140 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



and never permit weak colonies to have 

 a larger entrance to their brood chanc- 

 er than the bees are able to guard suc- 

 cessfully. But then it sometimes will 

 happen that robbing is going on at a 

 fearful rate before the bee-keeper is 

 aware of it, and that thousands of rob- 

 ber bees have entered a hive and are 

 -carrying away the stores. All the 

 remedies as afforded from time to time 

 in bee papers I find none as good and 

 effective as the following treatment of 

 such cases: 



Supposing now the hive is full of 

 robber bees, how are they to be com- 

 pelled to leave the premises where they 

 are trespassers? My mode of proced- 

 ure is as follows: I have frames fit- 

 ting the front part of my hives, provid- 

 ed on one side with wire cloth secure- 

 ly tacked to the frames. This wire is 

 fastened to the front of the hive raid- 

 ed by the robbers, with the hollow side, 

 of course, next to the hive by means 

 of two screws. No more robbers can 

 enter the hive of the unfortunate col- 

 ony but the robbers inside the hive, 

 after having filled their honey sacks 

 with the stolen treasure, hurry out to 

 take it to their own hive. In a min- 

 ute ortwothe screen is completely filled 

 with a scrambling mass of bees anxious 

 to get out, but they heve to stay long 

 enough to be "marked" so as to as- 

 certain what colony is guilty of the 

 crime of robbing. This is best done by 

 dashing a handfull of flour on the 

 screen, and the*u lay down the screen, 

 when pell mell the thieves will leave 

 in a hurry. Readjust the screen in- 

 stantly and look for the whereabouts 

 of your millers with their white jack- 

 ets and you will generally find but one 

 colony guilty of robbing, unless the 

 robbing has been permitted for some 



time unpunished. Now% proceed and 

 allow all robbers to clear out as soon 

 as they are ready to go home Avith 

 their booty. This is accomplished in 

 about ten minutes after the wire screen 

 was first fastened to the front of the 

 raided hive and hardly a robber bee 

 is left in it. 



If it is a severe case of robbing I 

 generally make the thieves carry back 

 a good share of the stloen goods, and 

 this is accomplished in the following 

 manner: After the hive robbed is 

 clear of robbers I leave the screen fast- 

 ened over the entrance till after sun- 

 set. Then I remove the weak and 

 robbed colony to the stand of the rob- 

 beas' hive while the robbers' hive is 

 placed on the stand of the colony they 

 have raided. A few slices of onions 

 put into each hive concerned in the 

 transaction will prevent any fighting 

 next day. The result is a very funny 

 one the next morning. The robbers 

 will be at it with a will, carrying honey 

 out of their own hive into the hive 

 of the colony they had robbed the clay 

 prievous, and all the field bees will 

 enter the hives on their old stand. 

 Thus the forces are soon equalized, 

 the slices of onions are removed, and 

 in a few hours harmony prevails again 

 and the thieves are compelled to stop 

 their pilfering and attend to honest 

 work once more. I have tried it often 

 and it never failed to stop robbing in 

 my apiary. If a colony is queenless, 

 and if this is the cause of the robbing, 

 then a queen should be givn at once, 

 or the queenless colony should be 

 promptly united with some other col- 

 ony. — Western Stockman 



Hasting's Feeders. — We can supply 

 these feeders at 30c. each, or S3. 00 per doz. 

 Postage 13c. each extra. They are con- 

 sidered to be among the best feeders in use. 



