FEEDING AND FEEDERS. 



Feeding, to some extent may be necessary every year. Syrup feed- 

 In early spring is often essential, equal parts oi sugar and water 

 ng given at this period. If sufficient honey forvwinterj about 30 lbs., 

 not left in the hives at the time of extracting, it will be . necessary 

 feed syrup, t-Wo parts of sugar to one of water, to make- up the de- 

 iency. This feeding which should be as rapid as possible s'hould be 

 tished by the end of September, but if not then by the middle of 

 •tober, at the, latestr so that the bees are able to store and seal it 

 ir in the combs ''before the weather gets too cold. 'A good feeder can 

 Pmade out of a four or five pound lever lid honey pail. About a 

 )zen small holes, just about l^rge enough to pass an ordinary pin 

 trough, are pierced in the lid. It is then filled with syrup and in- 

 ^p^d over the feed-hole that has been cut in the centre of the quilt, 

 glass Mason jar with the lid perforated in the same way also makes 

 ft^ excellent feeider. only in this, case a small wooden platform covered 

 'tth screen wire has to be made so as to provide a bee-way under it. 

 )ry sugar feeding with brown sugar answers well for supplying col- 

 fijes in need in June and is good for stimulating- nuclei. The dry sugar 

 ieder is made by nailing a thin piece of board on each side of a 

 la'ngstroth frame, the greater part of "the top bar being sawn out so 

 lat- the sugar can be put in and the bees able to take it from the top. 

 t is intended to- hang at one side of the Jiive and has the advantage of 

 lOt requiring attention for some time as it will contain five pounds of 

 Ugar. Candy is a make-shift and only used for feeding bees when the 

 feather is too cold for them to be able to take syrup. 



WINTERING. 



Bees require to be packed for winter about the end of October, be^ 

 ore the snow comes, and then left undisturbed until the following 

 ipring. ^-Entrances may need looking to occasionally during the winter 

 a case they should be clogged with dead bees which can be raked, out 

 !^ith a bent wire. Bees in single-wall hives, if well provided with good 

 food, will come safely through the winter, as a general rule, if several 

 j^icknesses of sacking are tied outside and covered with , tar paper to 

 keep out the wet. A hive-body half filled with . sacks makes a good_ 

 porous top covering. If double-wall hives, or hive-cases, as previously 

 described, are used, all that is necessary is to add sufficient top cover- 

 ing, about six Inches in depth, over the frames. It is a good plan to 

 leave the queen excluder on all the winter. If it is reversed, it will 

 provide a double bee-space and thus ensure a clear passage way over 

 the combs. The bees require at least thirty pounds of sealed stores to 

 carry them through the winter. Any honey dew, or fruit juice, the 

 bees may have stored, should be removed from the hives, and kept for 

 spring feeding, honey,^-^ or sugar syrup being substituted. With porous 

 coverings, winter entrances ^re best left about three inches long by 

 three-eighths of an inch deep. Non-porous coverings necessitate a 

 ialarger entrance. 



f^ Experiments, carried out with packed hives by the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, United States Department of Agriculture, have shown that 



'much heat is lost from unprotected hive bottoms. It "is stated that 

 "failure to insulate the bottom of the hive largely offsets the value of 

 insulation around the hive in the wintering of bees. Experiments con- 



-ducted with a number of insulated hives showed that much heat was 

 lost from the unprotected hive botto^n. Beekeepers have repeatedly 



j claimed that excessive insulation is even more detrimental in Winter 

 than insufficient insulation, because of the failure of the colony to warm 



'up on, bright days. To test this theory a colony was packed in the 

 fall with sixteen Inches of sawdust ori all sides, top and bottom. Tem- 



J.perature records were made at frequent intervals every day through- 

 out the winter and spring. ' The colony remained in excellent condition 



tin every respect throughout the winter, and after the brood rearing be- 

 gan it built up with great rapidity. Then, to continue observations on 



15 



