>  No, the slit you cut into the zip-loc bag would limit the use to a
>one-time thing, but this technique is handy when you don't have the other
>feeding equipment available.
 
Though it has been a few years since I used plastic bags as an emergency
feeder for sugar syrup, I recall that I didn't actually slit the bag, but
rather poked a few holes in it.  Even just a few holes around on the surface
was enough to provide the feeding bees access.  But I guess a slash or two
would provide even faster conversion of the sugar syrup to stores.
 
The first article I ever wrote for a bee magazine described the construction
and use of a number of types of feeders, including the plastic bag.  It
mentions that the plastic bag was described in the August 1970 issue of the
NZ Beekeeper:
 
Doull, Keith M and Winn, R A, Waite Agricultural Research Institute,
Adelaide, S.A.  N Z Beekeeper, August 1970, pp 22-23.
 
By the looks of that article, it may have been a reprint from one of the
Australian bee magazines.  It refers to the method being developed in the
summer of 1964-65.
 
The article on feeding and feeders that I wrote is:
 
Wallingford, Nick.  To feed or not to feed.  NZ Beekeeper, Sept 1976, pp 13-16.
 
Headings include:
spring feeding
winter feeding
feeding dry sugar
feeding sugar syrup
-boardman
-over the hive feeder
-friction tins
-division board feeder
-plastic bag (around a frame)
-plastic bag (on top of the hive)
 
 
 
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Nick Wallingford, President
National Beekeepers Assn of NZ
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