1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1087 



back end for filling the feeders, see Fig. 2. 

 There is also a framework of slats, length- 

 wise of the feeder, and ol the same depth, 

 standing on edge about | inch apart, for the 

 bees to travel over while working in the feed- 

 ers, so that no bees will be drowned. The 



FIG. 2. — DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE 



QUINBY FEEDER AS USED BY 



J E. HAND. 



feeder rests square on the bottom-board, and 

 the hive rests square on the feeder except 

 the 2^ inches at the back end, which is cov- 

 ered by a little board. The bees can not get 

 into the place where the feed is poured in, 

 and the feed flows evenly under all parts of 

 the hive, where it will be quickly taken up 

 by the bees. 



This feeder will hold six quarts; and after 

 using it quite extensively for feeding back we 

 do not hesitate to pronounce it by far the best 

 one that has yet come to our notice, and we 

 doubt if it can be improved. 



A PROLIFIC QUEEN NECESSARY TO SUCCESS 

 IN FEEDING BACK. 



Next to the feeder, perhaps our success or 

 failure depends upon the queen more than 

 on any other one thing. Indeed, we are not 

 sure but that more depends upon the queen 

 than upon the feeder; for we have never been 

 able to make a success in feeding back with 

 a colony having a poor worn-out queen, even 

 with the best of feeders; while we have had 

 fair success with a good queen and a poor 

 feeder. 



We have stated elsewhere in these articles, 

 and we repeat it here, that bees will not do 

 satisfactory work in sections over a brood- 

 chamber crowded with honey. The queen 

 must be able to hold her own against any 

 amount of heavy feeding. This is why we 

 prefer a young queen. We have had queens 

 that would hold our shallow brood-sections 

 against heavy feeding for six weeks, and fin- 

 ish hundreds of se(-tions without allowing 

 the brood-chamber to become crowded with 

 honey, simply because it was kept full of 



brood. A colony having such a queen will 

 always give good results in feeding back. 

 By selecting the queens for breeders that 

 produce bees that cap their honey the whit- 

 est, we have been able to improve our bees 

 greatly in this respect. We breed for quali- 

 ty, and would use a black queen for a breed- 

 er if she possessed the necessary qualities. 

 Color cuts no figure with us. Handsome is 

 that handsome does is our motto in selecting 

 a breeding-queen. 



A CONTRACTED BROOD CHAMBER FOR FEED- 

 ING BACK 



Having decided upon our feeder and queen 

 the next thing to be considered is the hive. 

 It is necessary to resort to extreme contrac- 

 tion of the brood-chamber in feeding back; 

 for unless the brood-chamber is small the 

 queen will not be able to keep it filled with 

 brood; hence we would have our feed stored 

 in the brood-chamber instead of in the sec- 

 tions. We use one section of our brood- 

 chamber, which is of about the capacity of 

 four L. frames, and spreads the brood out 

 evenly under all parts of the super. It is 

 true that we can use a full-depth frame, and 

 contract by means of dummies; however, we 

 have not been able to get satisfactory work 

 done in sections over dummies, and our time 

 is too fully occupied to permit of handling 

 them. We have found that an eight-frame 

 brood-section five inches deep will give best 

 results in feeding back; and as our sections 

 are nearly full of honey, no queen-excluder 

 is used. If there were very much pollen be- 

 ing gathered at the time we were feeding 

 back, we would use two brood-sections and 

 two queens. We have had good success in 

 feeding back in this way. However, we sel- 

 dom have any trouble from pollen. 



Another very important factor to be con- 

 sidered in finishing off sections over a feed- 

 er is the brood-combs, for the bees have a 

 habit of incorporating bits of wax from the 

 brood-combs into the cappings of the sec- 

 tions; and if the combs are old and black, 

 our sections will look dirty and soiled or 

 travel-stained, which would bar our product 

 from the fancy grade; hence we vmst have 

 neiv white combs in our brood-section. It is 

 also very desirable to have as many young 

 bees as possible in our feeding colonies, for 

 young bees are considered best for comb- 

 building. Having our shallow brood-section 

 of white brood-combs, and a strong force of 

 mostly young bees with a vigorous young 

 queen, and a feeder holding six quarts of 

 feed, and that will spread out the feed even- 

 ly under all parts of the hive, we may pro- 

 ceed to finish off our partly filled sections 

 with every assurance of success. 



We have described our method of feeding 

 back at considerable length for the purpose 

 of impressing upon the minds of those who 

 would make a success along this line the ne- 

 cessity of starting right, and then using the 

 same judgment and common sense that are 

 essential to success along other industrial 

 lines. 



