January 2S, itOO. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
77 
has passed without some of them being on the wing. Carniolians 
are as usual the most quiet, but on January 1st young bees were 
playing on the alighting board of one of them. The blue tits were 
very busy for a time in picking up any dead ones thrown 
out of the hive, but owing to my bees being nearly all 
wintered in full sized deep hives they fail by their pecking at the 
doorway to induce the bees to respond, so from them and other 
flying enemies they are comparatively safe. Owing to the position 
of my hives, and their construction, mice, which are very destruc¬ 
tive to bees, cannot enter. To prevent these troublesome pests 
gaining an entrance, Mr. Wm. Hogg uses queen-excluder perforated 
zinc on the doorways. The zinc is first cut two holes broad, then 
the under row is again cut so that the height is the full size of the 
original doorway of the hive, which gives the bees a tolerably free 
entrance, where it is absolutely necessary to contract it if mice are 
numerous. The lowest temperature upon tliree different nights 
was 20° Fahr., being 12° below the freezing point ; consequently 
bees that have been breeding and flying late will have consumed 
much honey, and probably be anticipating an early spring. Flowers 
have never been absent with us, and the spring ones are pushing 
forward rapidly. Hives will make similar progress. It will there¬ 
fore be wise to feed the bees at once, or rather on the first day after 
they have well aired themselves during the present month. Neglect 
of this will result in an entire loss of all hives that were in want, 
and which a few pounds of sugar timely given would have saved 
and probably made profitable. 
The Feeder. 
As there are so many feeders in the market, every one being 
held up as perfect, it may be advisable to instruct the beginner 
how and when to feed. The thoughtful bee-keeper will discon¬ 
tinue feeding bees between about September or the beginning of 
October, leaving the bees with as much as will tide them over till 
April or May. Feed earlier in exceptional cases only, and always 
when necessary take advantage of January mildness, which for 
half a century now I have never known to be absent. It is best 
when the hive is large enough to contain stores sufficient for the 
bees till midsummer, but when this is not the case great attention 
should be paid to all hives that none linger or go back during April 
or May, or even June ; when this occurs it puts an end to all profit 
from the June and July gathering. Early swarms are greatly 
benefited by feeding gently for a week or so after being hived, or 
as long as honey does not come in. Avoid too rapid feeding. If 
combs are to be made the bees are inclined to swell them irregularly, 
and they often collapse. The bees become gorged, are unable to 
defend themselves, and often when in this state fall a prey 
to robber bees. From 2 to 4 lbs. every twenty-four hours is 
ample for any hive; too rapid feeding wears out the bees and 
overheats, and starts incipient foul brood. There should be a 
feeder for every hive, so that there will be no risk whatever of 
inflicting stocks that may be fed from a feeder that had been used 
by an infected stock. 
Feeders should be of wood as much as possible where the bees 
come into contact with them, and the syrup is so placed that the 
bees will not have far to travel from the combs to get it. Float 
feeders, unless it is merely to cover the tin of shallow feeders, 
cannot be recommended, and the slow stimulative feeders are but 
toys, and I believe does more harm to bees than good. I use 
the “ universal feeder,” partly described at page 564 last December. 
It consists of a tin 4^ inches square and holds about 2 lbs. dis¬ 
solved sugar, with or without a pane of glass. The neck should be 
neat, half an inch long over all, which has a brass screw, such as is 
used for oil cans, not more than seven-eighths of an inch outside 
measure soldered to it. A hole about a quarter of an inch is 
drilled in the centre, receives the valve, which is a broad-headed 
saw handle screw nail, which I omitted to state at page 504. It is 
absolutely necessary these sizes should be adhered to 
The next thing in connection with this tin is the feeder proper. 
