BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
\(\Lambda\) syrup made by mixing sugar and water in equal parts does not necessarily require heat. The water may be poured into a receptatele cold, and sugar stirred in until the volume of the sugar equals that of the water. The stirring will have to be continued until the sugar is dissolved. If there is any quantity to be mixed in that way, an ordinary honey-extractor serves as a very excellent agitator. The machine is filled nearly half full of water, when the sugar is stirred in little by little while the reel is being turned. It will have to be revolved until the sugar is all dissolved. After a vigorous turning of the crank, even after the sugar is thoroughly mixed, there will be a number of small air-bubbles. These will all disappear if the syrup is allowed to stand for a while. When the proportion of the sugar is two to one or two and a half to one, it is advisable to use hot or boiling water.
Syrup can be mixed in a common wash-boiler where heat is employed. In that case the boiler is put on the stove and filled with the requisite quantity of water. After it has come to a boil, the sugar is slowly stirred in, a little at a time. While on the stove the mixture _must be kept thoroughly stirred_ to prevent the undissolved sugar from settling on the bottom and burning. Care should be taken about that, because burnt sugar or syrup is liable to be fatal to the bees.
In many cases syrup has to be prepared at the outyard. Or perhaps the good wife objects to having her stove messed up. While in oil or gasoline stove will heat the water, either one is very slow. The Hutchinson brothers use and recommend a good-sized common galvanized wash-tub, such as can be obtained at any hardware store at a comparatively low price. This is placed on four or five stones of suitable size outdoors when the right proportion of water is poured into the tub. \(\Lambda\) fire is then built under, and when the water comes to a boil the granulated sugar is slowly stirred in. After it is all dissolved, the fire should be scraped out from under the tub to prevent overheating or burning. This work should be done on a cool or rainy day when the bees are not flying; otherwise one would have a mess of robbing on his hands.
feeding to stimulate brood-rearing.
During spring or summer we _may_ use a cheaper grade of sugar, if we happen to have it on hand, or cheap off grades of honey that would ordinarily be unslable. If honey,* we would thin it down slightly with warm water; but if the sweet has to be _prehensed_, then, as we have already said, we would recommend only granulated sugar, for the reason that it is just us cheap as any other sweet, and the very best. Nuclei, as a rule, require stimulative feeding before or after the honey-flow, in order to make them do their very best, for a queen will seldom lay much after the honey season unless the bees are fed a certain amount daily. Where colonies lack sufficient strength for the harvest it is customary to practice stimulating feeding.
feeders.
There have been hundreds of feeders invented and put on the market. Some of them are very complicated, and the more so the less useful. If one desires to keep down his investment he may use common tin guns. These can be placed in the upper story of the hive, and filled with syrup. On top of the syrup should be laid carefully a strip of cheese-cloth that has been dampened in
entrance. For stimulative purposes this is one of the best feeders sold. The only objection is that it is sometimes difficult, owing to the unevenness of the ground, to adjust the feeder to the back end of the hive in such a way that it will fit up tight to the hive, shutting out all robbers.
Modlittle division-baid feeder.
The illustration given below shows that it is nothing more nor less than a large brood-frame paneled on each side. Down through the center runs a partition reaching almost to the bottom. This feeder, from the very nature of its construction, can be set down in the brood-nest like an ordinary division-board, or brood-frame, for that matter; and as it is confined wholly within the brood-nest, not even requiring an upper story or super, it is the most convenient and
they fail to take the syrup. The great feature of the Miller feeder is that the passageway to the feed is located directly _over the center_ of the brood-nest, and the warmth of the cluster rising is confined in the passageways and chambers under \(\Lambda\). This feature, coupled with the fact that it is made of wood, renders it possible to feed bees during quite cold freezing weather.
fall feeding: full details on how to do the work rapidly and easily.
If colonies are to be wintered on sugar syrup mainly, the general practice is to feed some time in September, and, as a rule, this is, perhaps, the best time to feed. Still, in many localities in central United States, there is warm weather in October sufficient to start brood-rearing, and much of the stores fed in September may be consumed so that what is left is not sufficient to last until the new honey-flow. For this reason it is often unsafe to feed in September and give no further attention to the bees. There are other cases when, for one reason or another, feeding may be delayed until cold weather begins; for instance, if one is running a number of outwards it is impossible, without hiring a large force of men, to feed all these yards at once, and by the time the last yard is reached it may be rather late.
But before we begin the actual work of feeding we make a preliminary envars of the whole apjary. This we do by "hefting"each hive; that is,we lift up either the front or lack of the hive. A little practice will enable one to determine approximately the amount of stores in each hive, provided there is not too large a force of bees. In that event, we must allow for a corresponding increase. As we go over each hive we mark on the cover with a piece of chalk the number of pounds that will be required. If the colony is a strong one we allow for a total of 25 lbs. if it is to be wintered out-doors; for indoors, about two-thirds that. We aim to have each colony strong enough so that it will require an average of about 20 lbs. for each outdoor wintering. After all the hives are marked up we proceed to the actual work of feeding.
