56 Texas Department of Ageicultuee. 



cient amount, as strong colonies require far more than weak ones. 

 But taking from them combs of brood is different, for brood means 

 bees, and the more bees in a strong colony the more honey, while 

 the same bees given to a weak colony may not be able to gather honey 

 at all. 



Where honey flows come late, conditions are entirely different, and 

 the apiarist has ample time in which to build up all his colonies to 

 good strength for the honey harvest. In this case, the strong colo- 

 nies are drawn upon for both brood and honey to help the weak. 

 Great care should be taken at all times to choose combs not contain- 

 ing too much brood for the size of the colony to which it is to be 

 given. Combs should be selected from which most of the brood is al- 

 ready hatching, as the weak colonies may not be able to care for it 

 properly. These combs should always be placed with the brood as 

 nearly next to that already in the hive as possible, to prevent break- 

 ing up the cluster, especially early in the season. It should be re- 

 membered that all this work must be done slowly and carefully and 

 with good judgment. 



FEEDING BEES. 



It is necessary at times to feed bees, either to tide them over a 

 dearth of honey in the summer, to supply winter stores in the late 

 fall, or to replenish their rapidly disappearing food supply during 

 the heavy brood rearing period in the early spring. The necessity 

 for feeding should be avoided as much as possible, since it is a disa- 

 greeable and sticky operation, and, as it must be done generally dur- 

 ing a dearth of honey, exceeding care must be exercised not to in- 

 cite robbing. All feeding in the hives should be done quickly, and 

 always toward evening of the warmest days, so that the bees can 

 clean up the syrup during the night and be better prepared to defend 

 their hives on the following day. An excellent practice is to, at all 

 times, leave a sufficient supply of honey in the hives, not only for the 

 winter, but to last into the spring months. Besides saving the 

 trouble of having to feed, the extra supply insures strong colonies 

 for the honey flows and better returns in honey crop. 



It is by far the safest rule to feed sugar syrup instead of honey, 

 especially honey from an unknown source, which may contain germs 

 of contagious bee diseases that may be introduced to healthy colo- 

 nies and cause their rapid destruction. On account of this danger 

 such should never be used under any circumstances. Sugar syrup 

 for feeding purposes is made of equal parts of sugar and water by 

 simply pouring cold water over pure granulated sugar and stirring 

 it until the sugar is all dissolved. 



If only a few colonies need feeding, some of their empty combs 

 may be filled by placing them in a slanting position in a large tub 

 and pouring the syrup over them with a sprinkling can so that it 

 will run into the open cells. If combs are laid flat, the syrup can 

 not enter the cells as the air can not escape from them when the 



