2. In autumn feed plentifully.
3. In winter do not feed at all.
4. Feed swarms, if unseasonable weather immediately follow the act of swarming.
5. Preserve the Bees of weak stocks, and prevent a great deal of the necessity for feeding, by adding them to those that are rich and able to support them. This last is the best and cheapest, nay—it is even a profitable method of feeding Bees.
Early swarming, where swarming is necessary as in the straw-hive colonies, is of great advantage to the watchful apiarian, but not to the inattentive and slothful manager. I have seen in a cottager's garden a swarm of Bees on the 10th of May, which was considerably weaker in the month of August, than was a swarm on the 10th of July, and that solely on account of not being fed and properly attended to.
If early swarms are judiciously fed, and supported by a natural heat within, they will be greatly benefitted thereby, and eventually prosper.
But, notwithstanding what has been already said, the cottager may probably ask—"how can I feed my Bees without lifting up their hive?" I again and again request him to examine my collateral box-hive; and he will perceive that he may easily feed the Bees in his cottage-hive in the same easy manner, if he have but ingenuity enough to attach a proper feeder to the stool or floor of his hive.
Mr. Huish advises apiarians to make choice of a fine and warm day in which to feed Bees, he says, the danger to be apprehended from the change of the temperature in the hive will thereby be obviated. This, I grant, is rational and humane, and in some degree a confirmation of my already expressed opinion, respecting the mischiefs resulting from the inconsiderate practice of exposing the interior of a hive to sudden and extreme alternations of temperature. But it matters not what sort of weather it may be, if my mode of feeding be adopted. I feed my Bees in their native temperature, without disturbing them or exposing their food to the temptation of robbers, which feeding in the ordinary way so frequently encourages, during the spring and autumnal seasons; and it is at these times that Bees stand in most need of assistance.
In the year 1828, I purchased a cottage-hive of a neighbour, it was a large hive, and well-stocked with Bees, but extremely light; I was fearful for the safety of its inmates, and, therefore, placed it over one of my feeders; in order to give them support by feeding, I placed the sirup intended for their food beneath the hive; but to my great surprise the Bees refused to take the proffered bounty. I persevered in my endeavours to induce them to feed for four days, but they would not touch the well-intended boon: I therefore resolved to ascertain the cause of their refusal, and on turning up the hive I discovered that thousands of the Bees were in a dying state, I had the curiosity to take the whole of them out singly. After several hours' particular attention and patient search, I found the Queen was dead. I then united the weak, enfeebled Bees to a rich stock, and they nearly all recovered their strength. Their numbers greatly assisted in the labour of the hive to which they were joined. Certain it is, that if any accident befal their Queen in winter, it is total ruin to that stock of Bees: where such a death is discovered, feeding will avail nothing, the Bees dwindle away and perish.
Mr. Huish says—and he is perfectly correct in saying—that there are some persons who defer the feeding of their Bees until the moment they suppose that they may be in actual want. This is a most reprehensible plan; for should feeding be too long delayed, the Bees will become so weak and debilitated, that they will be unable to convey the food into their cells: the food ought to be administered to poor stocks, three weeks or a month before they may be supposed to be in actual want; it will then be conveyed with the greatest despatch into the cells, and the hive will be saved from a death of famine. He then goes on to observe—that some apiarians conceive that the feeding of Bees in the spring renders them lazy and inactive. On what this opinion is grounded he is at a loss to conjecture, as must be every practical apiarian; for it is in direct contradiction, not only to Mr. Huish's experience, but also to that of many other apiarians. A little food granted to a populous, and even well-provisioned box or hive in the spring, is attended with very beneficial consequences. It diffuses animation and vigour throughout the whole community;—it accelerates the breeding of the Queen—and consequently conduces to the production of early swarms, where room is not previously given in order to prevent swarming altogether.