SPRING MANAGEMENT. 



403 



SPRING MANAGEMENT. 



4 



SPRING 



ING. 



DWINDLING. See Wintek- 



SFRISTG liaASTAaElMEErrT. All 



colonies should be gone over very carefully 

 the first warm day the bees can fly in the 

 spring. Unless ihey have two or three 

 combs of honey, stores should be taken from 

 some other colonies that can spare them. If 

 no hive has a surplus, then the needy should 

 be fed a thick syrup consisting of two parts 

 of sugar to one of water. See Feeding, 

 especially those instructions urging fnll 

 rather than spring feeding. 



Feeders should be placed on top of the 

 frames, and covered with packing. It may 

 turn cold shortly after; and even if the syr 

 up is left in the feeder, starvation will be 

 averted, for the bees will cluster around it 

 and help themselves as they have need. 



If colonies have been well housed and fed 

 in the fall, there will usually be no occasion 

 for feeding or equalizing of stores. Of 

 course, there is liable to be here and there 



DOVETAILED WINTER-CASE. 



a colony which, by reason of bad stores, nay 

 have dysentei-y. In that case the fiont of 

 the hive will be soiled with dark brown 

 spots, and there will be a quantity of dead 

 bees in front of the entrance and on the bot- 

 tom of the hive. Such a colony, even with 

 the best of nursing, may die before settled 

 warm weather comes on. If considerable 

 honey-dew has been gathered during the 

 previous summer, one is likely to find some 

 spring d\A indling and dysentery in some of 

 the hives. Some honey-dews will make a 

 very fair winter food; but the majority of 

 them, especially those gathered from hick- 

 ory and oak, are bad. Where this is gath'r- 

 ed, we would endeavor to use as much of it 

 as possible in brood-rearing in the siunmer, 

 and then feed sugar syrup on top of it. 



Some springs the weather will open up 

 warm very suddenly with no natural pollen 



available. The warm weather may last sev- 

 eral days. During this time brood-rearing 

 will start up rapidly; and if there is no pol- 

 len in the hives the bees will be hunting 

 around in the barns and stables and chick- 

 en-coops for bran or chopped feed. It is 



RIGHT WAY OF PUTTING ON THE PAPER. 



necessary at such times to give artificial 

 pollen. Trays should be set out in sunny 

 places, under cover if possible, containing 

 a few quarts of rye or pea flour. 



Unless bees can have natural or artificial 

 pollen when brood-rearing starts, consider- 

 able brood will be found dead. On seeing 

 this the beginner is apt to conclude he has 

 some form of bee disease — possibly foul 

 brood. If the brood dies shortly after a sud- 

 den warming-up spell, during which there 

 is very little natural pollen in or out of the 

 hives, the owner of the l;ees should await 

 further developments. See the last para- 

 graph of the general subject of Pollen and 

 Bee Diseases for further particulars. 



WAY OF PUTTING ON THE PAPER. 



It may be necessary in some climates, aft- 

 er the bees are set out of the cellar on tlieir 

 summer stands, to provide some sort of pro- 

 tection. Some use wooden winter cases, 

 and others use paper folded over the hives 

 as shown in the accompanying illustration. 



Where colonies are very weak it may be 

 advisable to unite; but this uniting, if the 



