193 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



was a lot of comb that had the appearance of 

 having contained honey an hour or two before. 

 I asked what that dish of comb meant. The 

 reply was, that he thought perhaps the bees did 

 not have honey enough, so he set out a little to 

 feed them. In a few brief words I told him 

 that, should he leave all the doors of his house 

 open nights, scatter a few twenty-dollar gold- 

 pieces around by the gateway, and let it hv. 

 known that he had thousands of dollars in the 

 house, he would not expect it would be long be- 

 fore there would neither be gold by the gateway 

 nor in the house; and yet he had placed his 

 bees in the same position regarding other bees 

 that he would be placing himself and his gold 

 in regarding any thieves that might be prowl- 

 ing about, should he do as above. Without 

 carrying this story further, I wish to say that 

 the first means looking toward the prevention 

 of robbing is, to know the condition of the col- 

 ony as regards its numbers before any really 

 warm days come in the spring; for if a colony 

 is weak in numbers, that colony is almost sure 

 to be robbed out unless extra precaution is tak- 

 en. Again, if a colony is queenless and brood- 

 less in early spring, that colony is almost sure 

 to be robbed out; and if robbing is once started 

 on such colonies, a general row may be expected 

 throughout the apiary. I make it a point to 

 look at each colony some cool day in early 

 spring to see how many spaces between the 

 combs they occupy, the number of which is set 

 down where I can see it at a glance, and the 

 same thing is done with every colony before it 

 is taken from the cellar. Now, suppose I find 

 that the colony occupies from five spaces be- 

 tween the combs, upward, I call that colony a 

 good one; and to each good colony I allow an 

 entrance, during the spring months, say 3 inches 

 long by ^^ high, that being amply sufficient for 

 any colony after they have had their first or 

 cleansing flight. If the colony occupies only 

 four spaces, then the entrance given is ijJ inches 

 in length by the above depth. If it occupies 

 only three spaces, then the entrance given is 

 only % inch in length, and I rarely ever con- 

 tract an entrance to a much less space than 

 this. It is very easy to say, "Contract the en- 

 trance so that one bee at a time can just get 

 through," but whoever so contracts will soon 

 find that a trouble comes in here by way of 

 dead bees being removed from the hive, when, 

 as such can not be drawn through this space, 

 the entrance is clogged or stopped up entirely. 

 If the cluster in any hive does not occupy three 

 spaces to a suflicient amount to call it a colony 

 sufficiently strong to care for itself, or occupies 

 less spaces, then all the combs are taken away 

 from it except one of honey and one for brood, 

 and a division-board inserted, placing the comb 

 of honey next the side of the hive, the comb 

 for brood next this, and the division-board next 

 the comb for brood, while the entrance, of about 

 the size of the smallest given above, is placed 



at the opposite side of the hive, so that the 

 bees, in going out and in, must travel over the 

 vacant space between the division-board and 

 the entrance. Fixed in this way a colony must 

 be so weak that it is good for nothing if it does 

 not protect itself from robbers, for robber bees 

 do not like to travel over a loug vacant space 

 inside of a hive where they are liable to be 

 seized by a sentinel at any time. 



As proof of the effectiveness of this plan I 

 will say that I have not had a colony robbed 

 since I adopted the above, and it is rare that 

 any attempt is made to rob even weak nuclei. 

 If a colony is found queenless, supplv it with 

 brood from some other colouy till you can pro- 

 cure a queen for it, providing it has plenty of 

 bees. If it does not have plenty of bees, unite 

 it with a colony having a queen. Now, if, 

 through careless handling, or from any cause, 

 robbing is started. I think the best thing to do 

 first is to throw a sheet over the hive that is be- 

 ing robbed, fixing it all around on the ground 

 about the hive so that no bees can crawl under 

 it. Leave it thus for half an hour, when you 

 will suddenly lift it from over the hive so as to 

 let the robbers which have collected on the un- 

 der side out, and the bees from the colony (shut 

 out by the sheet) go in. Replace the sheet for 

 another half-hour, when it can be removed, a 

 handful of dry grass or hay put over the en- 

 trance, and another handful of wet hay put on 

 top of this, which will allow them to dwell in 

 peace the rest of that day, as robbers do not 

 like to crawl down through wet hay, unless 

 there are some coming out loaded with honey 

 all the time, and you have sto|)ped the loads of 

 honey fi'om coming out with the sheet before 

 the hay was put on. 



Now, as I said, this will stop the robbing of 

 any colony good for any thing, where the en- 

 trance has been fixed as above; and, with one 

 exception, if a colony will not take care of it- 

 self the next day after being treated as I have 

 given, I would take the combs away from them, 

 allowing the few bees to go with some other 

 colony, rather than to run the risk of having 

 the whole apiary demoralized by the bees, tak- 

 ing the honey from the hive at some time when 

 we were not present to stop it. The exception 

 above alluded to is where a colony may be very 

 weak, but have a choice queen that we wish to 

 save, but have no place to put her just at this 

 time. Should this be the case, treat the colony 

 to the sheet and wet hay as given above; and 

 when night comes, carry such colony to the cel- 

 lar and keep it there till you can use the queen. 

 If you are very anxious to build the colony up, 

 and it is strong enough to live in the cellar till 

 the bees can gather pollen, it may then be set 

 out and given some hatching brood to strength- 

 en it; for after the bees secure natural pollen 

 freely, the disposition to rob seems to leave 

 them to a great extent. 

 I have been thus explicit in this matter, for 



