ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



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IfoeaJity, the early part of September, 

 and. you have part sugar syrup and part 

 honey stores, the bees are using up the 

 best stores before they go into winter 

 quarters, so I would prefer to leed aa 

 late as possible. This year I fed as late 

 zs the last week in October, and where 

 twenty pounds of feed is used, half 

 sugar and half water, that would only 

 mean ten pounds of sugar. I don't 

 think the final quantity that bees store 

 under good conditions is more than the 

 amount of sugar that you feed, and 

 when you use half sugar and half water, 

 it takes more to ripen that, and there- 

 fore there would be more waste. 



Mr. Cavanagh^ — There is the advan- 

 tage of storing that feed in the combs. 

 I would like to hear from any one who 

 has had any practical experience, to 

 show whether the honey has to be tak- 

 ■en in by the bees, and replaced in 

 combs, or whether it is just as safe 

 to put that good thick syrup in the 

 combs and let the bees go directly 

 on it. 



Mr. Holtermann — ^I have never done 

 it; I believe it is. 



Mr. Cavanagh — The point is, that if 

 •we can do without the bees handling 

 that honey for syrup, we are at a great 

 saving, because they will consume a lot 

 of it in storing from combs in the ordi- 

 nary way, which they will not in the 

 other. 



Mr. Huffman — I have always fed 

 sugar syrup, half and half, and have 

 good results; when it comes to the 

 amount they use up, I am unable to 

 say. 



Mr. Holtermann — It would do no 

 harm to give here the way in which I 

 feed for winter. I have a honey-board 

 ■on top the hive, and it has round holes 

 in it; then I take a two-quart jar (what 

 ■we call a jam-jar) ; I have a finely 

 perforated top instead of the glass top; 

 fhat holds five pounds; six of those 

 w^ould make thirty pounds — a good col- 

 ony of bees would take that down in 

 twenty-four hours. I don't know any 

 better method of feeding. I never tried 

 filling the combs except in the spring; 

 "but I know this, hy using tartaric acid, 

 that so changes that honey I have had 

 it granulate solid in the jars. Now we 

 Icnow it is quite a different process for 

 the sugar to crystallize, but I showed 

 experienced bee-keepers that jar, at a 

 distance; I opened the jar and I de- 

 ceived them; they said, "That is hon- 

 ey." But" when yt>u come to taste it, 

 •you can tell it is sugar syrup. The 



tartaric acid changes the nature of that 

 sug-ar so that it does not crystallize. 



Mr. Cavanagh — The way I feed bees 

 in the fall is to invert the cover; we 

 have a cover with a ledge some two 

 inches; invert the cover on the ground 

 — that cover is previously lined with 

 oil c.oth — pour in twenty-five or thirty 

 pounds of syrup; (put in sufficient 

 leaves so the bees will not drown). I 

 have never tried feeding by filling oombs 

 for winter storage; I would not advise 

 any one else to go into it on a very 

 large scale, either; there are diflEiculties 

 there that might show up. 



Mr. Thompson — ^I would like to have 

 an expression as to the ditierent Kinas 

 of feeders used, and the manner of 

 feeding, and tihe time when they feed 

 for fall feeding. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I have used the feed- 

 er below the hive; I lay the cover on 

 the ground and place the hive above, 

 so that the feed is taken from below 

 instead of above. 



Mrs. Holbrook — ^I would like to ask, 

 if he uses the feeder below, if he uses 

 the ten-frame Jumbo, or the 8-frame; 

 it makes a difference in lifting that; I 

 had the experience of trying to put the 

 feed below, allowing space in front of 

 the super for the bees to crawl over. I 

 found difficulty in handling large 

 frames. Of course there is some anxi- 

 ety about cold weather. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I don't know whether 

 I clearly understand Mrs. Holbrook; 

 the reason I started in to use those 

 feeders below was because the weather 

 was so cold I could not feed above, 

 the year I tried it. 



Mr. Holtermann — It takes two per- 

 sons to lift a Jumbo; more than that, 

 the bees are on the bottom-board, and 

 if you are feeding late, you have the 

 conditions of t)h'e weather to consider. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I would say that 

 there is a very serious objection to 

 using the Jumbo and any heavy hives, 

 for some; for a lady bee-keeper, es- 

 pecially, there would be a serious ob- 

 jection with those hives, that the hives 

 have to be lifted from their stands, 

 and then lifted again to be replaced on 

 the stands. 



Mrs. (Holbrook — For a man, either, 

 for that matter. A man has no busi- 

 ness to lift such a heavy hive; It Is 

 too heavy for him to lift, too. 



Mr. Holtermann — I have a good many 

 of those bottom feeders ; they are made 

 with partitions in, and I find them very 



