FEEDING.
FEEDING bees when judiciously managed, is the stepping stone to large
profits from them. Bee keepers who have heretofore attempted to feed
bees have met with poor success.
A bee keeper of my acquaintance paid fifty dollars for a patent
apparatus for feeding bees together in the open air. The result was,
soon after being fed, they commenced fighting among themselves. The
weaker stock first fell prey to the stronger, then the stronger in turn
were attacked, and the final result was, nearly every stock was ruined,
and the plan abandoned in disgust after the first season's trial.
Now it is plain to every intelligent person, that in order to receive
the greatest possible profit from bees, they must be fed. There can be
no question as to the great benefit to be derived from feeding bees.
The only question is, how, when and what to feed. It is as much a
necessity to feed bees, as to feed our domestic animals, cows, sheep,
etc., or to apply manure to plants, or any crop the farmer cultivates,
to stimulate growth and increase the product and consequent profit
of the same. We should look upon that farmer as either a fool or a
lunatic, who should furnish his domestic animals no food, except what
they obtained by grazing in the pastures and fields, the year round.
And do you think his cows, treated thus, would yield him a large
product of butter, cheese and milk, and consequently a good profit in
dollars and cents? Do you think he would find his cows, managed thus,
so profitable as to induce him to keep cows to any great extent? Let
a farmer manage thus--take his cows to the barn, milk them, then turn
them out the year round to graze and provide for themselves, taking
them up only to milk them, furnishing them with no food except what
they procure by grazing--how long, think you, would such a farmer have
cows to milk? Yet this is a parallel case with the bee keeper who
furnishes his bees with no food except what they can procure by their
own industry. And is it surprising that bees treated thus pay no profit?
Again, the farmer who should year after year plant his corn, potatoes,
etc., apply no manure, furnish no cultivation, yet expect to succeed in
farming, harvest large crops, and get a good yearly profit in dollars
and cents, and grumble because he did not, and at last abandon the
business, asserting that there was no profit in farming, furnishes
another parallel case to the bee keeper who lets his bees shift for
themselves, and then grumble because they pay no profit, and at last
abandons the business, asserting that there is no money in bee keeping.
It being self-evident that it is profitable to feed bees, it now
remains to show how to do it with the greatest possible profit.
RECEIPT FOR FEED.
To eight pounds of coffee-crushed sugar, add two quarts of soft water,
and whites of two eggs, bring to a boiling point over a slow fire,
being very careful not to burn it. Skim off carefully all scum or
sediment that rises, so that the feed, when cool, will be perfectly
clear and about the consistency of new honey.
The first warm days in early spring, as soon as the bees can fly a few
hours in the middle of the day, mix corn meal with rye meal, equal
parts, and set out in pans or other shoal dishes, near the hives. The
bees will carry this to their hives in considerable quantities. It is
used as a substitute for pollen or bee bread, and is very essential in
forwarding the increase of bees in early spring. The meal should be fed
very early in spring, for as soon as the bees can collect pollen from
the natural sources--trees, shrubs, flowers, etc., they will not take
this meal. If rye meal cannot be obtained, use unbolted wheat flour.
FEEDING FOR EARLY SWARMS.
If you wish early swarms, keep the bees confined in their labors to
the brood section of the hive, or in other words, do not give them
access to the boxes, and commence as early in the spring as the bees
begin to fly in the middle of the day, and feed each stock at evening
about one-half pound of the liquid feed. Continue this till your swarms
issue, then discontinue feeding. I would, however, recommend putting
on boxes in all cases early in spring, as we shall thus secure a more
satisfactory amount of surplus honey, and we shall, in nearly every
case, when a dozen or more swarms are kept have a sufficient increase
in number of swarms. Feeding the bees in early spring on my plan gives
them a good start and renders them very prosperous throughout the
season.
FEEDING FOR SURPLUS HONEY.
If you wish surplus honey instead of swarms, put on your side boxes as
early in the spring as the bees commence brisk work on flowers,--as
a general rule, say a few days before fruit blossoms appear. Feed as
directed for swarms until about ten days before white clover blossoms,
then put on the top boxes, leaving room only for feeder. Then for ten
or twelve days feed them all they will take. Feed at evening. They will
at first, perhaps, take from five to ten pounds every night. Crowd them
hard, for the object is now to get every part of the brood section
(not occupied by eggs and brood) filled with honey; and if possible,
crowd the bees into the boxes to commence the work of comb building, so
that during the yield of honey from flowers, you can get every ounce
collected, stored in the boxes.
By early and judicious feeding, we have encouraged breeding so that now
our hives are filled, almost overflowing, with bees, ready to gather
the harvest from the flowers as soon as they begin to yield honey.
Discontinue feeding while the yield of honey continues in full supply
from the flowers. At the close of the yield, if you have boxes half
filled or more, feed all they will take up for a few days, or until
your boxes are finished.
FEEDING FOR WINTER.
In September or October feed such stocks as are short of stores, to
winter them. Each stock should have twenty pounds of honey in the brood
section to winter safely. If they have less than that, feed until they
have that quantity, or take a frame of honey from a stock that has some
to spare, and exchange with the one that is short, and so proceed until
all have sufficient stores to winter safely.
In no case take out frames at the close of the season, and leave that
space without a frame, or with an empty frame. At the commencement
of winter every hive must (to winter safely) have its full number of
frames filled with comb, no matter if they are not filled with honey
(if the hive has the required number of pounds,) but each frame must be
filled, or nearly filled with comb, or there is great danger of loss
from sudden changes of temperature through the winter.
In feeding for box honey, it often requires more than one pound of feed
to secure a pound in boxes, for the bees consume some while storing
it, and they often find some place in the hive which, like the crowded
omnibus or street car is not so full but that additions may be made. It
would not pay to feed for box honey, were there no yield of honey from
natural sources.
The reader will bear in mind this simple fact: Bees do not make honey,
they simply collect it. Honey undergoes no chemical change in the
stomach of the bee.
Several years since, my bees had access to several molasses hogheads,
and the result was, I found pure molasses stored in my hives, in the
same comb with nice white honey. I am satisfied that the bee does not
make honey but collects it. My feed is prepared and recommended in view
of this fact, and in perfect accord with all points bearing upon this
subject.
The feed is of the same color as the nicest, white clover honey, and
when put in boxes by the bees _with the honey collected from flowers_
(I have no doubt in some instances in alternate layers in the same cell
with honey from flowers,) it cannot be distinguished, either in color
or taste, from honey wholly collected from flowers.
If at any time there is a lack in the yield from natural sources,
feed the bees all they will eat and when the flowers yield again they
are ready to store in boxes. Manage as recommended and let the old
fogies growl. Your honey will be of superior quality and _give perfect
satisfaction to your customers_.
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