402 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



effort to find a place where they can get something for nothing. If 

 at any time when honey is not coming in you have opened a hive, and 

 find the robbers pouncing in, you may do well to close up for the 

 time being. No use to try to drive the robbers away with smoke. 

 You may for the time being drive them away, but you also drive away 

 the bees of the hive as well, and make them unfit to defend their 

 stores. 



Weak colonies and those that do not have laying queens are 

 objects of particular interest to robbers. Try to keep all colonies 

 strong, and if you must have a weak colony in a time of scarcity, 

 see that its entrance is only large enough for one bee to pass at a 

 time. If in the spring you find a weak queenless colony being robbed, 

 it is often the best plan to let the robbers entirely alone and let 

 them finish up the job. If you take the hive away, the robbers 

 will pitch fiercely into the nearest hive, but if you let the hive stand, 

 the robbers will work at it until nothing is left, and gradually give it 

 up. If there is much honey in the hive, you may take most of it away, 

 but leave the hive unmoved for the robbers to work at. Sometimes 

 the robbed bees will turn in with the robbers and help them. 



But it is not always desirable to allow the robbers to have their 

 own way. Sometimes some carelessness on the part of the bee- 

 keeper may start robbing in the strongest and best colony in the 

 jard, and every effort should be made to stop them. Pile hay or 

 straw at the entrance and at the sides of the hive, piling it as high 

 as the top of the hive or higher, and sprinkle it thoroughly with 

 water. The robbers do not like the wet, and they do not like to 

 work their way through such a difficult passage, while the bees of 

 the hive will force their way through. Keep everything thoroughly 

 wet until the robbers stop, which may not be until sundown. Italian 

 bees defend themselves against robbers better than black bees. 



WATER FOR BEES. 



Bees use a great amount of water. Nectar, as usually gathered 

 from the flowers, contains a large proportion of water, and while the 

 bees are busy on this they have no need of water besides. But in 

 a very dry time, or when no nectar is coming in they will often be 

 found returning to the hive with water alone in their honey-sacs. 

 In spring time, before the flowers yield nectar, many bees may be 

 seen along tlie margins of small streams, busily sipping up water 

 from the sand and pebbles to carry to their hives. The weather 

 being raw and cool, accompanied perhaps by high winds, these 

 journeys for water are perilous, and thousands of bees thus sacrifice 

 their lives, especially if they must travel a great distance. Some 

 think it worth while to make the work less dangerous for the beeg 



