GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE 



Al'RIL, 1<^2l 



AT the begin- 

 ning of the 

 active sea- 

 sou it may not 

 he out of place 

 to consider some 

 of the principles 

 of colony control 

 for necessary 

 manipulations of 

 combs and hive parts. For the comfort of 

 the operator and for speed and efficiency, a 

 thorough understanding of colony defensive 

 behavior of honeybees is of the utmost im- 

 portance; yet I cannot recall that this sub- 

 ject has taken any important place in the 

 literature of beekeeping. It is more with ;i 

 view to stimulate research than with the 

 idea of telling anything new that I am pre- 

 senting the following rough outline of the 

 subject as it appears to a practical bee- 

 keeper. 



First, the honeybee colony is never un- 

 guarded. There is no time when a hostile act 

 does not produce a defensive reaction in a 

 normal colony of bees. This varies with the 

 condition of the colony, mainly from temper- 

 ature, from a sullen buzz-z-z to a sally of 

 scores or hundreds of armed guards. Hostile 

 acts may be vibrations or sudden jars, quick 

 motions in the sight of the guards, the open- 

 ing of the hive, or the intrusion of foreign 

 objects into the hive or in front of the en- 

 trance. The latter includes the activities of 

 would-be robber bees. 



Second, comparatively few individuals in 

 the colony act as guards; but these few ap- 

 pear to be self -constituted, and take up de- 

 fensive activity wherever the hostile stimu- 

 lus occurs. The vast majority of the workers 

 pay no attention to any but the most seri- 

 ous disturbances. If the stimulus is con- 

 tinued, more and more guards come to the 

 attack until the excitement may spread to 

 practically the whole colony. 



Third, races of bees and individual colo- 

 nies vary greatly in defensive beliavior. 

 Italians are, as a rule, much more gentle un- 

 der the hand of an experienced beekeeper; 

 on the other hand, they defend their hive 

 more vigorously against robber bees. Per- 

 haps the confidence with which they re- 

 main quiet under inspection is the same as 

 that with which they kill persistent robbers, 

 and it may be that the panic with which 

 blacks run helter-skelter off the combs is 

 the same fear which makes them easy marks 

 for thieves of their own kind. 



Fourth, young bees seldom sting, and the 

 guards are usually older. Bees well filled 

 with honey seldom volunteer an attack; but. 

 when returning from the field with a light 

 load or when carrying pollen, they are often 

 much inclined to attack. A queenless and 

 broodless colony defends itself poorly 

 against robber bees. 



Fifth, a normal brood-chamber is defend 

 ed more vigoiously tlian a super of honey. 

 Bees will fight for o]>en brood more quickly 



COLONY CONTROL 



Some Important Facts Concerning 

 the 'behavior of '^ees in the De- 

 fense of the Hne 



By Morley Pettit 



than for sealed 

 brood and for 

 open honey more 

 <|uickly than for 

 sealed honey. A 

 special case here 

 is that of a su- 

 per of founda- 

 tion or empty 

 combs, especial- 

 ly if the latter are fresh from the extractor. 

 If the operator is slow in getting the hive 

 closed after adding either of these and gives 

 the guard-bees time to come up thru in force, 

 he is in for a good stinging almost in spite 

 of all the smoking he can do. This seems to 

 hold even tho one or more supers of honey 

 may intervene between the newly added 

 super and the brood-chamber. If a comb of 

 brood and a comb of honey are left outside 

 the hive with their adhering bees, the latter 

 will guard the brood to the extent of sting- 

 ing all comers, but may in a few moments be 

 brushed from the tioney without offering re- 

 sistance. Before bee-escapes were introduced 

 w^e used this principle in removing honey 

 whenever there was sufficient flow to pre- 

 vent robbing. 



Sixth, the effects of various other condi- 

 tions on defensive behavior are almost end- 

 less and are of great importance in practical 

 bee management. In general a colony is 

 more gentle when the temperature is high 

 and the light is the brightest. Colonies in 

 the sun are easier to manipulate than those 

 in the shade at the same time of day. This 

 is one strong argument against the use of 

 shade in the apiary. It is the rule, practic- 

 ally without exception, that as we go down 

 a row of hives, handling the sunny ones 

 without difficulty, we can look for trouble 

 as soon as we come to a hive that is shaded. 

 To use common apiary language, they are 

 mean, unreasonable, and — so on. On cloudy 

 days resistance is always greater, and if it 

 is just too cool for bees to fly, or if it is 

 raining or has just been raining, it is sim- 

 ply awful. Not only is resistance greater, 

 but the quieting effect of smoke is much 

 less. This is often explained by the state- 

 ment that on such occasions the old cranky 

 field bees are all home; but, when we re- 

 member our second observation that com- 

 paratively few bees act as guards, we won- 

 der how true an explanation this may be. It 

 may be that the guards simply reflect the 

 spirit of the hive, and that this spirit is 

 tempered by the sum of the individuals 

 which happen to be at home at the time. 

 But that does not explain the case of the 

 shaded colony which is storing just as rap- 

 idly, and presumably has as many fielders 

 out as the ones in the sun. Often a weak 

 colony puts up a hot, unreasonable resist- 

 ance to examination, and such colonies will 

 often refuse all the skill and blandishments 

 of the beekeeper to introduce a (|ueen, or to 

 add more bees by ordinary uniting methods. 

 It is notable in our experience tliat queens 



