Page 20 



BETTER FRUIT 



February, IQ20 



Food, protection, and room are the 

 three requirements for colony exist- 

 ence and prosperity. Most failures to 

 have colonies profitably strong at the 

 beginning of the honey-flow arc due to 

 negligence on the part of the beekeeper 

 in supplying, in advance of the needs 

 of the colony, any deficiency that may 

 occur in one or more of these require- 

 ments. 



Production of Bees for the Winter 

 Colony. 



Fall Stores and Room. — During late 

 summer and early autumn, when the 

 bees are reared that make up the winter 

 colony, a deficiency in either stores or 

 room .''or brood-rearing may so restrict 

 the production of young bees that their 

 number may be too low for successful 

 wintering. Colonies that are abundant- 

 ly supplied with stores and have sufTi- 

 cicnt brood-rearing space at this time 

 usually continue to rear sufTicient 

 young bees even in the absence of a 

 fall honey-flow or any stimulative feed- 

 ing. This is especially true if the queens 

 are young. 



Winter Stores — Before the beginning 

 of cold weather each colony should 

 have available at least a sufficient quan- 

 tity of stores to supply the needs of the 

 bees until late spring. In the northern 

 states, where bees wintering out of 

 doors do not have frequent flights or 

 where bees are wintered in the cellar, 

 it is exceedingly important that the 

 winter stores be of the best quality, 

 such as honey which contains the min- 



imum amount of gums or a sirup made 

 of granulated sugar. If inferior honey 

 is present in the brood-chamber when 

 brood-rearing ceases in the fall, the de- 

 fect may be remedied by feeding at this 

 time about 10 pounds of heavy sugar 

 sirup to each colony. This will be 

 stored where it will be immediately 

 available for winter consumption, thus 

 leaving the inferior stores for spring 

 consumption when they do no harm. 

 Any deficiency in either quantity or 

 quality of wirjter stores should be sup- 

 plied immediately after brood-rearing 

 ceases or earlier. 



Conservation of Energy of Winter 

 Colony. 



Winter Protection — During the brood- 

 less period of winter the life of the 

 worker bees must be greatly prolonged 

 in order that the colony may survive. 

 The energy of the bees must be so con- 

 served that they will live six months or 

 more instead of six or eight weeks, as 

 in the active season. Bees live most 

 slowly when they are broodless, un- 

 disturbed, and have a temperature 

 within the hive of 57° F. to about 65° 

 F. When the temperature within the 

 hive goes below 57° F. the bees become 

 more active in order to maintain the 

 minimum of 57° F. within the cluster. 

 When the temperature within the hive 

 goes above about 65° F. the bees be- 

 gin some of the activities similar to 

 those of the summer season. For best 

 results in wintering, it is necessary 

 therefore for the beekeeper to provide 



ii 



Wood-Lark" 



Is Good 



Orchard Insurance 



You must guard the roots of your trees, else there will 

 be no tops to care for. 



"IVood'Lark" gives you this protection. Sprinkle 

 some in gopher runs, and stop the Springlmultiplying 

 of these pests. 



"Wood 'Lark- IS SURE DEATH TO GOPHERS. 

 If Your Dealer Hasn't Any, Write Us 



Clarke-Woodward Drug Co. 



PORTLAND, OREGON 



abundant protection against cold and 

 wind either by wintering the bees in 

 the cellar or by protecting them out of 

 doors. (See Farmers' Bulletin 695.) 



Increase in Population. 



During spring, while still anxious 

 that bee-energy shall not be wasted, the 

 beekeeper desires that it be spent ju- 

 diciously in brood-rearing. For best 

 results the maximum of colony strength 

 should be reached about the time the 

 honey-flow begins. 



In most localities suitable for the 

 production of comb-honey there is dur- 

 ing the season but one honey-flow that 

 furnishes any considerable surplus 

 suitable for comb-honey, with perhaps 

 minor honey-flows either meager in 

 quantity or furnishing honey unsuit- 

 able in color. Furthermore, in these 

 localities the main honey-flow usually 

 occurs so early in the season that only 

 those colonies provided with the best 

 environment are able to build up to 

 profitable strength to take advantage of 

 it. In other localities the main honey- 

 flow may occur later in the season or 

 the season may furnish a series of im- 

 portant honey-flows with sometimes 

 long intervals between them. Each 

 type of location furnishes its own modi- 

 fication of the problem. 



Spring Stores — When brood-rearing 

 is resumed in the spring the consump- 

 tion of stores is greatly increased over 

 that of winter and as spring brood- 

 rearing approaches its maximum the 

 daily consumption of stores increases 

 until an enormous quantity of honey is 

 used for this purpose. At this time there 

 is great danger of the colonies running 

 short of stores, especially if no nectar 

 is being brought in from the fields. 

 Colonies that run short of stores during 

 the spring rear brood sparingly and 

 are so severely retarded in develop- 

 ment that they usually attain profitable 

 strength too late for the honey-flow. 

 All colonies should be so abundantly 

 supplied with stores for winter that 

 there will be plenty left for early 

 spring brood-rearing. If this was not 

 done an early spring examination of 

 all colonies is necessary to find which 

 need more stores. Any deficiency in 

 stores should be supplied immediately 

 by inserting frames of sealed honey 

 saved from the previous year or by 

 feeding sugar sirup. Each colony 

 should have at this time at least 10 to 15 

 pounds of honey in excess of their 

 daily needs. Some beekeepers practice 

 feeding each colony a small amount of 

 sugar sirup daily to stimulate brood 

 rearing. This should not be done dur- 

 ing early spring, but under some condi- 

 tions may be profitable during the few 

 weeks just previous to the beginning 

 of the honey-flow. Extensive produc- 

 ers, however, usually prefer to give 10 

 or 15 pounds of sealed honey or to feed 

 an equal amount of sugar sirup at one 

 time to colonies that are short of stores 

 in the spring. 



Spring Protection— A good hive that 

 conserves the heat of the colony is a 

 great help in early brood-rearing. Some 

 beekeepers who winter their colonies in 

 the cellar in single-walled hives find it 



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