THE GENESEE FARMER. 



70 



MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES. 



Ix the month of March we frequently have a few warm, 

 sunny days, almost as mild as June. Such weather is 

 frequently more injurious to bees than the coldest days of 

 winter. If the hires are placed in a winter bee-house, 

 made dark to prevent the bees from leaving their tene- 

 ments, which is right, the warm atmosphere without will 

 work its way in, and the bees will become aroused from 

 their torpor, or state of hybernation, and will eudeavor to 

 escape from their confinement, however dark the room 

 may be. 



In such cases, the apiarian is much perplexed, and 

 scarcely knows what to do. Mr. Qcinbt, of Montgomery 

 county, who has wintered bees extensively in dark rooms, 

 says that he has often been compelled to place large quan- 

 tities of ice among his hives, in order to cool the atmos- 

 phere around them on such spells of warm weather. 



If the weather were to remain mild at such times, we 

 should at once remove the bees to their out-door stands ; 

 but in most cases, within forty-eight hours, we again 

 have the thermometer down to zero, or near that point, or 

 a deep snow that would be much worse for the bees if re- 

 moved, than to remain imprisoned, however warm the 

 weather might be. 



The confining of the bees in their hives does not remedy 

 the evil, as the attendant excitement and their struggles 

 to escape are about as [destructive as to allow them to 

 leave thir hives at will. In some cases, where no ventila- 

 tion is afforded but at the regular passage-ways, and 

 • these places of egress and ingress being closed with 

 perforated tin, wire cloth, etc., which would give an abun- 

 dance of air, if the bees would remain between their 

 combs, but they come down and crowd around the open- 

 ings in such masses that suffocation is produced. This 

 effect is generally produced by the bees generating a 

 dampness, and a chill ensues, which, as night approaches, 

 stiffens the bees, and they become an inert mass at the 

 passages, and prevent all air from entering. In out-door 

 situations, where bees are fastened in their hives, this fa- 

 tality is much more liable to occur, on account of the 

 more sudden and greater degree of change in the atmos- 

 phere on the approach of evening on a mild day in winter 

 or spring. It is, therefore, never good management in 

 winter or spring thus to confine bees, without giving 

 extra ventilation. Raisiug the hives and placing thin 

 wedges at the corners, about an eighth of an inch thick, 

 is perfect security against suffocation as above stated. 



It matters not where or how bees are wintered, the 

 warm days of March and April are periods of great dan- 

 ger in our northern climate. If the bees remain out-of- 

 doors upon their summer stands, the hives should be 

 shaded by placing broad boards against them, which will 

 somewhat darken the passages and keep the interior of 

 the hives cool, and the bees will not desire to leave their 

 hives half so much as they do when the warm rays of the 

 sun strike directly npon them. By raising the hives 

 slightly as above stated, and having the passage ways 

 closed with perforated strips of tin, to run in small wire 

 staples, the bees can be kept in their tenemeists without 

 much excitement among them, except on wrywarm days, 

 on which occasions, if the ground is fret of snow, it is 



best to remove the front boards and allow the bees free 

 exit. 



Great care should be taken not to allow the bees to 

 leave their hives when the ground is covered with snow, 

 as vast numbers of them become chilled, and blinded by 

 the dazzling, reflected light, and drop down upon it never 

 to rise. 



When bees have been confined in their hives all winter, 

 many of them become unable to fly, caused, perhaps, by 

 not having voided the\r faces ; and if the hives be set out 

 on a moderately cool day, the loss of bees will be much 

 greater than if given their freedom on a warm, sunny 

 day, with a south wind, and the ground entirely free of 

 snow. 



It is good management, if the ground be damp around 

 the hives, to strew refuse hay or straw about them a few 

 feet, to afford the bees a dry alighting place; and if the 

 boards that were used to shade the hives be placed one 

 end on the ground and the other against the floor board 

 of the hive, many bees that are unable to fly after having 

 left their hives, will be enabled to enter by crawling up 

 these boards. 



I have frequently found it necessary to remove the 

 snow for a space of fifteen or twenty feet around my api- 

 ary in the spring of the year, in order to allow the ground 

 in the immediate vicinity of the hives to become clear, 

 upon which I have kept a supply of straw till about the 

 1st of May; and by a careful use of shading boards, I 

 have often prevented my bees from leaving their hives, 

 without closing the passage-ways. I dislike to obstruct 

 the passages, if I can avoid it, and keep the bees from 

 sallying out when it is unsafe for them to do so ; but one 

 who can not be constantly on hand to attend to his bees 

 had better shut them in. 



Robbing. — As soon as warm wea|her sets in, even but- 

 for a day or two, bees will commence robbing each other's 

 stores. The strong families attack the weak ones ; and It 

 does not appear that the robbers are in want of honey at 

 all, but rather have a supply to spare to those that are 

 really famishing. It is the nature of the honey bee to 

 rob, and ,they [seem to exhibit a reckless daring in the 

 ratio of the numbers of the family, and the abundance 

 that they possess. 



Weak families, with sheets of comb filled with honey 

 that they are unable to protect, are in particular danger 

 of being robbed. A single bee from a strong family, per- 

 haps, will enter the hive — there being few or no bees at 

 times to guard the entrance; it ascends an outside comb 

 and near the top finds it well filled with nectar. It fills 

 its honey vesi'ele, and straightway departs for its home 

 and there discloses its grand discovery. Yes ; it is a fact, 

 that hees. have a faculty of imparting information. This, 

 bee will, probably, inform a dozen others where the tt;eas- 

 ure is to be found, and this dozen, in turn, will inform as 

 many others, till thousands have infested the robbed hive. 



Let a hive be in a state of being robbed, and the bees 

 suddenly ejected, and the hive closed, after a day of fruit- 

 less struggles to enter, the robbers will depart. Leave 

 that hive two or three days thus closed, and then on a 

 warm, sunny day open the passage-ways, and mark the 

 result. Presently, a single robber will flit along, singj" 



