856 FEEDING. 



He estimates that at least 25 pounds of the mixture were 

 consumed in making about half a pound of wax ! No one 

 who has once tried it, will undertake to feed bees for profit, 

 when they are destitute both of comb and honey. 



If the weather is cool when bees are fed, it will generally 

 be necessary to resort to top feeding. For this, my hive is 

 admirably adapted : a feeder may be put over one of the 

 holes in the honey-board directly over the mass of the bees, 

 into which the heat of the hive naturally arises, and where 

 the bees can get at their food without any risk of being 

 chilled. This is always the best place for a feeder, as the 

 smell of the food is not so likely to attract the notice of 

 robbing bees. 



I shall here show how to make a very cheap and conve- 

 nient feeder. Take any wooden box, which will hold at least 

 two quarts. About two inches from one end, put a thin par- 

 tition, not so deep by half an inch, as the box itself; cut a 

 hole in the hoitom of the small apartment thus partitioned off, 

 so that when set over any hole leading to the spare honey 

 boxes, it will admit the bees, and allow them to pass over the 

 partition, into the other apartment which holds the food. 

 Make all the joints honey-tight, by running into the corners, 

 a mixture of melted wax and rosin, (p. 88); if the sides 

 are brushed with the same hot mixture, the wood will absorb 

 no honey, and the box be kept perfectly sweet. The lid 

 which confines the bees to this feeder, should have a piece 

 of glass set into it, which will show when it is empty, and 

 a hole for pouring in the liquid food ; which hole, when not in 

 use, is closed in the same manner with the holes on the spare 

 honey-board of my hive. To prevent the bees from drown- 

 ing in the honey, fill the box to the depth of an inch with 

 clean straw, cut short enough to sink readily as the bees 

 consume the honey. No float can ever be made to answer 



