208 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apeil, 1918 



inch in diameter.. Then when the can is 

 filled with hot syrup and the cover or friction 

 top is pushed into place, it may be inverted 

 and set down over the frames. This should 

 be given at night preferably and under pack- 

 ing of some sort. If the syrup is given hot, 

 the bees by the next morning will have taken 

 it all out and quieted down, so in case it 

 should turn cold that day, they will not fly 

 out. 



All entrances of colonies that are dead 

 should be closed tight; otherwise on the first 

 warm day the bees of the live colonies will 

 rob them out causing more or less of an up- 

 roar, during which the weak colonies, which 

 might otherwise have remained unmolested, 

 may be robbed out and entirely destroyed. 

 But the greatest danger is that if there is 

 any foul brood in the yard, such indiscrimi- 

 nate robbing will cause the spread of the dis- 

 ease thruout the entire apiary. 



Feeding Pollen Substitutes. 



There is another kind of feeding that may 

 have to be resorted to some springs, and 

 that is the giving of rye meal in trays or in- 

 verted hive covers in protected locations 

 somewhere in the apiary. 



Perhaps once in four or five years or once 

 in ten j^ears, there may be a shortage of pol- 

 len in the hives. The result is that the bees 

 in early spring, before natural pollen is avail- 

 able, will visit all the stables and chicken 

 coops in the immediate neighborhood, to get 

 ground feed. This sometimes causes consider- 

 able trouble between the beekeeper and his 

 neighbor. When this condition arises the rye 

 meal should be put on in the beekeeper 's own 

 yard. In order to start the bees it may be 

 necessary to put a little syrup on the meal. 



After the bees once discover where it is, 

 they will take it quite freely and abandon the 

 stables and chicken coops. 



Spring Dwindling. 

 Beginners often hear a great deal about 

 spring dwindling and wonder what it is. It 

 is not a disease but a constant dying of bees 

 until there are only a few dozen left- They 

 may or may not show dysentery- It is usu- 

 ally confined to colonies that were weak or 

 had insufiicient protection during the winter. 

 As the name indicates, the bees gradually 

 disappear. When the cluster becomes small, 

 the bees become active and begin to eat 

 stores. This causes them to fly out more or 

 less to evacuate their intestines, and, while 

 out, they become chilled and die. 



Cause and Effect of Spring Dwindling and 

 Treatment Discussed by G. C. Greiner. 



It is generally supposed that spring-dwin- 

 dling is caused by unusual mortality among 

 bees after the opening of spring. This is 

 true in a measure; but it is not the main 

 cause. Bees are always dying, especially at 

 this time of the year. All the wintered stock 

 consists by this time of old bees, and this 

 fact alone would give them only a short lease 

 of life -at best. 



But during the warm days of February 

 Jind favorable weather in March and April, 

 they are building up their colonies, exerting 

 all their strength and energy in bringing up 

 their rising generations to the necessary 

 populousness for the coming honey-flows. A 

 little later, when nature provides its greatest 

 abundance of pollen, generally about the mid- 

 dle of May, they are seen by the dozens com- 

 ing home panting and loaded down so heavily 



FEEDING RYE MEAL. 



During :;oine sprin^js when Lees run out of natural pollen in the combs and before the new pollen 

 comes in, it is necessary sometimes to feed a suLstitute in thei form of rye meal outside in a protected in- 

 closure. This is important when bees bother neighbors by invading their chicken-coops and feed-troughs 

 for cattle. 



