Bee bread

“ The active life of bees is divided between collecting food and rearing young. We shall therefore consider these two functions separately.
The food collected consists of two kinds, honey (which, although stored in the 'crop' for the purpose of carriage from the flowers to the cells, appears to be but the condensed nectar of flowers) and so-called 'bee-bread.' This consists of the pollen of flowers, which is worked into a kind of paste by the bees and stored in their cells till it is required to serve as food for their larvæ. ”

“ They collect wild fruits, and for bread they make a sort of paste of grass seeds moistened and ground between stones into a flour. This they make into dough and eat it either cooked or raw. A favourite dish is wild honey, which they find in the hollow trees by following the bee to its hoard. ”

“ There should, on the contrary, be a garden full of pleasant flowers as near as possible to the bees, as, though they will occasionally go even miles in quest of food, it is much better for them on every account to have it close at hand. Bees are particularly fond of the flowers of buck-wheat, and, though other plants may be more abundant in [Pg 381] honey, none are more useful in affording what is called bee-bread, or the substance on which the bees live while they are laying up their winter store. ”

“ Sandy explained how faithful and devoted a colony of bees is to their queen, which is the bee that lays eggs out of which are hatched drones, or male bees, and the workers. There is a peculiar kind of honey called "queen bread," and sometimes, it is said by some, when a queen bee dies, the workers will select a "cell" containing an egg that will eventually hatch, and surround this egg with queen bread so that when the insect develops enough, it can feed on that instead of on ordinary honey. ”

“ Both the beanes and peaze are ripe in tenne weekes after they are set. They make them victuall either by boyling them all to pieces into a broth; or boiling them whole vntill they bee soft and beginne to breake as is vsed in England, eyther by themselues or mixtly together: Sometime they mingle of the wheate with them. Sometime also beeing whole sodden, they bruse or pound them in a morter, & thereof make loaues or lumps of dowishe bread, which they vse to eat for varietie. ”

“ After the eggs have been laid the queen does not appear to take the slightest interest in what may become of them. On the other hand, the worker bees do, for they know that on these tiny little eggs depends the future of the hive.
In three or four days an egg will hatch into a tiny white grub, which the nurse bees immediately commence to feed. It is not fed upon honey, though, for that would be like feeding a baby on roast beef! The nurse bees have certain glands in their bodies by which they are able to turn honey into a kind of bee-milk, and this is called “chyle food.” ”

“ Food.—I believe the best food that can be given, next to honey, which in some years is far too expensive for feeding, is one pound of loaf sugar, one quarter of a pint of water, and one quarter of a pound of honey, simmered for a few minutes over a slow fire till the sugar is melted, and when quite cold,, given to the Bees, and at the top of the hive if possible. ”

“ If the honey be much candied it may be placed over a fire for a few minutes till it becomes liquid—another plan of feeding is to prepare a rim of straw, or a wooden hoop, the exact size of the hive, and four inches deep, within which place the dish of honey, and put the hive over it, making the union secure with a napkin.
In the Spring, Bees should be fed sparingly, three or four ounces of honey twice in the week, will be found amply sufficient ”

“ In feeding for box honey, it often requires more than one pound of feed to secure a pound in boxes, for the bees consume some while storing it, and they often find some place in the hive which, like the crowded omnibus or street car, is not so full but that additions may be made.
The reader will bear in mind this simple fact: Bees do not make honey, they simply collect it. Honey undergoes no chemical change in the stomach of the bee. ”

“ Here is a chance for you to exercise your ingenuity in so arranging a glass sash, as to secure these conditions, and yet not trouble the bees by having them bump against the glass by mistake. If they don’t notice the meal, as some complain they will not, start them by giving a piece of comb honey laid in the midst of the meal; get a few bees on the comb from several hives until they have got a taste, if you cannot start them otherwise. When they begin on natural pollen they will take little notice of the meal. Equal parts of oats and rye ground fine seems to please our bees best. ”

“ The egg of the working bee is hatched in about four days, when it becomes a grub, in which state it is fed for about five days more, according to the temperature of the season; when it has increased so as to fill the cell, it is covered in by its nurses with a waxen lid. ”

“ If this conjecture be right, it will follow, of course, that all the food which the bee takes, contributes to the formation of wax, in the same manner as all the food which a cow eats contributes to the production of milk, or, to adopt a nearer simile from the insect tribe, as all the food which a spider takes contributes not only to the nourishment of the animal, but to the production of the substance of the cob-web from its body. ”

“ It cannot be denied, however, that, according to our ideas, bees' taste is otherwise at fault; it sometimes happens that, where onions and leeks abound and are allowed to run to seed, bees are so anxious to complete their winter stores, that, from feeding on these plants, a disagreeable flavour is communicated to the honey. ”

“ Yet still ale and mead continued to be the usual drinks. The innumerable entries in Domesday Book show us how large a proportion of the productions of the country, in the reign of William the Conqueror, still consisted in honey, which was used chiefly for the manufacture of mead. The manuscript in Trinity College Library, gives us a group of bee-hives (cut No. 64) , with peasants attending to them; and is chiefly curious for the extraordinary forms which the artist, evidently no naturalist, has given to the bees. ”

“ They may be fed on a syrup made of clarified sugar, but the syrup should never, nor should honey be kept, melted, dissolved, or fed from copper or brass vessels, as it has been ascertained that verdigris will cause foul brood.
We have now provided our bees with sufficient food for winter, and why should we not? We provide (or should) , a sufficient supply for each sheep, and certainly the profits of a swarm of bees are as great as from a sheep—aye, and far greater—and they do not require one-fourth part of the care and attention. ”

