Bee Keeping for Profit. A New System of Bee Management (1880) / First Edition.

by Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton

Receipt for Feed.

To eight pounds of coffee crushed sugar, add two quarts of soft water, and whites of two eggs; bring to the boiling point over a slow fire, being very careful not to burn it. Skim off carefully all skum or sediment that rises, so that the feed, when cool, will be perfectly clear and about the consistency of new honey.

FEEDER.

To construct the feeder,[3] get a tin-worker to make you a tin dish, with perpendicular sides, nine inches square inside, three inches deep, without a bottom. Around the lower edge turn the tin out about one half inch all round, for the dish to rest on when placed on the hive for feeding the bees. Around the top of this dish put a stout wire to keep it in shape Get another tin dish made 8 by 8½ inches square inside, two and one-half inches deep, with a bottom. Place the smaller dish inside the larger one, the bottom of the inner dish even and level with the lower edge of the outer dish, which brings the top of the under dish one-half inch lower than the upper edge of the outer dish; then when the outer dish is covered, (as it will be in feeding,) there will be a halt inch space between the cover over the outer dish, and the top of the inner dish.

[3] With the aid of the engraving, there can be no mistake in constructing the feeder, particularly as its position on the hive is shown under head of Construction of Controllable Hive, [Chapter XVIII].

Place one of the shorter sides of the inner dish against the inside of the outer dish, in such a position that there will be a half inch space all round between the outer and inner dish, except at the side where you fasten them together; across this one side join them firmly together with solder; at the bottom near the opposite end solder brass or tin about one inch wide, across the half-inch space from the bottom of the inner dish to the edg;e of the outer dish, to hold the dishes firmly in place. Near the upper edge of the outer dish solder an some strips of lead about one inch long, by one-half inch wide, to turn down over the corner when put on, to hold it in place. Now get out two pieces of half-inch board, eight inches long, and two and one-half inches wide; with a thick saw, cut channels crosswise of the pieces, three-eighths of an inch apart and one-fourth inch deep, the whole length of the pieces, being careful to run your saw square across the piece every time. Next get out pieces to correspond with the number of channels, eight inches long, two and one-half inches wide, one-eighth inch thick, (sawed out so the sides will be rough, to enable the bees the better to hold fast to them, when taking feed). These pieces are to stand edgewise in the inner dish. With a sharp knife bring the ends of the pieces to a thin edge, so they will easily slip into the channels in the half inch pieces. Put the pieces with the channels, one across each end of the inner dish, the channels of each facing the inside of the dish, then slip the ends of your pieces that are one-eighth thick down through the channels, to the bottom of the inner dish. Before you put them down into the dish, cut out a small notch, in what will be the lower end of each piece after it is put down into the dish, so the food when poured in will flow to all parts of the feeder. The pieces or slats when all put edgewise in the dish will reach to the bottom and be on a level with the edges of the inner dish.

Now for the cover: get out a piece of board a half-inch thick, nine and one-fourth inches long, four inches wide. In the centre of this piece, with a sharp bit, make a one-inch hole; cover the hole with fine wire cloth, bent a little convex. Put this piece of board over the outer dish, with wire cloth next to the inside of the dish, (put it across that end where the dishes are soldered together,) hold it in place by turning up over it the pieces of lead soldered on near the upper edge of the outer dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with glass, held in place in the same manner, by the leads.

Your Feeder is now finished. Set it over the brood section on the top, at the rear, the wood cover next to the back of the hive, the glass toward the front. Cover that portion of the brood section of the hive, not covered with the feeder, with a honey board, so no bees can get up into the cap of the hive.

Now to feed, pour the feed in at the inch hole, in the cover. The bees pass from the hive up between the sides of the outer and inner dishes, in the half-inch space, over the sides of the inner dish, in the half-inch space between the cover of the outer dish and the edges of the slats that are placed edgewise in the inner dish, and pass down between the slats, after feed in the inner dish. The hole in the cover should be kept closed with a cork, to confine the heat to the hive, exclude insects, etc.

When first commencing to feed a stock, scatter some of the feed over the tops of the frames in the brood section; also on the sides of the dishes on each side of the half-inch space leading lo the feed, and on top of the slats of the feeder, so the bees may find the way to the feed. After they once learn the road, they will need no coaxing to induce them to take the feed given them. 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 it 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.