For this late fall feeding we know of no better feeder than the Miller. This will hold at least 25 lbs. of feed at a time, and it can be quickly put on and taken off without much disturbance to the brood-nest. On the other hand, if the colonies are not quite as strong as they should'be, so that some contraction is necessary in the winter any way, it is probably just as well, and perhaps even better, to use the Doolittle division-board feeder holding about 6 lbs. of thick feed at a time. During the season, any combs which are found that are too old, or which, for some reason or other, are not perfect, whether due to drone-cells or irregularities, can be gradually pushed to the outside of the brood-frames: then in the fall, when it is time to put in the feeder, provided the division-board feeders are used, these defective combs can be very easily gotten rid of with a very small amount of labor, and with no loss of brood. Furthermore, if the colonies need feeding, these outside combs will not contain much honey. On a cool day an outward can be looked over very quickly, and the old combs that are on the outside of the brood-nest removed with very little trouble. If a follower is used, the removal of one comb and the follower makes room for the feeder; but if the combs completely fill the hives, two combs must be removed. It is rather had practice, if sealed covers are used, to break the propolis scaling around the covers of the hives after cold weather has set in; but, as we said before, there are many instances where the feeding must be done late; and there is this advantage--that, in cold weather the feeders may be put in in a very short time, and with but little shaking of bees from the combs that are removed.
The best time of day for putting feed into the feeder is toward the close of the afternoon. It is not advisable to do the work in the morning or early in the day, for the reason that the bees are always excited, and robbing might be started, especially if it were warm enough for the bees to fly. Right here is a point in favor of the chilly-weather feeding, for there is no such danger of robbing, of course, when the bees can not fly on account of the cool temperature. With thecans of feed distributed at regular intervals throughout the yard we have found that 100 colonies may be fed in an hour's time providing the work is rapidly done. Every thing must be right, so that no stops need be made for anything.
We fix the feed at home and carry it to the yards in the regular five-gallon honey-cans, as these are about the largest-sized cans that can be handled conveniently by one person. If two were doing the feeding a larger can might be used.
While the syrup is still hot we load it into the wagon, six or eight cans at a time, and carry it rapidly to the yard. When we reach the edge of the aplary, we take the cans, one at a time, and locate them through the yard where the markings on the hives show that we shall need them. If the cans have good strong handles we are able to carry two at a time, one in each hand; but the difficulty is that the handles are liable to tear loose from the cans at one end and drag through the hand, cutting the fingers and allowing the heavy can to full on the feet. For this reason we prefer to carry one can at a time in the arms. If a small rope sling were used, two cans could be carried without danger.
When we are ready to commence feeding we fill a large sprinkling-can, with the rose removed, and then proceed at once to pour the syrup into the division-board feeders in every hive. Each feeder, as mentioned before, will hold about six pounds of thick syrup? By the time we have emptied one of the five-gallon cans we have reached a point in the yard where a new full one is waiting for us and we can proceed without stopping to run for more cans. On the covers of the hives are marked the number of pounds of syrup which each hive is to receive. It is likely that not all of the hives will need feeding a second time, so the second day the work can be done even more quickly than the first time. When it is not too cool the bees will have taken the syrup in one feeder in 24 hours' time; but if the weather is very cold they will require 48 hours; but this time can be materially reduced if the syrup is given hot. We would always give it hot if it is cold enough so that the cluster is contracted. After all the hives have been fed up we go over the hives again, this time making a careful examination of the broodest. If more syrup still is required we mark the hive again and later on feed it and all others that may be short.
feeding in freezing weather.
Though colonies have been wintered well when fed after cold or freezing weather, we think much the safer plan is to have it all done during fall not later than October, that they may have the syrup ripened and entirely sealed. If the weather is not too cold you can feel with the Miller feeder as previously intimated. If you have been so careless as to have bees that are in need of stores, at the beginning of winter, we would advise frames of sealed honey if you can get them; and if you can not, use candy.
If the candy is covered up with warm chaff cushions or something equivalent, it may be fed at any time, although it does not seem to be us satisfactory under all circumstances as stores sealed up in their combs.
When feeding in cool or cold weather, you are very apt to uncover the cluster, or leave openings that will permit the warmth of the cluster to pass off. We have several times had colonies die in the spring after commencing feeding, and we imagined it was from this cause alone. When they first commence raising brood in the spring, they need to be packed up closely and snugly. Making a hole in the quilt or cushions above the cluster, and placing the feeder over this so as to close it completely, does very well, but is not, after all, as safe as giving the feed from below. For feeding in early spring, especially where the colony is weak, we would prefer candy or well-filled combs of sealed stores.
feeding in the spring, or feeding enough in the fall to last till this next honey-flow.
