1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



WHEN TO FEED. 



Although colonies have been wintered 

 well when fed after cold or freezing weath- 

 «er. I think much the safer plan is to have it 

 -<ill done during warm dry weather, that tliey 

 may have it all ripened and thoroughly 

 sealed up. If you have been so careless as 

 to have bees that are in need of stores, at 

 the beginning of winter, I would advise 

 frames of sealed honey if you can get them, 

 and if you cannot, use candy, which see. 

 If the candy is covered up with warm chaff 

 cushions or something equivalent, it may 

 i)e fed at any time, although it does not 

 yeem to be as satisfactory under all circum- 

 stances as stores sealed iip in their combs. 



In feeding in cool or cold weather, you are 

 very apt to uncover the cluster, or leave 

 openings that will permit the warmth from 

 the cluster to pass off. I have several times 

 Siad colonies die in the spring after I com- 

 suenced feeding, and I imagined it was from 

 this cause alone. When tliey first commence 

 raising brood in the spring, they need to be 

 packed up closely and snugly; making a 

 hole in tlie quilt or cushions above the clus- 

 ter, and placing the feeder over this so as to 

 close it completely, does very well, but is not 

 after all, as safe jis giving the feed from be- 

 low ; for feeding in early sjjring, especially 

 if the stock is weak, I would prefer the can- 

 «lv. or well tilled combs of sealed stores. 



Since the above was written, we have had 

 quite an August drouth, and it has given 

 Jue an opportunity of making a farther test 

 <tf th« different modes of feeding for the 

 purpose of inducing brood rearing, and of 

 keeping colonies from starving. Plenty of 

 l)ollen Avas to be had from the corn fields, 

 though but little, if any honey. Old stocks 

 hung idly a great part of the day, in and on 

 the hives, and nuclei either ceased rearing 

 l)rood entirely, or reared very little. Many 

 of the queens stopped laying entirely. At 

 this stage a little feed during the night 

 Mould start the queens laying wonderfully, 

 and the fed colony ^^ould rush to the fields 

 for pollen in a way that demonstrated at 

 once that feeding at sucli a time, was a very 

 profitable investment, if one wished to build 

 up weak stocks and nuclei. A stock that 

 liad been fed a half teacupful only, would 

 go out for pollen an hour earlier than the 

 others, and would bring in double the quan- 

 tity. A still smaller quantity, will set them 

 to building out foundation most beautifully, 

 and I never in my life saw the work in the 

 hive go on so satisfactorily, as it did during 



the hot dry, dusty days, under the influence 

 of a very moderate amount of feeding du- 

 ring the night. I take great pleasure in 

 giving you a feeder, that I think in several 

 respects, rather ahead of the former one. 



Get a piece of pine, or other light soft 

 wood, two inches thick by three wide, and 

 about a foot long ; with a buzz saw set wab- 

 bling, plougli grooves in it, three in number 

 as sliown in the following engraving. 



BEE-FEEDER. 



We have shown it turned over on one side, 

 that you may see the way in which the 

 grooves are sawed out, so as to leave two 

 thin partitions through the middle. The 

 holes from one partition to the other are to 

 allow all three of the apartments to fill uit 

 at once, that the danger of running them 

 over when filling may be avoided. I con- 

 fess when I made the first one, I was a little 

 fearful, that ths bees would drown in 

 them after all, but when I saw how they 

 clung to the wood as they sipped the honey, 

 I had no fear, and after a trial of them for 

 several weeks with all kinds of feed, all the 

 way from sweetened water, to syrup as thick 

 as tar, all kinds of candied honey, sugar and 

 water stirred up hastily in all proportions, 

 &c., I have yet to see a single dead bee in a 

 feeder. They may be used inside the hive, 

 in the upper story, before the entrance, or 

 where you choose. 



They are always emptied in a twinkling, 

 and with perfect safety to the bees. Where 

 we are building up stocks, we set them in 

 the hive, close to tlie division board. For a 

 full colony, we set them just before the en- 

 trance ; if the hive has blocks and a portico, 

 set them across from one entrance block to 

 the other. In this case tiiey may remain 

 there as long as you are feeding. All you 

 have to do is to go round with your coffee 

 pot of feed just at dusk, and fill them up: 

 you can not drown a bee, even if they are 

 crowded into the feeder when you pour it 

 in. Pour it right on their backs, and all 

 over them ; they will like it all the better 

 that way. For feeding the two frame nu- 

 clei — see (^UEEN REAKrNCi — set the feeder 

 on the end of the shelf, in front of the en- 



