ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



175 



strong colonies very much more than 

 the weak ones? 



Mr. Hall— It did. 



Mr. Dadant — Are not the weak col- 

 onies very much more m need of it 

 than the strong-? 



Mr. Hall — That is true too, but I 

 went around afterwards and equalized 

 them. The next season was the best 

 honey season I ever had. I wrote to 

 Ernest Root, and he said: By all 

 means feed your bees, don't let them 

 starve. My neighbor lost 24 colonies 

 out of 28 because he failed to feed 

 them. They went along pretty well 

 till about midsummer, and the queen 

 got tired and they tried to supersede 

 her, and they fizzled out. I had 7,000 

 pounds from 63 colonies the next 

 summer. There was no spotting of 

 the hives. There were a few colonies 

 I found a little sugar syrup in along 

 in May. My syrup was one-third water 

 to two-thirds sugar. I would take a 

 pail of cistern water and throw it into 

 the boiler, and at the same time 

 throw In a pail or two pails of sugar. 

 I kept tesiting it and tasting. On the 

 average it was about two of sugar to 

 one of water. I never brought it to 

 the boiling point. I put a little tar- 

 taric acid in it, I don't know whether 

 it did any good or not. 



Mr. Bernschein — iMr. Hall's bees are 

 more honest than any I have had in 

 my neighborhood. I never could feed 

 that way for a week without robbing. 



Dr. Bohrer — ^That method of feed- 

 ing is certainly a safe one in Mr. 

 Hall's own apiary if his bees require 

 feeding. As to the method of prepar- 

 ing the syrup, I think he is correct. I 

 usually fill my feeder two-thirds full 

 <y£ sugar, and the balance with luke- 

 warm water, and stir it till it is dis- 

 solved. I have never had to feed all 

 my bees. I put one of those pepper 

 box feeders in at night, and by the 

 next evening the syrup is carried 

 down. The best time to feed I found 

 to be in the latter part of August or 

 (September. I want to give it to them 

 early enough so that they can seal it 

 it over. The division board feeder, if 

 you have it well waxed, and keep a 

 good float In it, is a good way to feed 

 bees, but you want to be cautious, and 

 keep lit well waxed. 



Mr. Dadant — I want to emphasize 

 what tihe Doctor has just said in re- 

 gard to keeping a float in it. Wihen 

 you remove the feeder, if you don't 



put a float in it, you will find prob- 

 ably a pound of dead bees in the bot- 

 tom of it. Without a float, they are 

 a bee-killer, but with a float that 

 covers the side fairly well, if they 

 happen to fall in they can crawl out. 



Mr. Huffman — I have fed quite a bit 

 of sugar, and I have tried a good many 

 different ways of feeding. I have 

 tried outdoor feeding, and I can't help 

 but feed my neighbors' bees. I find 

 the best mode of feeding is the Miller 

 feeder on top of a hive. You can put 

 in about ttoree gallons of syrup, and 

 in less than 24 hours, if you have a 

 strong colony, tihey will, have that all 

 stored away. Another* way is to fill 

 your combs with syrup and put them 

 in. the hive, and let^them ripen that; 

 but you want to feed Jt early. If you 

 don't feed it early, pdt on a Miller 

 feeder on top. I feed in that way, 

 and I know just wliat I am feeding. 



Dr. Jones — Last year I had 61 

 colonies. In our country we had a 

 lot of honey-dew. I got a little scared, 

 and I went to work and I fed about 40 

 colonies of my bees ten tons of. sugar 

 and water, half and half, and I gave it 

 to tlhem cold. I put some excelsior in 

 the pan, and the man who carried 

 them Into the cellar said he never car- 

 ried such bees in. I was afraid they 

 wouldn't winter on that. I put in 61 

 colonies, and I took out 60 this spring, 

 and the hives of those that I had fed 

 were as clean and nice as could be. 

 Those that I hadn't fed began to get 

 dysentery and; spotted up the toive. . K 

 they had stayed in ten days or two 

 weeks longer, I think I would have 

 lost imiost of them. 



1 would like to say I don't believe it 

 is a good plan to feed late 'n the even- 

 ing, at least In our country, in Minne- 

 sota; i!f you do, the bees are in an 

 uproar, and they will keep it up till 

 lat at night, and fly out, and some 

 of them never come back. I never 

 had any trouble in feeding right in 

 the day time. 



Mr. Schlaefll — I think the best plan 

 to feed colonies is to feed them all 

 at once, and feed them right on top 

 of 'Iftie hive insidfe. I never had to 

 feed bees, except in a severe hail 

 storm, wlhen the bees failed to make 

 any honey whatever. At that time I 

 took syrup and fed it all at once in a 

 common milk pan. I fed them for 

 two days, and I must say I never had: 

 bees so perfect as at that time. 



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