and daub a little honey 

 around the opening and also on the beeway 

 up the feeder. Place the feeder over the 

 opening in the board and fill it with honey 

 and syrup, and on each outside of the feeder 

 place a piece of thin board 18 in. long, and 

 wide enough to come i inch above the top of 



ny. Results, in less than 26 minutes the 

 colony will be on a regular summer-time 

 move. The bricks keep the feed and hive 

 hot, and the carpets hold the heat until the 

 excitement of the bees gets up and keeps the 

 hive hot for about 24 hours. Now, this can 

 all be done i)i zero temperatures, and the 

 one feed will save the colony, as no other 

 feeding will be necessary ^:)ro^;w/efZ the feeder 

 holds enough, as it will all be stored in the 

 combs before the hive cools off and the bees 

 quiet down, when the fixtures can be ar- 

 ranged as before the work was done. 



I have for several years practiced this, and 

 have not lost one colony so treated, and that, 

 too, with the loss of very few bees caused by 

 feeding in mid-winter. 



New River Depot, Va., Jan. 26. 



[Your plan of mid-winter feeding does in- 

 volve, after all, considerable work. It will 

 not be an easy job to heat up some twelve 



BENJAMIN PAINE'S APIARY AND ORCHARD AT ROSWELL, IDAHO. 



the feeder, and six or eight strips of wood | 

 thick, 12 in. long, placed across on top of 

 the edges of the boards on the sides of the 

 feeder. Take this to the colony to be fed, 

 and first put wire cloth, six meshes to the 

 inch, over the entrance, and quietly remove 

 the cover and put the board and feeder on. 

 Now put two empty supers on; and on the 

 strips across over the feeder, place 12 or 16 

 bricks just hot enough not to set the hive on 

 fire, and put the cover on top and spread 

 two pieces of carpet over all, large enough 

 to come to the ground and over the entrance. 

 To keep it as dark as possible, put a large 

 piece of roofing iron on to shed water in 

 case of rain, and rocks and bricks on the 

 bottom edges of the carpets plentifully, in 

 case of high wind, and the job is done with. 

 The feed prepared, and bricks hot, it takes 

 only about three minutes' work to the colo- 



or fifteen bricks, and then convey them to 

 the hive that is to be fed. If there were to 

 be several colonies so treated it would take 

 quite a little time. Our correspondents have 

 reported favorably regarding the use of hard 

 candy made of granvilated sugar and water. 

 As this gives excellent results it would seem 

 to involve considerably less labor. — Ed.] 



AN APIARY IN AN ORCHARD; HONEY VINE- 

 GAR. 



I am sending you a photo of our bee-yard 

 with myself and wife standing among the 

 bees. With 60 colonies, spring count, they 

 increased to 95. We sold $557.80 worth of 

 honey, besides what we used for ourselves, 

 and made a barrel of vinegar, worth $15. 



Roswell, Idaho. Benj. Paine. 



