The Feeding of Bees 83 



thus I am continually strengthening the colonies upon which I am feed- 

 ing back. 



It is useless to expect the bees to finish up all of the sections upon 

 a hive. Even though the feeding is continued, the sections will not be 

 completed in a satisfactory manner. So long as the feeding is continued 

 the bees seem to reason something like this : "We must make the cells 

 as deep as possible, and delay the capping until the last moment, in 

 order to make room for all the honey that we can ; and if there are not 

 cells enough, we must build more, even if it be in the little cramped-up 

 places between the tiers of sections." After the combs are drawn out 

 to full length, filled with honey, and nearly sealed, I have secured better 

 results by giving the bees no feed for three or four days, then giving 

 them a light feed, and omitting the feeding for several days. The bees 

 then behave as though they considered the harvest over and ended. They 

 seal up most of the cells, and from those that they do not seal they 

 remove the honey. But there is a much better way of managing the 

 business. When the sections are all nearly finished I put them upon as 

 few hives as possible, and still not have more than two cases upon one 

 hive, and then upon each hive, above the two cases of nearly completed 

 sections, I place a case of sections filled with comb foundation. The 

 bees proceed at once to draw out the fotmdation and fill it with honey, 

 and this additional storage room appears to bring about a feeling that 

 there is no further necessity for holding cells open below, and they are 

 sealed forthwith. 



When the two lower cases are completed, the upper case (the one 

 that was furnished with foundation) will, perhaps, be found to contain 

 sections half completed, and these upper cases may be gathered together, 

 bees and all, and placed, two upon each hive, over those colonies that 

 have shown the greatest aptitude for this kind of work, and the feeding 

 continued until the sections are almost completed, when it will again be 

 necessary to place a case of sections containing foundation upon each 

 hive. I have continued this operation until all the sections were finally 

 upon one hive, and had all of the sections completed except those in 

 the case last added on top. 



After bees have been fed awhile, they secrete large quantities of 

 wax. The little flakes of it can be seen between the scales of the ab- 

 domen, and, unless allowed to build comb, the bees will plaster with 

 wax the woodwork of the sections, the inside of the feeders, cases, etc. 

 The moral is, to allow them to build comb. Have a row or two of 

 sections in the upper case filled with starters only ; thus there is secured, 

 in the shape of comb, what would otherwise be wasted. 



Although we can not control the temperature, it may be well to 

 know that the hotter the weather the more rapid and satisfactory will 

 be the work of the bees when we are feeding back. 



