ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



95 



hive. Do you mean to saj^ you have 

 bees, and you put comb in there, and 

 they won't touch it? 



Mr. Thompson — They will clean it 

 up, ibut not take all the honey out of 

 the" cells. 



Dr. Miller — That is quite possible; 

 some times they will clean it up and fill 

 the cells; put more in than you have in 

 it. If you get them to fill that up, and 

 clean it up, and still there is room in 

 it, you can spray it again. If they 

 keep filling it in with some comb — 

 what more do you want? 



Mr. Thompson — If the bees handle 

 the syrup, it is all right; it would not 

 do for winter stores, as a rule, as you 

 prepare it. 



Dr. Miller — Yes, I had some combs 

 melted, put in that way. 



Mr. (Hluffman — I handed in that ques-, 

 tion; I wanted to see what experience 

 others had. I believe I can give you a 

 better remedy. Take a can full of 

 syrup; hold the comb at an angle of 

 about 45 degrees; take a dipper and 

 pour that syrup over the comh, and 

 you will fill every cell, invariably; 

 turn it over on the other side, and do 

 the same with that; go around the, 

 edges, and in less time than I am 

 taking to tell it, you can fill the comb. 

 Then have a place and let it hang 

 there, and let it drain, and you have 

 your combs filled as well as the bees 

 can fill them. I filled hundreds of 

 combs in that way; but, of course, 

 you should feed in the evening, when 

 you won't excite the bees to robbing. 



Dr. tBohrer — Do you advise giving 

 feed to them that way at night? 



Mr. Huffman — Always, especially in 

 the spring of the year. 



Dr. Bohrer — I notice that some do 

 their feeding of bees at all hours of 

 the day; it is much better, I think, to 

 feed them at night; then the bees are 

 better to clean up and have things in 

 better shajpe in the morning. A pep- 

 per-ibox feeder is a good way to feed 

 ■bees when they are weak. Turn the 

 mouth right down over the cluster, 

 and do that at night; put a warm 

 cloth all a,round it; keep the bees 

 down below, and pour the syrup In 

 the comb. I usually take a pitcher 

 and let it run as small a stream as 

 possible, and it will penetrate the 

 cells, and not run over. Many times 

 it will run over the top of the cells 

 and not fill half of it — ^have it run as 

 email a stream as possible. To do It 



at night is the best time to keep the 

 bees from robbing. 



Mr. Cavanagh — In regard to rob- 

 bing. Dr. Bohrer has brought out this 

 point: We can't always feed at night 

 in our out-apiaries. I never had any 

 trouble in feeding syrup. The princi-* 

 pal thnig is not only to kesp the rob- 

 ber bees out, but to keep the bees in 

 the hive from rushing out. 



Dr. Miller — If you want to avoid 

 robbing, it is a good plan to use the 

 Miller feeder, and then you can feed at 

 any time of the day^morning, noon 

 or night. 



Dr. Bohrer — Did you ever know the 

 bees to leave the hive at night, after 

 they are fed at night? 



Dr. Miller — Oh, yes; I have seen 

 them quite late in the evening fly out. 



Dr. Bohrer — After night,- would 

 they crawl out of the hive and fail to 

 get back? 



Dr. Miller — I believe they would all 

 get back. 



Dr. Bohrer — I spoke about this mat- 

 ter to a gentleman at Springfield, and 

 he said he did not like to. feed at 

 night; he said his bees would go out of 

 the hive at night and fail to get back. 

 That is a new experience to me. I 

 never observed anything of that kind. 



Shaking to Cure Foul Brood. 



"Is there a more profitable method 

 of treatment of the European foul 

 brood than the orthodox shaking 

 methods?" 



Dr. Miller — Answering that more 

 fully, perhaps, than I did before, I 

 don't know about it. I am inclined to 

 the opinion that the Alexander method 

 is more profitable than the shaking 

 method, because when you shake on 

 the foundation you are weakening 

 that colony a whole lot; at least it 

 was so with me this year. I am talk- 

 ing about a season of dearth; if there 

 was a big flow of honey on, it might 

 not be the same thing. Although 

 there might be some failures with the 

 Alexander plan, I believe I would 

 rather have some failures, and do it 

 over again, than the cost it would 

 mean to have everything thrown onto 

 foundation. Of course, as I said be- 

 fore, I don't know, but I believe if I 

 had it to do over again, I am very 

 confident I would do more with the 

 Alexander plan than I did before. 



Mr. Holtermann — ^I would like to> 

 hear from Miss Wilson. 



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