ROBBING. 



384 



ROBBING. 



way will immediately begin to 'Investigate/' 

 It will hover around the wire cloth (not cov- 

 ered by the super cover) for a minute or st), 

 and then, like a duck to water, it will make 

 a dart for the entrance. 1'here are no guards 

 there to stop it; it rushes in pellmell, crawls 

 up through the two wire-cloth cones shown 

 in the previous illustration, and out through 

 the apex, when it is a prisoner. It may take 

 a sip of the honey, and when it gets its fill it 

 will go toward the light at the point where 

 the super cover is slid backward. The 

 chiinces are only one in a thousand that it 

 will get back through the wire-cloth cones 

 as mentioned, and it soon worries itself to 

 death. Thus the trap works after it catches 

 ;ill the criminally inclined bees. The small 

 amount of diluted honey on the inner wire 

 cloth is used up, and automatically the rob- 

 ber-trap goes out of commission. The old 

 sinners are all caught; and as there is no 

 more honey to attract honest bees, none will 

 be caught. 



The question may arise right here, " Is the 

 robber-trap of any use to the honey-produc- 

 erV" Certainly not to the same extent that 

 it is useful in a queen-rearing yard; but dur- 

 ing a period of extracting, there are times 

 when it appears to us it might be used to 

 good advantage, especially if some careless 

 employee should happen to leave the door 

 of the honey-house open or allow a colony to 

 be robbed to death. 



As we have before pointed out, if robbers 

 can be caught at the very start they will be 

 found to be mainly from one hive, and a lit- 

 tle later from two or three. If they get well 

 agoing they will attract other bees by their 

 uproar; but if robber-bees be floured, and 

 followed back to their hives, it will be seen 

 that the great bulk of them go to only two 

 or three hives. A yard-man has to be ex- 

 tremely careless to allow robbing to get 

 started throughout the entire yard. 



HOW THE ROBBER-TRAP CAN BE MADE TO 

 CUKE THE ROBBING NUISANCE. 



It often happens that a colony will be 

 nearly conquered l)y robbers, and it may be 

 a fairly good-sized one too. The thing to do 

 then is to take it off its stand and put a rob- 

 ber-trap on its stand, when, presto! the 

 thieves will be imprisoned. In the mean- 

 time the attacked colony is taken down cel- 

 lar where a window has been left open. The 

 marauders that don't belong there will pass 

 outward through the window, which then 

 should be closed. In very short order the 

 robber-trap on the stand of the hive that 



was being robbed will have collected all the 

 robbers. When every thing becomes quiet 

 in the yard, put the trapped bees down cel- 

 lar and keep them there for some days as 

 already directed. If confined more than two 

 days they will, of course, have to be fed. 



The robbed colony, after its despoilers are 

 caught, may now be put back on its stand, 

 when the entrance should be contracted to 

 about the space that one bee can pass at a 

 time. The bees in the trap down cellar can 

 not of course molest it; and, during the 

 time that they are held in confinement, it 

 will have recovered itself, and with its con- 

 tracted entrance will be able to put up a 

 very stiff defense in case another onslaught 

 is made. 



It often happens that one or two colonies 

 will do the greater part of the robbing in an 

 apiary. If that is the case, trap them all and 

 then carry them to an outyard or location 

 a mile or more from their own yard or the 

 scenes of their recent pow-wows, where 

 they would be only a constant menace 

 and annoyance unless removed. If they 

 give trouble at the outyard, trap them again, 

 and then fumigate them to death by putting 

 sulphur in the smoker. Better by far that 

 they be put out of the way; for having 

 learned bad tricks they are of no further 

 use in the yard. 



FOLDING BEE-TENT. 



One of the great conveniences m a well- 

 regulated apiary is some sort of bee-tent 

 or large cage covered with mosquito-net- 

 ting which one can put over himself and 

 hive too while he is making the necessary 

 examination. It should be quite light so 

 that it may be easily handled ; should be at 

 least six feet high inside, and long enough 

 and wide enough to take in the hive and the 

 bee-keeper comfortably while he is working. 

 In our apiary we use two forms of tent— one 

 a regular square house made of wire cloth, 

 and another one which can be folded as 

 shown in the illustration, when not in use. 

 With either one of these, preferably the 

 former, one can, during the robbing season, 

 even when bees are acting their very mean- 

 est, perform all the necessary work about the 

 hive, such as cutting out queen-cells, intro- 

 ducing, etc., without a robber being able to 

 get at the combs. Of course, the bees in 

 the hive will fly out, bump their heads 

 against the mosquito -netting, and finally 

 reach the roof of the tent; but as soon as 

 they find themselves caged they immediate- 

 ly try to get out through a hole in the top, 

 where they can very soon make their escape. 



