MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 89weak colonies with very little comb, but nice, good queens. Howwould you feed them so other bees would not get to the feed?A. Use a Miller feeder in the evening after flight is over, andthere will be no trouble. Other feeders can be used. If you happento have none, you can use a crock-and-plate feeder. Take a galloncrock, or some other size, put sugar in it, and an equalmeasure or weight of water; lay over it a piece of heavy woolencloth or four or five thicknesses of cheese-cloth, and on this lay aplate upside down. With one hand under the bottom and theother on top, quickly turn the whole thing upside down, and yourfeeder is ready. Take the cover off your hive, set over it anempty hive-body, set your feeder in it, and cover up, being surethat all is bee-tight.Q. How will this new- plan of feeding work? Place tin containersabout the size of a half-pound baking powder can cover,containing bee candy, above the brood-frames, inside a 1-inchwooden frame to fit on the top of the hive under the cover.These tin containers set side by side just above Ihe broodframes,would be in the warmest part of the hive, and theircandy contents would be easily accessible to the bees through theholes between these circular tin containers. This plan of feedingis easily adjustable, as a sufficient number of feed-containers canbe used for either large or small swarms with no danger of feedrunning out to kill the bees. Tin can manufacturers can supplythese at small cost.a bitA. This plan would work all right, I should think. In weathercold the bees would not reach the candy quite so readily asif laid directly on the top-bars. Some apiarists pour candy inpaper platesfor feeding.Feeding in the Open.—Q. I have some waste honey and I amfeeding the bees the honey outdoors on some wide boards. Isthat as good as feeding in feeders?A. Fully as good or better, if your neighbor's bees do not gettoo much of it, and if you are absolutely sure the honey containsno germs of foulbrood.Q. We are in the midst of a protracted drouth, hardly aflower to be seen. I have filled my bee-feeders with -syrup madefrom granulated sugar and placed the feed in the yard where allthe bees can help themselves. Is this method of feeding all right,or should the food be placed in the hive?A. Feeding out in the open is a little more like having thebees gather from the fields; only if other bees are near you theywill also partake of the plunder. The stronger colonies will get