68 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



March 



out, around among those set out in the 

 morning, and thus all mixing is avoid- 

 ed. On warm days those to be set out 

 in the afternoon may be allowed to 

 remain till near four o'clock but not 

 much later, else they will not have the 

 proper flight before sunset. Of course 

 it is understood that the bees are only 

 set out on pleasant days, with the 

 mercury at 50° or above in the shade. 

 In this way 1 continue on pleasant 

 days till all are set out. If it is desir- 

 able to set all out at once, as is the 

 case with out apiaries, then scatter 

 about as set out as much as possible, 

 and you will experience no trouble. 

 It is where two colonies sitting side by 

 side are at full flight at the same time 

 that mixing of bees come about. 

 After setting out it sometimes happens, 

 especially if the weather is very warm, 

 that the first set out will commence to 

 rob or carry off the stores of those set 

 out last, which are so busy with their 

 cleansing flight that they do not seem 

 to notice the robbers. Robbing is not 

 always confined to such colonies, but 

 all weak colonies, whether wintered 

 in the cellar or otherwise, are subject 

 to be attacked in the spring and I 

 know of no one thing in bee keeping 

 that is more vexatious to the apiarist 

 than robbing. While to the experi- 

 enced eye robber bees are easily dis- 

 tinguished, yet those just starting out 

 in bee keeping are often perplexed to 

 know whether their bees are being 

 robbed or not, as young bees at play 

 often resemble robbers. I know of 

 but one sure way for inexperienced 

 persons to tell when a colony is being 

 robbed and that is by killing two or 

 three of the suspected bees and dis- 

 secting them, so as to expose the 

 honey sack. If this sack is empty 



there is nothing wrong, but if you find 

 a bee leaving the hive with its sack 

 filled with honey rest assured that 

 robbing is going on, for bees in a 

 normal condition should be always 

 conveying honey to a hive, not from 

 it. To prevent robbing as far as pos- 

 sible, close the entrance to the weak- 

 est colonies so that but one bee can 

 pass at a time, and allow not over two 

 inches in length of entrance to the 

 strongest. If robbing has actually 

 started close the entrance so that only 

 one bee can pass at a time, leaving it 

 thus till evening, so as little of the 

 honey will be carried off as possible, 

 and after all is quiet at night carry 

 the robber colony to the cellar, leav- 

 ing it there for a few days until the 

 bees forget the place or are engaged 

 in getting pollen or nectar from the 

 opening flowers, when the colony is to 

 be returned to its former location. 

 After trying all plans for stopping of 

 robbing 1 much prefer this to any 

 other. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



The Best All Seasons Hive. 



BY F. D. BOWERS. 



There seems to be a good many who 

 are wintering their bees on their sum- 

 mer stands in the single walled hives, 

 by using old dry goods boxes for pack- 

 ing cases, thinking they are saving 

 money by so doing. I did the same 

 thing for years, and for the same 

 reason. 



I never liked the dry goods boxes, 

 and feel after using the chaff hive for 

 several years, that I would rather pay 

 the price asked than to take the single 

 walled hive as a gift, and be obliged 

 to go back to the dry goods boxes 

 again. 



