764 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and set a small steel trap on the post with 

 a chain long enough so that it will staple 

 to the post below the center so that, when 

 the hawk alights in the trap, he will reach 

 the ground and not tear loose from the 

 trap, if he is caught by only one toe, which 

 is often the case. The hawk, while shy of 

 a gun, and wise in some things, looks not 

 to his feet, and a trap set on a post needs 

 no covering and no bait. The only objec- 

 tion is that we sometimes catch a useful 

 bird that should not be caught; but we ex- 

 cuse ourselves by saying that one hawk in 

 his lifetime will catch many such birds, and 

 chicks and fowls that should not be caught. 

 Dayton, Ohio. 



TO PREVENT ROBBING WHEN FEEDING 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER 



A Virginia correspondent has trouble 

 with robbing, and asks advice. He started 

 feeding with the Boardman feeder, and 

 when robbing began he stopped it by put- 

 ting wet hay over the entrance. " Then," 

 he says, " I ordered some division-board 

 feeders and tried them, and every time I 

 feed them they seem to go crazy and want 

 to rob, and the combs melted down in one 

 of my hives, and they got hold of some of 

 the honey and started to rob worse than 

 ever. I tried putting hay over the entrance, 

 but it didn't do any good. Then I tried 

 putting them in the cellar, and that didn't 

 do any good. Then I piled hay all round 

 the hives, and kept it wet for a good while, 

 and they robbed through the hay. The 

 strongest colonies make no attempt at de- 

 fense at all, but the weaker ones will catch 

 a robber every now and then, and give him 

 a little roll. This is my first year at bee- 

 keeping. I have eight colonies, and would 

 like to save them if I can. How can I feed 

 without starting robbing? " 



That's quite a graphic account of a bad 

 case of robbing, and will appeal to many an 

 old beekeeper who has been through the mill 

 himself. Only it's out of the ordinary that 

 the weaker colonies make more attempt at 

 defense than the stronger ones. 



" An ounce of prevention is worth more 

 than a pound of cure " is a proverb that 

 applies especially to a ease of robbing. 

 Bees have no morals to speak of, and every 

 bee is a potential robber. Most of them 

 never find out that they can rob; but let a 

 bee once get into its little noddle the knowl- 

 edge that there is such a thing as getting in 

 another hive stores piled up ready to hand, 

 and it will risk — yes, and lose — its life in 

 the nefarious business of robbing — nefari- 



ous from the standpoint of the beekeeper, 

 although not from that of the bee. 



It's too late now to say just what should 

 have been done, but it may do some good 

 for the future, although one can only guess 

 at some of the things you did or did not do. 

 It would have been a little safer if you had 

 used a Miller feeder. Being on top it does 

 not present so strong a temptation to rob- 

 bers as a feeder at the entrance or in the 

 brood-chamber. Besides, it allows you to 

 feed up more rapidly for winter. 



It is safer to feed in the evening, after 

 bees have stopped flying. By the time bees 

 fly next morning the excitement will have 

 died down, there will be less to attract rob- 

 bers, and the bees will be in better condition 

 to defend themselves; for when feed is first 

 given to bees, they become excited over it, 

 and seem to feel — at least somtimes — -that 

 when sweets are so very abundant there's 

 no use to be mean about it, and so they 

 allow free entrance to outsiders. 



The wet-hay business is usually quite ef- 

 fective if begun early enough and the hay 

 made wet enoa,igh. Possibly you failed on 

 the latter point. 



Putting the attacked bees in the cellar 

 may do little or much good, according to 

 management. If you merely took the bees 

 into the cellar and then took them back 

 again after a day or more, the gain is very 

 doubtful. For when the robbers find the 

 hive missing, they think they've made some 

 mistake as to the location of their prey, and 

 pounce upon one or other of the neighbor- 

 ing hives, merely transferring their activ- 

 ities there. Even if they should be driven 

 out of these, when the cellared hive is re- 

 turned to its place the change is quickly 

 noticed by the robbers, and they renew the 

 attack with vigor. So you must try to fool 

 the bees. When you put the hives into the 

 cellar, don't leave the stand vacant, but set 

 on it another hive just like the removed hive 

 in appearance, and in tliis hive let there be 

 one or more empty combs, or combs with a 

 very little honey. Then, instead of pounc- 

 ing upon neighboring colonies, the robbers 

 will continue their attention to this substi- 

 tute hive; and after having cleaned the little 

 honey there, if you have left any, they will 

 become convinced there is no more booty 

 to be had there, and will leave the hive. 

 After they have given up their ^dsits to the 

 hive entirely, you may then return the 

 colony from the cellar, in the evening, hop- 

 ing that the robbers will not discover that 

 the empty one is not still there. It may do 

 some good to paint about the entrance wHh 

 carbolic acid. Indeed, the carbolic acid alone 

 will be a sufflcient protection against rob- 

 bing if it has not proceeded too far. 



