Fig. 17.—Division-board feeder to be hung in hive in place of frame.
If spring dwindling begins, however, it can be diminished somewhat by keeping the colony warm and by stimulative feeding, so that all the energy of the old bees may be put to the best advantage in rearing brood to replace those drying off. The size of the brood chamber can also be reduced to conserve heat.
Fig. 18.—Feeder set in collar under hive body.
It sometimes happens that when a hive is examined in the spring the hive body and combs are spotted with brownish yellow excrement. This is an evidence of what is commonly called "dysentery." The cause of this trouble is long-continued confinement with a poor quality of honey for food. Honeydew honey and some of the inferior floral honeys contain a relatively large percentage of material which bees can not digest, and, if they are not able to fly for some time, the intestines become clogged with fæcal matter and a diseased condition results. Worker bees never normally deposit their fæces in the hive. The obvious preventive for this is to provide the colony with good honey or sugar sirup the previous fall. "Dysentery" frequently entirely destroys colonies, but if the bees can pull through until warm days permit a cleansing flight they recover promptly.
Fig. 19.—"Pepper-box" feeder for use on top of frames.