214 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[October. 



when sunshiny days come again they 

 have to begin all over again. Where, 

 with good weather, the weak colonies 

 might rear patches of brood the size 

 of two hands, as the weather comes 

 to us the patches of brood are scarce- 

 ly the size of half a hand, on account 

 of lack of warmth and not lack of 

 feed. We should get the brood 

 ready to hatch in strong colonies, so 

 that the young bees are already gnaw- 

 ing out of the cells and exchange it 

 for combs of less mature brood of the 

 weaker colonies. Take the comb of 

 brood from the center of the weak 

 colonies and insert the comb of hatch- 

 ing bees in its place. In eight or ten 

 days the bees will be hatched out and 

 eggs and young larvae in their place. 

 Then take this young brood away 

 from the weak colony and exchange 

 for more hatching bees. This must 

 be continued systematically. As there 

 begins to be many young bees in the 

 weaker colonies they should be fed 

 because work will benefit these young 

 bees and they will soon put the colony 

 in a booming condition, to a greater 

 extent than those old bees which arc 

 about to step off the stage of action. 

 If we start to boom our colonies we 

 must keep it up until the finish, or 

 else the ' starting, and then withhold- 

 ing our manipulations will be a real 

 detriment. It is perfectly safe to 

 build up weak colonies by drawing 

 from the strong where the queens are 

 young and vigorous. We can know 

 what our queens are by knowing how 

 they were reared the previous season. 

 The cheapest and best stimulating in- 

 fluence there is for our colonies Is 

 good queens. Do not forget this. To 

 tolerate defective queens is compar- 

 able to planting a garden with poor 

 seed while good seed costs but a few 

 cents more. 



The way to make bees pay is to 

 make them work. This requires 

 skillful manipulations at opportune 

 times, and, for this reason the begin- 

 ner may cause wastes through mis- 

 takes, etc., but, nevertheless, there 

 must be practice even if it does make 

 wastes which cost. We must be 

 watchful lest opportunities pass un- 

 heeded and our profits are turned to 

 loss. We have weak colonies and 

 cold nights in California as waJl as 



anywhere. All through the winter it 

 is difficult to make one bee rear more 

 than a single substitute. While it is 

 cool and damp for a long time, and 

 also sunny a few hours in the day, 

 the bees are enticed out, and being 

 more or less stupid, large numbers 

 never return to their hives. Strong 

 colonies have plenty of warmth and 

 to spare. Cool weather only makes 

 them more comfortable, where, on the 

 other hand, it wears out the vitality 

 of the few bees in weak colonies to 

 keep up a continued effort to keep 

 their brood warm. 



The first move in building up weak 

 colonics is the getting of the strong 

 colonies filled with sealed and hatch- 

 ing brood because hatching brood is 

 the builder. With brood it is only a 

 few days until we find our weaker 

 colonies on a boom. By feeding we 

 get the strong colonies on the boom 

 about 30 days sooner than we can 

 those which are weak and in South- 

 ern climates I have kept them in 

 swarming trim all winter. In order 

 to do this it is necessary that the 

 combs already in the hives be solidly 

 filled with honey. All combs not im- 

 mediately needed for brood should be 

 removed and the space within the 

 hive contracted. Then feed liberally 

 enough to compel the bees to stand 

 about with honey in their sacs for 

 lack of cells in which to store it. 

 There is no danger of retarding the 

 queen laying, in the early part of 

 the season. If honey is in the way 

 the bees will soon devise ways to 

 remove it and convert it into brood or 

 combs preparatory to rearing more 

 brood. They should be fed often and 

 plentifully enough to construct new 

 comb, otherwise our feeding is not 

 of much benefit. 



As a feeder for spring I use the 

 empty milk or oyster cans that can be 

 picked up most anywhere. They are 

 about three inches in diameter and 

 four and one-half inches deep, and 

 hold about one and one-half pounds of 

 feed, and I use one or more to the 

 colony. Set the end that is cut open in 

 a bed of coals and the solder will soon 

 be soft and that end will be easily 

 knocked off. As the cans are made by 

 folding the tin instead of soldering the 

 side seam will not be opened by your 



