ROBBING. 



383 



ROBBING. 



How do we avoid catching honest beesV 

 Easy enough. The traus are put in opera- 

 tion only when the prowling thieves are 

 around. They are constantly on the alert, 

 skilled as they are in the art of stealing and 

 in finding any exposed sweets; that is to say, 

 they are ever following one al)0ut, while the 

 honest bees are either in the field or hive. 



Let us assume a case. After we have been 

 working in the yard a few days there are a 

 few robbers that accumulate. But we do not 

 let them continue on with their nosing into 

 other people's business till they make work 

 in the yard exceedingly disagreeable, and 

 the colonies that are being worked cross. 

 Before they become very numerous, two or 

 three robber-traps are put into operation; 

 and in an hour absolute peace is restored 

 and not a prowler is in sight. 



cloth cones.) We ojien up the robber-trap 

 hive, and just over the entrance of it we 

 find a wire-cloth cone tacked up against the 

 inside hive-front. This is made by cutting 

 and folding a piece of wire cloth in the form 

 of a. triangle. The large end fits over the en- 

 trance, while tlie other end, gradually taper- 

 ing to a small oritice (about f inch square), 

 reaches nearly to the top of the hive, or with- 

 in an inch of the rabbet on which the frames 

 rest; it is then secured by double- pointed 

 tacks as shown at the top of Fig. 1. As an 

 additional precaution we find it desirable to 

 have a smaller wire cone of the same con- 

 struction under the larger one. Where theie 

 is only one cone the bees are liable to go 

 back out through the entrance. Other forms 

 of cones are shown in the two low^r views of 

 Fig. 1 on previous page. 



Fig. 2.— Outside detail of the robbei-trap. A double screen is used, and hoiioy is painted on tlie inner 

 screen. Robbers are attracted by tlie odor of tlie honey. As iht y can not reach it from the outer screen 

 they enter the hive and are trapped. 



The value of the trap depends on the fact 

 that it stops a would-be bad case of robbing 

 before it has progressed to any extent. A lit- 

 tle syrup (and a very little) is put into one 

 or two traps. The robbers, because hunting 

 for sweets, are caught lovg before any honest 

 bees think of looking for them. 



CONSTRUCTION OF ROBBER- TRAPS. 



Let us now look over one of these traps at 

 the Root apiaries and see how they are con- 

 structed. An ordinary hive, such as is used 

 in the yard, two wire screens such as are 

 employed for moving bees, a super-cover, 

 and a wire-cloth-cone bee-escape, make up 

 the complete outfit. (The ordinary Porter 

 spring escapes for this purpose have not 

 been found to be as satisfactory as the wire- 



One of these traps is placed at a conven- 

 ient location in the yard, when one of the 

 wire screens for moving bees is laid on top. 

 With a brush we smear a little diluted honey 

 (honey is better than syrup) over the wire 

 cloth at one end— the back one. This film 

 of honey is spread over an area of about two 

 inches wide by the width of the screen. 

 Another screen is placed on top of this, and 

 over the whole is placed a super-cover, as at 

 the left in Fig. 2. Notice that this super- 

 cover is set back about two inches, leaving a 

 portion of the wire cloth— the part smeared 

 with honey— exposed where the bees can get 

 a smell of it, but not tcmch it, because the 

 ttpi)er screen keeps them from it. Now% a 

 robber-bee, if a h.irdened •' old sinner'" or a 

 professional, when it smells honey in this 