It is simply a frame having a top bar 1 5 of an inch thick instead 
of half inch. To make this feeder dress a piece of wood the exact 
length of the top bar, 1| inch broad by inch thick. Now mark off; 
2 inches in the centre of top bar and 1 | at each end, which must bo 
kept entire. Bore an inch hole five-eighths of an inch deep ; this 
is to receive a neck of tin, at the extreme of the centre 2 inches, and 
at the extreme of the end la inch make a saw cut one-eighth of aii 
inch deep, bevelled inwards so as to hold a pane of glass, then make 
other cuts fully an eighth of an inch inside those first cut, but 
square and three-eighths down. Now cut out this neatly, and 
when done clean away the wood to the first cut an eighth down ; 
this will now be ready to take the glass, which is slipped in edge¬ 
ways, the bevelled wood preventing it falling out when inverted. 
As yet there is no way for the bees to pass up to the syrup, but 
by continuing the saw cut down the edges one-quarter deep, this- 
cleaned out leaves the frame inside the ends and centre piece 
broad. Trench a trough three-eighths of an inch deep in centre 
of bar, and drill a hole between the inch hole in the centre and the 
trough, so that the syrup flows into the trough when the tin is 
inverted, and the valve touches the bottom. This trough gives 
about 2 feet standing space for bees to feed, and will take 2 lbs. 
of sugar in less than two hours when in a feeding state. No feeder 
can possibly excel this one as a top feeder ; it not only can be used 
for syrup, but one of the troughs may be set apart for pease brose 
made with honey. In this form I have fed my bees for neatly 
forty years. 
If you wish to render the feeder still more serviceable a trough 
for placing on the top of the frames is used ; it is made from 
wood about G inches square by five-eighths thick, half an inch from 
one edge, the trough three-eighths wide and deep is cut, and a 
trench is cut behind communicating with the trough, three-eighths 
of an inch is raised round the trench to fit the neck of the tin, and 
a casing is all round the feeder. A pane of glass slides in a groove 
over the trough and the bees ascend to it. A small queens’ cage 
fits into this, and queen introduction and feeding continue at the 
same time, which I have found satisfactory. As an under feeder 
with a tin scoop about IJ inch broad by three-eighths deep, having 
a bit of spale as a float when feeding at the front, but when fed 
from behind beneath the perforated zinc floor is of no use. This 
latter plan is the best place to feed when it is necessary to do so- 
when the hive is covered up, and when the bees are likely to be 
flying as when at the moors. Altogether the bees can be fed six 
different ways with this feeder, and stranger bees cannot get at 
the syrup without having to pass through the hive or the sentinel 
bees, while the fountain may be left out fuU of syrup no bee can 
gain an entrance to it. The fountain and scoop should not cost more 
than Is. each, while every bee-keeper can make easily enough the 
frame and box feeder.—A L,\N.\RKsniRE Bee-keeper. 
(To be continued.! 
BEES HYBERNATING—REARING QUEENS, 
lN*the Journal for the 9th “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” takes e.v- 
ception to some parts of my article. He questions whether bees- 
hybernate, I can inform him that out of twenty-six stocks of mine all 
but two are truly hybernating. They are located on a hillside sloping 
due south at an angle of about 30°, and are thus well sheltered on the 
north, also by high buildings on the west, so that when the sun shines it 
is quite warm, even in winter. On Sunday, the 12th, the temperature 
rose in the shade to 65° after a very windy morning, so with the sun in 
full height about 1 P.M. I thought I would note how many had “ woke 
up.” It was so warm and bright that I expected every one would be in 
flight, but only six stocks showed bees flying, with one only in full 
flight, a stock of Cyprians, which looked truly beautiful in the sun. 
I cannot expect, or hope, to convert all at once, but let bee-keepers 
rear their queens on the lines I have laid down for three or four years 
they will believe then, 1 think, and he will be a bold man to assert that 
my plan is worse than any other. “ A. L. B. K.” admits the bee-keeper 
will be a gainer, though he thinks, like many others, that his methods 
are satisfactory. I do not question his statement at all on this. What 
1 want is progress. The things that were satisfactory in bygone times 
will not do in these days, nor will those of to-day do in the future.— 
I A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