Some years ago it was the general practice to feed in the spring to stimulate brood rearing, such feeding taking place as soon as settled warm weather came on. The purpose of this was to get a large force of young bees for the harvest when it came; but in later years the tendency on the part of our best bee-keepers has been toward feeding copiously in the fall enough to last not only all winter but during the spring and until the honey-flow. Experience seems to show that spring feeding very often does more harm than good by over-stimulation. Broad is expauded beyond the capacity of the bees to hover and keep warm. Iobbing is often induced. Beginners especially are apt to over-do it; and even a veteran will sometimes get his colonies so strong before an extra supply of nectar comes in, that swarming will be brought on prematurely.
This question of feeding heavily in the fall to last until the next honey-flow the following year, or feeding moderately in the fall and stimulating the following spring, depends somewhat on the locality, and very largely on the man himself. Many bee-keepers of experience, especially in some localities, can doubtless practice spring feeding to advantage; but as a rule beginners will do better to give all their colonies enough in the fall so that they will have about 25 lbs. of sealed stores about the time cold weather begins to come on. In most of the northern States this will be about the first or middle of November. In our more northern States and in Canada the stores should be sealed about the first of October.
spring feeding a la boardman.
After what we have just said on the advantage of fall feeding it may at first seem a little contradictory even to suggest spring feeding, but Mr. H. R. Boardman, of Collins, Ohio, does it for a different purpose. In brief his plan is this : He feeds as soon as it becomes settled warm weather, whether the bees need stores or not. The syrup is given them slowly to stimulate brood rearing. This feeding is continued clear on to the honey-flow, when, of course, it is discontinued. The result is that the hives are overflowing with bees and brood, and all available space in the brood-nest is filled clear full with sealed sugar stores. Just as soon as the honey-flow commences, supers are given ; and with a tremendous force of bees secured by stimulative feeding, and with a brood-nest already filled to its utmost capacity with sugar stores, the honey, when it _does_ come, is _foiced_ right into the supers, because there is no place for it in the brood.
Our friend was driven to this mode of procedure because of a series of very poor honey-flows one year after another. Fighting that sugar syrup cost only about a fourth as much as the first quality of comb honey, he reasoned that, if he could make a legitimate trade with the bees, he could take _their_ product in exchange for his sugar, and almost quadruple his money.
While it costs considerable to feed bees in this way, we believe that Mr. Boardman's experience has been such that he feels war
## Feeding and Feeders.
It would be well to prepare three or four such, as one might need them all at one time. Melt off the handle that is on top and then solder it to the bottom. The reason for this will be apparent later. If you have not the proper facilities, take the cans to the tinsmith. Now with a wire nail punch a lot of holes in the top of the can. The smallest holes that you can make are better than large ones. These holes should be about a quarter of an inch apart, and cover the whole surface of the top. Perforate the tops of the two other cans, and your feeders are ready. Fill each can with a thin syrup, _eleurfull_, and then screw on the cap. Procurve some good strong clothesine ; then put the cans on a wheelarrow and wheel them out to a tree or grove about 20 yards away from the apary. Select some limb about 20 feet from the ground, without any branches or obstructions beneath. Tie a stone to the end of the rope that you brought along, and throw it over the limb and draw the end down. Hitch it to the wire handle in the bottom of one of the feeder cans. Now haul the can up in the air, upside down, until it is 16 or 18 feet above the ground. At first the syrup will leak out a little; but it will soon stop dipping if the screw top has been put on tightly.
This can, elevated in the air, will not be this-overed by the bees, probably, for two or three hours; but the next day a good many will be found working at it. If there are many bees in the apary, say one or two hundred hives, it may be necessary to hang up another feeder. When the bees are eagerly at work on the cans one may see strings of then going up and down to the feeder. Just as soon as a bee gets a good slip, one or more bees will grab hold to get at the same hole, when the two or three will fall together ; but before they strike the ground they take wing and fly up again, and so on the process continues. Sometimes whole bunches of bees will fall at a time, only to take wing before they strike the ground. Up they go, and at it again. It takes a bee almost as long to take a load from one of these feeders as it does from a field of clover, because it has to spend at lot of time up and down, up and down, before it can get enough for a load. And herein is the secret of its success; If the syrup up were fed thick in open cans, thousands of bees would be drowned; or if it were put into receptables where they could get at it rapidly and not down, they would fill up immediately, and in the course of half an hour all the syrup would be gone, and then robbing would be worse than ever. But a feeder put up in the air as explained makes it necessary for the bees to spend a lot of time in order to get the syrup, and consequently they are kept busy all day in emptying the cans. During this time one can extract, rear queens, and open up hives generally, with searely a robber showing up.
