358 
FEEDING OUTDOORS 
or until feeders can be installed on the 
hives and colonies fed in the regular way. 
Outdoor feeding can also be employed to 
advantage to “call the bees off” when rob¬ 
bing the neighbors’ preserves during the 
canning season. The same calling-off proc¬ 
ess can be used when the bees are robbing 
candy-stands or stands where lemonade or 
cut melons are on display for sale. 
Within a quarter of a mile of our home 
yard there is a fairground, and sometimes 
we find it necessary, if bees are inclined to 
rob, to start outdoor feeding the day before 
the fair opens, and keep it up during the 
fair. If there is a severe dearth at the 
time, bees are inclined to meddle with the 
candy-stands and soda-fountains. While 
the amount they actually steal is insignifi¬ 
cant, their presence “drives away trade.” 
disadvantages of outdoor feeding. 
Having said this much in favor of out¬ 
door feeding of a whole apiary, it should 
be clearly and emphatically stated at the 
outset that it is an expensive way of feed¬ 
ing bees. When a colony can take the 
syrup from an ordinary feeder, either at 
the entrance or on top of the hive, and 
place it in the combs, the wear and tear on 
the bees is nothing as compared with that 
. which takes place when the bees are com¬ 
pelled to leave the hives, fly to the feeder, 
scuffle with each other, and then rush back 
in pell-mell haste to their hives to unload. 
One year, when robbing was very bad, 
and when we desired to keep on with our 
queen-rearing operations, we fed for sev¬ 
eral weeks in outdoor feeders. It was very 
noticeable that the field bees had their 
wings badly worn, and at the end of the 
queen-rearing operations the fielders were 
conspicuous by their absence, and only 
young bees were left. While outdoor feed¬ 
ing stimulates brood-rearing, it does so at a 
large cost. Besides the wear and tear on 
the wings themselves, there is the labor of 
reducing a nine-to-one sugar syrup or 
sweetened water (nine parts of water to 
one of sugar) to a well-ripened sugar 
syrup of two and one-half parts of sugar 
to one of water. When feeding in the hive, 
the syrup should be never weaker than one 
part of sugar to one of water; and it is 
often two parts or even 2 1 / 4 parts of sugar 
to one of water. It will be readily seen 
that outdoor feeding of bees involves an 
enormous drain on the colony. 
There are also other serious drawbacks 
to outdoor feeding. It feeds all the bees 
in the vicinity, the neighbors’ included, 
and might perhaps be instrumental in the 
spread of foul brood. It also causes a 
disproportionate amount of syrup to be 
given to the colonies. The strong ones will 
have a great deal more than their share, 
and the weak ones considerably less. By 
feeding within the hive, one can regulate 
the supply for each colony or nucleus. 
HOW TO FEED OUTDOORS. 
While an expert can set out unfinished 
sections for bees to clean, as spoken of 
under the head of Comb Honey, to Pro¬ 
duce, subhead, “Unfinished Sections,” the 
practice on the part of the beginner should 
be discouraged. But he can feed outdoors 
without stirring up an uproar by feeding 
a very thin syrup, about nine parts of 
water to one of sugar. As already ex¬ 
plained, this is virtually sweetened water. 
At the beginning a little stronger syrup 
will have to be made in order to start the 
bees. Then it can be weakened down to 
nine-to-one basis. 
We prefer the regular trough feeder for 
the purpose—either the Alexander or the 
Simplicity. Twenty-five or fifty of them 
will be required, all set out in a row on a 
couple of 2 x 4 scantlings properly leveled 
up. When these feeders are not available, 
two or three common washtubs can be used, 
but the surface of the sweetened water 
should be covered over with sticks or corn¬ 
cobs to prevent the bees from drowning; 
and there should not be much more than 
an inch of liquid in the tubs, or at least not 
more than will be required to supply the 
bees all day or as long as it is desired to 
keep them busy. If the sweetened water is 
left out over night during warm weather, it 
is liable to sour, so that a supply greater 
than the bees can take up for the day 
should never be given. 
To prevent the bees from crowding, it is 
desirable to use a large surface; hence it is 
recommended to use two or three tubs with 
an inch of sweetened water in each rather 
than one tub with three inches of liquid. 
When the surface is comparatively small, 
the bees crowd each other in a way that is 
