6i6 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [ii Sept., 191 i. 



one well filled Langstroth comb) in the hive. Bees build up in spring on 

 their winter stores, excepting in specially favoured localities with a mild 

 climate and an early flowering flora. From 15 lbs. to 25 lbs. of honey is 

 more like the quantity required in an average locality, to obtain the best 

 results in brood-rearing till sufficient new nectar is available from outside 

 sources. In many instances, bees will be found very short of stores this 

 spring ; and, as the consumption greatly increases as soon as brood-rearing 

 commences, any shortage should be made good by feeding sugar syrup as 

 recommended in the July number of the. Journal. 



If no feeders are on hand, a clean empty comb may be filled with- 

 syrup by placing it flat in a milk or other suitable dish and pouring the 

 syrup into the cells from a height of about 15 in. When one side is filled, 

 the comb is turned over and the other side filled. To get a fine stream^ 

 of syrup, a jug with a rather pointed lip is the most suitable vessel. When 

 the comb is filled, it should be held or suspended over the dish for a short 

 time, to allow the surplus syrup to run off. The latter would otherwise 

 fall on to the floor of the hive and in all probability attract robbers. 



Every hive should have a fertile queen ; and, as a minimum, bees on- 

 at least two or three combs. It is not absolutely necessary to see the 

 queen, the presence of eggs and of brood in the .several stages being suffi- 

 cient evidence that the queen is all right. When the eggs, however, are at 

 the side of the cell bottom, and not in the centre, laying workers instead 

 of a queen may be present. 



A further indication of laying workers, an unfertile young queen, or 

 an exhausted old one, is that the cappings of the sealed brood, instead of 

 being only slightly oval, are hemispherical and project much beyond the 

 general surface of the comb. This is due to the fact that the eggs of 

 laying workers and unfertile or exhausted queens produce drones only. 

 The larvae of the latter are larger than those of w^orkers and being in 

 worker instead of in drone cells there is not sufficient depth, and the cell 

 is therefore lengthened in capping it. If a hive in this condition still con- 

 tains sufficient bees, and is to be retained as a separate stock, the 

 laying workers or the drone-laying queen must be replaced with a fertile 

 one. With Italian bees, which are quieter than blacks, and the queen 

 differently marked from the workers, the queen is usually easily found. 

 Black queens are often very hard to find on account of their sombre colour 

 and the habit of black bees of clumping or running off^ the combs when 

 disturbed. 



In hunting for queens, or examining brood for disease, it is necessary 

 to see both sides of each comb. To do so, many bee-keepers turn the 

 comb in the wrong way, resulting in a fracture of the cells near the top 

 bar when the comb is not built right down to the bottom bar and it is at 

 all heavy with honey. It also causes spilling when the comb contains new 

 thin honey. A comb should never be turned on a horizontal, but always on- 

 a vertical axis. Combs fractured or strained through handling them the 

 wrong way often mash up in the extractor. When the combs are returned 

 to the hive the bees repair them ; but, as the damaged cells become 

 elongated through the weight of the comb, they are large enough for 

 drone-brood, several rows of which will be found across the comb where 

 it was fractured when the comb is used in the brood-chamber. Combs so- 

 damaged are also very liable to come down in hot weather or in moving 

 bees by road or rail. 



If combs are handled the right way, no harm will be done to them, 

 even when built from starters and not fastened to the bottom bar of the 



