98 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



June 



many observations must be made be- 

 fore it will be wise to do much theor- 

 izing. However, the every-day bee- 

 keeper has, or should have, an interest 

 in them to the extent that he should 

 learn not to indiscriminately break up 

 the normal proportions of a colony, or 

 carelessly mix parts of the population 

 of two or more. Much harm is often 

 done by taking from or adding to a 

 colony, brood or bees in such manner 

 as to disturb the normal constitution 

 of the population, and this is one of the 

 reasons why colonies managed by sys- 

 tems of much manipulating are so often 

 surpassed by those run on the "let 

 alone plan." 



It will repay the beginner, and also 

 the rest of us, to observe carefully the 

 population of colonies, the distribution 

 of the brood, pollen and honey, make 

 comparisons and try to obtain a clear- 

 er view of bee life and bee ways. There 

 is a vast and unexplored field here in 

 which even the novice has a chance to 

 make valuable discoveries. 



Among some of the systems by 

 which parts of colonies are lopped from 

 the parent stock and united to some 

 other, is the one of moving a super to- 

 gether with all the bees in it from one 

 colony to another, generally for the 

 purpose of getting the sections com- 

 pleted, or for the purpose of starting 

 upstairs some obstinate stock. If the 

 transfer is made at such time as but 

 comparatively few old or field bees are 

 in the super, all will be well, but if at 

 night or such other time as many field 

 bees are in it, the chances are that the 

 honey in that super will diminish rather 

 than increase. It goes back to the stock 

 the super was removed from, the field 

 bees contained in it having turned most 

 adept "thieves.'' Much the same oc- 

 curs in the making up of nuclei, build- 

 ing up of weak cnjonies by adding 

 brood or bees, etc. These results are 

 more apparent when the honey flow is 

 light or stopped than when it is heavy. 

 To avoid these evils it is well to either 

 rid the to-be-moved part of all old 

 bees or else confine them for such per- 

 iod that when released they stick to 

 their new location. 



Transposing a strong and a weak 

 colony for the purpose of strengthen- 

 ing ihe latter, causes a disturbance of 

 the nati ral balance of parts of the pop- 

 ulation.":, but the results are seldom 



appreciably harmful. Each lot of field 

 bees on returning to the old stand and 

 entering the now strange hive will run 

 about as if queenless, often continuing 

 such actions for twenty-four hours. If 

 the lesser of the two colonies chances 

 to be very weak its queen is often kill- 

 ed by the alien bees. Mr. Chapman and 

 Mr. Stachelhausen have done well to 

 call attention to these matters, now let 

 the rest of us continue the work. 



Providence, R. I., May 8, 1902. 



Spring Desertion. 



(By G. M. Doolittle). 



QUESTION.— Will you please tell 

 us through the columns of the 

 American Bee-Keeper what is 

 the cause of bees leaving their hives 

 in the spring of the year, where said 

 hives are clean, the combs bright and 

 having quite a quantity of honey in 

 them, and some brood? Three of my 

 colonies have deserted their hives in 

 this way on warm days, and although 

 I have put them back, they will come 

 out again on the next warm day. What 

 can I do to remedy this matter? 



Answer. — This is a case of what is 

 termed "swarming out," by some, and 

 "spring desertion" by others. In an ex- 

 perience covering nearly a third of a 

 century I have had about a dozen such 

 cases, and in each one it has happened 

 after a hard winter, such as the past 

 has been, and with colonies which had 

 wintered rather imperfectly. Some 

 think it is caused by the bees becoming 

 discouraged, and abandoning further 

 efifort to keep up the temperature of 

 the hive so as to keep the brood from 

 perishing. In nearly every case which 

 has come under my notice, colonies de- 

 serting their hives have become reduc- 

 ed in numbers to a greater or less ex- 

 tent by spring dwindling; while the 

 number of bees, compared with the 

 amount of brood, was ill proportioned, 

 considering the outside temperature. I 

 used to think that such swarming out 

 could be accounted for on the ground 

 of lack of stores, moldy combs, etc., as 

 has been told us many times during the 

 past in the bee papers, but after hav- 

 ing several swarm out when all was 

 clean and nice, the same as is spoken 

 of by the questioner, I had to give that 

 up and conclude that those who had 