We would not advise this outdoor feeding generally for supplying the colonies with winter stores, or for stimulating only, because it involves considerable waste of bee life and energy.
For feeding up for winter, or for general stimulating, it is far better to feel within the hive, with any one of the good feeder is just described. The long flight to and fr, up outdoor feeders is apt to wear out the bees prematurely; and their hard struggles against each other to get a slip causes the fuzz to wear off, making them look like old bees very soon. Outdoor feeling is it'vis d only to stop or prevent robbing, who're important work like extracting after the he-ey-flow, or queen-rearing, is going on. If it is necessary to feed up the bees, and robbers are inclined to be medilosome, we would advise doing so by night or during rainy days, as previously explained.
**FENCE.** See Comb Honey.
**FERTILLE WORKERS.** See Iayino Workers.
**FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY BEES.** See Fruit-blossion, als? Pollen.
**FIVEWEED.** See Willour-Herb.
**FIXED FRAMES.** See Frames, Neil-spacino.
**FUNDATION.** See Comb Foundation.
**FRAAMES. SELF-SPACING.** By these are meant frames held at certain regular distances apart by some sort of spacing-device, forming either a part of the frame itself or a part of the hive. Under Spacing of Frames, elsewhere, and under Entractor, we have discussed the distances that frames should be apart. Some prefer 14 inches from center to center; but the majority, supported by the best of reasons, prefer 15 inches. Self-spacing frames, then, are those that, when put into the hive, are spaced automatically, either 13 or 14 inches from center to center. Loose frames differ from them, in that they have no spacing-device connected with them, and are, therefore, when placed in the hive,spaced by eye--or, as some have termed it, "1 by guesswork," "Such spacing results in more or less uneven combs ; and beginners, as a rule, make very poor work of it. The advocates of self-spacing framesclaim that they get even perfect combs, no hurr-combs, and that, without any guesswork, the combs are spaced accurately and equally distant from one another. Self-spacing frames are always ready for moving the hives, either to an outward, to and from the cellar, or for ordinary carrying around the apiary. Loose frames, on the contrary, while they are never spaced exactly, often can not be handled to an out-apiary, over rough roads, without having stieks between them, or something to hold them in place. It is contended by some, also, that spaced frames can be handled more rapidly. See Frames, Manif'tLating. On
Heldon, the Hoffman, the thick-top staple-spaced, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, are spaced.
The closed-end Quinby is, us its name indicates, one whose end-bars are wide their entire length. The top and bottom bars are one inch wide. These closed up-rights, or ends, when they come in direct contact, cause the combs which they contain to be spaced accurately from center to center. Fig. 1. A, shows one such frame. Several of the closed-end frames are made to stand, and have very often been called " standing frames." Mr. Quinby, in order to keep such frames from toppling over, invented the strap-iron hook on one corner, as shown in Fig. 1, re-engraved from Cheshire. \(h\) is the hook that engages the strap iron \(\eta\) in the bottom-board; \(gr\) is a groove to admit the other hand, the advocates of the loose (of the hook, and at the same time render frame urge, as an objection to the self-spacers, that they kill bees.
This depends. The careless operator may kill a good many bees. If he uses a little common sense, a little patience, applying a whiff or two of smoke between the parts of the frames that come in contact, he will not kill any bees. All this talk about self-spacing frames--Hoffman and closed-end type--killing bees emanates from a class who have never used them, and are therefore incompetent to render judgment. The fact that some of the most extensive bee-keepers of the world are using self-spacing frames, and the further fact that the number of self-spacing-frame users are constantly increasing, shows that this supposed bee-killing is more fameied than real.
There are a good many styles of self-spacing frames. We will describe, first, those most commonly used in this country and then show some of the others that are or have been used in Europe. Among the first mentioned we might mention the closed-end Quinby, the Danzenbuker, the fieldon, the Hoffman, the thick-top staple-spaced, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, and the millisecond, metal-spaced Hoffman, are spaced.
Thise looks are on the outside of the hive proper, and hence they do not kill bees, nor are they filled with propolis as they would be if made on the inside of the hive, A and B are respectively the frame and the follower, although they are drawn somewhat out of proportion. With a panel on each side, a cover and a bottom- board, the Quinby-Hethenington hive is complete, the ends of the frames forming the ends of the hive; although, for additional protection in the spring, Mr. Elwood and Mr. Hetherington both use the outside case to set down over the whole. This makes a very cheap hive, and has many desirable features in it. For fuller details in regard to this frame, and its manner of construction, the reader is referred to " Quinby's New bee-keeping."
## 4 Danzenbaker closed end frames
The closed-end frame that promises to displace all others of this kind, and which, perhaps, is to-day the most extensively used of any of its class in the United States, is the
Figure 1: How the quinby frame hooks on to the bottom.--_From Cheshire._