376 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



through an Oklahoma journal, to account for 

 it. The bees were shipped in Danzenbaker 

 hives, and I will say that, on account of clos- 

 ed ends to the frames, and the frames being 

 fitted solid with comb, I regard this as an 

 ideal hive for the rough handling of bees or 

 for shipping long distances. Of the 280 

 combs m the 28 hives, not a single one was 

 broken or misplaced in the hive. 

 Cherokee, Okla. 



POLLEN AND BROOD-REARING. 



Sugar Syrup Fed During a Pollen Dearth 

 will Not Stimulate Brood-rearing. 



BY ALLEN LATHAM. 



Not many months ago Gleanings had 

 something to say about turning syrup into 

 bees in late winter and early spring, and 

 selling the same bees at the spring prices. 

 On paper this shows a good profit. I may 

 err, but I recall nothing said about the sup- 

 ply of nitrogenous food in the carrying-out 

 of this enterprise. Were the bees to depend 

 upon their stored-up supply of pollen, or 

 were they to get it from early flowers, or 

 were they to rear brood without pollen? 



When the other conditions are right, bees 

 can be forced into heavy brood-rearing by 

 the stimulation of warm sugar syrup. This 

 is true in early spring if the combs contain 

 an abundance of old stores of pollen, or if the 

 weather permits the gathering of ample 

 quantities of new pollen. 



In the spring of 1903 I had a single-comb 

 observation colony which I had wintered 

 successfully. This little colony was fed and 

 kept warm through March. The bees were 

 able to gather pollen frequently, and bred up 

 so fast tliat a swarm was cast on the 11th day 

 of May. The earliest date other than that 

 was the 21st day of May, and all other dates 

 for such a colony to swarm have been in 

 June. Those latter springs were not propi- 

 tious; and, though warm syrup would start 

 brood-rearing, it would not progress, often 

 stopping with the laying of the eggs. Not 

 till the natural supply of pollen set in would 

 the brood-nest expand rapidly. 



The present spring, with its frequent cold 

 winds, furnishes further evidence of the 

 bearing of the pollen supply upon brood- 

 rearing. My let-alone colonies on the hills, 

 with their large well-stocked brood-chambers, 

 are now (May 10) strong enough to swarm, 

 not only covering their nine combs but clus- 

 tering in the surplus apartment. The home 

 colonies, with their smaller brood-chambers, 

 and manipulated on another plan, have a 

 different story to tell. Many are in the in- 

 fancy of their strength, and not a few are 

 numerically worse off than in March. 



I glanced at some of these colonies in April, 

 and found combs destitute of pollen. In 

 many cases heavy breeding in fall had left 

 but a scanty supply, while manipulation in 

 others had changed the natural Tbalance, so 

 that this spring found certain colonies cut 

 off from the rearing of brood because of the 



lack of the nitrogenous food supply. The 

 minority are reaching swarming strength: 

 the majority can not take advantage of the 

 ample pollen supply because of their present 

 numerical weakness. 



This weakness came from the incessant 

 call for pollen in the early days of April. 

 Nearly every day the winds were cutting, 

 apparently coming from distant fields of 

 snow and ice. Much sunshine had brought 

 out numerous flowers, and the bees were 

 out for the pollen. They never came back. 



It would be useless and foolish to try to 

 stimulate brood-rearing under these circum- 

 stances. No amount of syrup would fill the 

 bill. Better far to check the energies of the 

 bees along that line till pollen-gathering can 

 be carried on with safety. Such checking 

 would conserve the bee-forces and the stores. 



The experience of this spring has still 

 further confirmed me in my beliel in one or 

 two maxims which have been often reiterat- 

 ed. Abundant stores in the fall, and a good 

 queen, will do all that can be done in the 

 spring. By stores I mean pollen as well as 

 honey. Though I prefer tne bees to pass 

 the winter with little pollen uncovered, I 

 want quantities uncovered in early spring. 



In a normal colony in this locality the fall 

 finds the following conditions present. A 

 brood-chamber has a spherical portion, near 

 its lower edge, of empty comb. Around this 

 empty-cell sphere, especially back and above, 

 is a concentric ring of fall honey with little 

 pollen underlying it. Around this ring is 

 another which has several pounds of pollen 

 underlying it, which pollen was stored and 

 preserved under honey in the summer days 

 when the queen's prolificness was beginning 

 to decline. Then, last of all, will come more 

 or less clear honey. 



Winter uses up the fall honey; and as little 

 pollen is uncovered there is but little brood- 

 rearing. Late in February the bees begin 

 to dip into the ring of pollen, and breeding 

 will go on apace. Soon honey and pollen 

 will be used equally fast. By the time the 

 last ring of honey is reached, the bees will 

 be getting out for new honey and new pollen. 



Such is the normal condition in my let-alone 

 hives, as I have verified again and again. 

 These colonies with their undisturbed brood- 

 chambers are, with few exceptions, ahead of 

 my home colonies in early May. I think, 

 therefore, that any scheme to turn syrup in- 

 to bees in early spring, unless supplemented 

 with some suitable pollen supply, will give 

 discouraging results. 



Norwich, Conn. 



[Gleanings has taken no particular stand 

 on this matter of feeding, except to say that 

 the majority of the evidence of late strong- 

 ly supported the statement that bees should 

 be fed liberally in the fall — enough to last 

 till new honey came in, rather than to feed 

 sparingly in the fall and again in the spring. 

 Of course it would be understood that there 

 would have to be a supply of nitrogenous 

 food also, or there would be little or no 

 brood-rearing. — Ed.] 