“ Sweeping the hollow of the honey-cup with their little probosces, the little skilful chemists eagerly imbibe the saccharine juices as they exude from the nectarium, receive them into the globular honey-bag, which forms their anterior stomach, and hurrying homewards with their precious load, disgorge it into the cells prepared for its reception. The quantity which each bee deposits at one time is very small, the honey-bag when full not exceeding the size of a pea; but the aggregate quantity collected by the whole population is prodigious. ”

“ By feeding at the top, all this may be avoided; not only the trouble of removing the feeding-pan every morning, but the danger and loss certain to arise from fighting.
Stocks.—A careful examination of every stock should be made on a mild day towards the end of the month; and where any doubt exists as to the sufficiency of food in the hive to carry the Bees safely through the spring, a supply should now be given, and I must still recommend barley-sugar (where honey cannot readily be obtained) as the best food that can be given. ”

“ Nor must it be forgotten that, if the production of brood is to be stimulated, some nitrogenous food will be necessary. When crocuses and willow-blossom are plentiful in the early spring, the bees will collect sufficient pollen from these sources, to provide for their wants in the above respect. But, failing a natural supply of such azotised material, pea-meal forms a good substitute, and is readily made use of by the workers. ”

“ Bees, when fully grown, feed almost wholly on honey; but the larvæ require for their development a more substantial kind of nourishment. Such solid fare is found by the bees in the pollen of flowers, a farina which contains some of those nitrogenous elements in which honey is deficient. The body of a worker-bee is covered with hairs, to which the pollen adheres when, by contact with the bee, it is rubbed from the anthers and stamens of flowers. ”

“ Without disturbing the brood full combs may be substituted at each side for the empty ones. If combs stored with honey and sealed over are not in reserve liquid honey or sugar sirup may be poured into empty ones and placed in the hives at night. A less dauby plan is to use one or more feeders directly over the brood nest, supplying several pounds of food at once. An excellent way is to give at one time all they need in the shape of a cake of bee candy, made by mixing fine sugar with just enough honey to produce a stiff dough. ”

“ For packing, these are superior to anything I have yet seen or heard of. They are clean, and excellent non-conductors, and will more readily absorb the moisture than either chaff or saw-dust, and yet remain perfectly dry. They are easily collected by a boy when men are husking in the fields; and when taken off in the spring can be stored away for another winter. Knowing the value of them by experience, I hope that many of our brother bee-keepers will give them a fair trial.
Feeding Back.
The question of “feeding back” honey to bees was discussed at the Michigan State Convention at Flint. ”

“ Two or three twigs or strips of wood laid across the frames before the cake is placed on them will also give the bees a better opportunity to reach the food.
If the food be given in small quantities brood rearing will be encouraged and still greater supplies of food will be called for, rendering it absolutely necessary to give a large amount at once or continue the feeding until natural sources fully supply the needs of the bees and brood, otherwise both may starve. Three pounds of sugar dissolved in one quart of water will make a suitable sirup for spring feeding. ”

“ This is not only untrue, but in many cases the bees are a great aid in the pollination of the flowers, making a good crop possible. A more frequent complaint is that bees puncture fruit and suck the juices. Bees never puncture sound fruit, but if the skin is broken by some other means bees will often suck the fruit dry. In doing it, however, they are sucking fruit which is already damaged. These and similar charges against the honey bee are prompted by a lack of information concerning their activities. ”

“ It is not wise to defer feeding until later in the season, because it is important that, when the food is placed b the cells, the bees should seal it up; and a tolerably warm temperature is required to enable them to secrete the wax for the delicately-formed lids of the cells. If the food remained unsealed, there is danger of its turning sour, and thereby causing disease among the bees. It is not well to feed in mid-winter or when the weather is very cold: bees at such times consume but little food, being in a state of torpor, from which it is better not to arouse them. ”

“ BEAN PUDDING. Boil and blanch some old green-beans, beat them in a mortar, with very little pepper and salt, some cream, and the yolk of an egg. A little spinach-juice will give a finer colour, but it is as good without. Boil it an hour, in a bason that will just hold it; pour parsley and butter over, and serve it up with bacon.
BEE HIVES. Common bee hives made of straw are generally preferred, because they are not likely to be overheated by the rays of the sun; they will also keep out the cold better than wood, and are cheaper than any other material. ”

“ Nearly every stock will have more or less of it on hand at this season; but as warm weather approaches, and the bees increase to warm the hive, it seems to get liquified, from this cause alone. The bees, when compelled to use honey from these cells, thus candied, waste a large portion; a part is liquid, and the rest is grained like sugar, which may be seen on the bottom-board, as the bees work it out very often. Another object in feeding bees, is to give inferior honey, mixed with sugar and flavored to suit the taste, to the bees, and let them store it in boxes for market. ”

“ It is the opinion of Reaumur and others that farina does not constitute the sole food of the bee-larvæ, but that it consists of a mixture of farina with a certain proportion of honey and water, partly digested in the stomachs of the nursing [B] bees, the relative proportions of honey and farina varying according to the age of the young. It is insipid whilst they are very young, and becomes sweeter and more acescent the nearer they approach maturity. ”

“ Some have contended that bees cause an injury to all kinds of fruit, such as apples, peaches, plums, etc., by taking away the substance and sweetness, in the form of honey, which otherwise would be absorbed, and eaten with the fruit. This is a great mistake. The provisions of nature are wise in this respect as in all others. There is the strongest evidence to prove that honey, once secreted in the cups of the tiny blossoms, never returns to the flower or fruit, but evaporates and passes into the air. ”