362 



GLEANJNGS IN B£E CULIUBE. 



Mak. 15 



hive. Take out combs which the bees can 

 not properly protect by covering them, 

 otherwise with cool nights strong colonies 

 are out and flying the next morning and 

 ready to rob before weaker colonies, owing 

 to the chilling of the outside of the cluster, 

 can become active and defend their hives 

 and stores. 

 don't change the appearance of the 



HIVE. 



Mr. Jacob Alpaugh, Eden, Ont., in a con- 

 versation with me, pointed out the danger of 

 changing during uncertain weather, and, 

 after the bees had located themselves, the 

 outside appearance of the front of the hive. 

 This is sometimes done with shade-boards, 

 etc. Once located as the bees fly out, they 

 do not examine the front; and in cool weath- 

 er, returning and finding a changed condi- 

 tion, they hesitate, fly about, and become 

 chilled. He states that, if they once fall, 

 they may again take wing; but they appear 

 stupefied, and generally fly away never to 

 return. I am satisfied that Mr. Alpaugh is 

 correct in his observations and deductions. 



In conclusion, let me say spring manage- 

 ment is of great importance. The greater 

 the inexperience of the bee-keeper, the less 

 what he knows, the safer the let-alone policy 

 after seeing that the bees have a good queen 

 and plenty of stores. To those of more ex- 

 perience, a scriptural injunction will not be 

 out of place: "Prove all things; hold fast to 

 that which is good." 



Brantford, Canada. 



BUILDING UP COLONIES. 



Colonies Divided into Three Classes; Swarms 

 from the Strongest Hived with the Weak- 

 est; Strengthening Medium Colonies with 

 Frames of Brood. 



BY WM. W. CASE. 



In the spring every apiary contains three 

 classes of colonies — weak, medium, and 

 strong. The first are generally regarded as 

 useless, by some as nuisances, and as having 

 worthless queens; the second generally get 

 in good enough shape for a little surplus, 

 while too frequently the latter expend their 

 energy in giving off swarms, giving their 

 profits in increase and not in honey. Such I 

 find to be too frequently the case with a far too 

 large number of bee-keepers, especially those 

 who keep small apiaries for honey, and who 

 have no room for (nor desire) increase. 



There are certain well-krjown conditions 

 that are essential to the production of a 

 bountiful honey crop; and a general law gov- 

 erning these conditions, without which, no 

 matter how favorable nectar conditions are, 

 satisfactory results can not be attained in 

 net returns. An apiary, to be a profit-pay- 

 er, must consist of a number of colonies, 

 greater or less, all of which are in a homo- 

 geneous condition of strength, that strength 

 to be kept up by the progeny of a first-class 

 queen, and then not ruined at the time of the 

 honey harvest by an uncontrollable attack 



of swarming fever that turns a honey-flow 

 into increase and not honey. 



The bane of most apiaries in the spring is 

 the weak colony, a colony usually regarded 

 as worthless, or as a candidate for combs of 

 brood from more fortunate neighbors— apian 

 which badly injures the stronger stocks at 

 that time of the year, and is of but little val- 

 ue to the weak colony. A weak colony is 

 frequently unable to care for more brood- 

 combs properly, so the result is the death of 

 the brood from chilling, or the bees that hatch 

 will be of such low vitality as to be practic- 

 ally worthless. 



Others try to help the weak ones by feed- 

 ing and nursing, and sometimes succeed in 

 building them up to satisfactory strength, but 

 only at the close and not the beginning of 

 the season, with a result of barely enough 

 stores to carry them again through the suc- 

 ceeding winter and give nothing whatever 

 for daily bread for the owner. 



In but few sections of the North is it at all 

 worth while to try to feed a weak colony to 

 working condition in time for a flow from 

 clover, and it is only throwing away good 

 money to rob strong colonies of brood to 

 build them up. If feeding for stimulative 

 brood-rearing must be indulged in at all, we 

 should feed the very best ones and get every 

 bee hatched possible before swarming com- 

 mences, and let the weak ones take care of 

 themselves, of course seeing to it that they 

 are kept supplied with honey, as warm as 

 possible, and protected from robbers. 



Now, with the advent of swarming, comes 

 the day when our weak colonies become our 

 money-makers. When the first swarm is- 

 sues, go to the strongest weak colony, one. 

 say, that has reached five or six partly filled 

 combs of brood, but which will remain too 

 weak of itself to yield surplus; smoke thor- 

 oughly to cause the bees to fill themselves 

 with honey, and catch and cage the queen 

 and remove her. Now hive the swarm right 

 into this weak colony and give plenty of room 

 for surplus. As all the bees are well filled 

 with honey there will rarely be any dispute. 

 This poor worthless colony has now become, 

 like magic, one of the very best in the api- 

 ary, and possesses every requirement for 

 yielding a large surplus, viz., a medium 

 amount of brood, a large force of field bees 

 stimulated by having swarmed, a good force 

 of nurse bees already in the hive, and a first- 

 class queen. Such a colony will rarely swarm 

 again during the season, as, by the time they 

 are again gorged with brood, the honey-flow 

 will generally be so far advanced as to dis- 

 courage further swarming. 



Now to return to the hive from which the 

 swarm issued. Next day about noon, when 

 the few field bees are out foraging, smoke 

 the bees; and, if you have time, remove all 

 queen-cells and turn the queen taken from 

 the weak colony loose on the combs. She 

 will be accepted ninety- nine times out of a 

 hundred, and no questions asked. If rushed 

 for time, just turn her loose on the combs 

 anyhow, and she will take care of the queen- 

 cells herself. In about a week this colony 



