THOUSAND ANSWERS 89 



weak colonies with very little comb, but nice, good queens. How 

 would you feed them so other bees would not get to the feed? 



A. Use a Miller feeder in the evening after flight is over, and 

 there will be no trouble. Other feeders can be used. If you happen 

 to have none, you can use a crock-and-plate feeder. Take a gal- 

 lon crock, or some other size, put sugar in it, and an equal 

 measure or weight of water; lay over it a piece of heavy woolen 

 cloth or four or five thicknesses of cheese-cloth, and on this lay a 

 plate upside down. With one hand under the bottom and the 

 other on top, quickly turn the whole thing upside down, and your 

 feeder is ready. Take the cover off your hive, set over it an 

 empty hive-body, set your feeder in it, and cover up, being sure 

 that all is bee-tight. 



Q. How will this new- plan of feeding work? Place tin con- 

 tainers about the size of a half-pound baking powder can cover, 

 containing bee candy, above the brood-frames, inside a 1-inch 

 wooden frame to fit on the top of the hive under the cover. 

 These tin containers set side by side just above Ihe brood- 

 frames, would be in the warmest part of the hive, and their 

 candy contents would be easily accessible to the bees through the 

 holes between these circular tin containers. This plan of feeding 

 is easily adjustable, as a sufficient number of feed-containers can 

 be used for either large or small swarms with no danger of feed 

 running out to kill the bees. Tin can manufacturers can supply 

 these at small cost. 



A. This plan would work all right, I should think. In weather 

 a bit cold the bees would not reach the candy quite so readily as 

 if laid directly on the top-bars. Some apiarists pour candy in 

 paper plates for feeding. 



Feeding in the Open. — Q. I have some waste honey and I am 

 feeding the bees the honey outdoors on some wide boards. Is 

 that as good as feeding in feeders? 



A. Fully as good or better, if your neighbor's bees do not get 

 too much of it, and if you are absolutely sure the honey contains 

 no germs of foulbrood. 



Q. We are in the midst of a protracted drouth, hardly a 

 flower to be seen. I have filled my bee-feeders with -syrup made 

 from granulated sugar and placed the feed in the yard where all 

 the bees can help themselves. Is this method of feeding all right, 

 or should the food be placed in the hive? 



A. Feeding out in the open is a little more like having the 

 bees gather from the fields; only if other bees are near you they 

 will also partake of the plunder. The stronger colonies will get 



