April, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



215 



begins in June, most of the workers that 

 gather the crop must be reared during April 

 and May, and in order that they may be 

 young and vigorous for their work the vast 

 majority should be reared during May. 



The "Harvest Hands" of the Hive. 



These workers are the "harvest hands" 

 of the hive; and, if the flowers and weather 

 do their part, the crop of honey will usu- 

 ally be much or little according to whether 

 the workers to gather it are many or few. 

 A great horde of workers coming on the 

 stage of action at just the right time is the 

 goal toward which the beekeeper has been 

 working since last summer. So far as he is 

 concerned, this great army of workers is 

 that for which all the workers born at other 

 times have existed. The bees reared prcvi- 

 ouslj' have been useful only in as much as 

 they have contributed to the final produc- 

 tion of these "harvest hands," and bees 

 reared later are useful only in as much as 

 they are able to contribute to the mainte- 

 nance of the colonies until next season un- 

 less there is a later honey flow which they 

 may help to gather. 



Most Important Period of Brood-Rearing. 



This period of brood-rearing, therefore, 

 has a significance not found at any other 

 season. Whether the main honey flow comes 

 in March and April as among the orange 

 groves of California and in the tupelo and 

 orange regions of Florida, in June and July 

 ns in the clover region of the North, or dur- 

 ing August as in the buckwheat region of 

 New York and Pennsylvania, the size of the 

 crop of honey that can be harvested de- 

 })ends largely upon the amount of brood 

 reared during the six or eight weeks just 

 preceding the beginning of the honey flow. 



Tendency to Rear Brood Strongest in Spring. 



When" the bees begin brood-rearing in 

 earnest in the spring the tendency to rear 

 a large amount of brood is th^ strongest. 

 This is especially true in the North where 

 the spring brood-rearing reaches its maxi- 

 mum during the latter part of May or early 

 in June. If conditions are favorable for 

 heavy brood-rearing at this time, the 

 amount of brood in the hive is increased 

 rapidly until the peak is reached, after 

 which it is reduced so that there is usually 

 less brood in the hive thruout the remainder 

 of the season. If anything, such as weak- 

 ness or insufficient food, prevents the colony 

 from reaching its peak in brood-rearing in 

 the spring, it may climb to its peak 

 later in the season when normally the ten- 

 dency to rear brood would be less intense; 

 l)ut, after the first spurt of extensive brood- 

 rearing of the season, it is difficult to induce 

 colonies again to rear anything like as 

 much brood during the same season. 



Time of the Main Honey Flow in Relation 

 to Spring Brood-Rearing. 



In some locations, sucli as in some of the 

 southern States and in a strictly buckwheat 



region, the main honey flow may come as 

 much as two months after the bees have 

 passed the peak of spring brood-rearing," as- 

 suming that the colonies were normal in 

 strength and had sufficient food to have 

 reached their maximum in brood-rearing in 

 ihe spring. In such cases some beekeepers 

 resort to such measures as stimulative feed- 

 ing or spreading the brood, to induce more 

 brood-rearing just previous to the main 

 honey flow. Others move their bees to an- 

 other location to gather a crop of honey 

 from some earlier source while the colonies 

 are strong, and then move them back again 

 for the later honey flow. Some southern 

 beekeepers sell package bees to utilize 

 the excess of workers which would be too 

 old to be of use when the honey flow comes 

 on later; while still others divide the colo- 

 nies before they reach their peak in spring 

 brood-rearing, performing the division at a 

 time which will permit both colonies to build 

 up to greatest strength in time for the be- 

 lated honey flow. The last-named plan has 

 been used quite successfully in the buck- 

 wheat region. 



When the main honey flow comes at the 

 same time that the bees are rearing the 

 great horde of ' ' harvest hands ' ' in the 

 spring, as too often happens in the case of 

 weaker colonies and an early honey flow, 

 of course a full crop of honey can not 

 be secured, for the field force is then small 

 and the amount of brood to feed is large. 

 The only hope in such cases is that the honey 

 flow will last long enough for colonies to be- 

 come strong enough to gather some surplus 

 before it closes, but the remedy is better 

 wintering and earlier building up. 



When there is a possibility of a honey 

 flow still earlier, at the beginning of the 

 heavy brood-rearing period of spring, as 

 sometimes happens in the North when the 

 maples yield profusely, or in the citrus re- 

 gion when the bloom comes unusually early 

 and the bees are late in building up, brood- 

 rearing is greatly stimulated and but little 

 honey is stored because of a lack of "har- 

 vest hands." 



Fortunate, indeed, is the beekeeper whose 

 location furnishes the main honey flow of 

 the season immediately following the period 

 of natural spring brood-rearing, for he pro- 

 duces his workers for the honey flow at the 

 time the bees are most willing to co-operate. 

 This is the condition present in most locali- 

 ties where comb honey is produced on a 

 commercial scale. 



In the northern States where the heavy 

 brood-rearing period comes in April and 

 May, normal colonies reach their peak in 

 brood-rearing tlie latter part of May or early 

 in June. In this region colonies that are 

 normal as to number and vitality of the 

 workers and have a good queen early in 

 April can be depended upon to build up to 

 rousing strength within two months to be 

 ready for the lioney flow early in .Tune, pro- 

 vided there is nothing to hinder them from 



