Ai-RiL. 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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Two Timely While iliagiHisiug the coudi- 

 Hints. tidii ol' till' eoloiiies during tlic 



early part of the season froin 

 the flight of bees at the hive entrance any 

 unusual observanee, such as less activity in 

 certain coloiiies while others are busy, indi- 

 cates that something is wrong. On exaniin 

 ing such a colony witli plenty of bees and 

 a good queen there will likely be found a 

 large amount of mostly old brood, but a 

 meager amount of stores left, causing the 

 bees to be inactive and not inclined to leave 

 the hive in search for nectar; while other 

 colonies with plenty of stores are eager tfi 

 obtain more, even when only a small amount 

 of nectar and pollen can be gathered. Such 

 colonies, if not given more stores, may eke 

 out a bare existence by restricting brood- 

 rearing. They will be far behind colonies 

 that were well supplied. Moral — prevent 

 such a condition by jilenty of stores at all 

 times. 



While examining colonies for the purjiose 

 of ascertaining the amount of stores, clip- 

 ping queens' wings, etc., in fact, for any 

 purpose, it is well to keep watch for any im 

 perfect or otherwise objectionable combs. 

 If any such are found, they should be re- 

 moved at once if free from brood or eggs. 

 If they contaiii brood the top-bar should l)e 

 marked, and later, when weather will pei- 

 niit, these combs should be moved to one 

 side of the hive. The chances are they will 

 soon be free from brood, after which they 

 can be taken out of the hive. Every poor or 

 imperfect comb replaced by a good one now 

 means more bees for the honey flow. Some- 

 times a comb may be badly clogged with old 

 pollen. Such combs should be removed, but 

 remembering there must be some combs witli 

 considerable pollen for the colonies' welfare. 



East Avenue, New York. A. C. Gilliert. 



Spreading Brood It will soon V)e time to 

 in Spring. discuss spring manage- 



ment of bees, including 

 the spreading of brood. This subject has 

 been considerably discussed in difPei'ent is- 

 sues of Gleanings, and it appears to be a 

 dangerous practice at times for the profes- 

 sional, and always for the novice. 



Now my plan has always worked well for 

 the last 10 years, and I can find no such 

 fault with it as is often found in the others. 



When looking over the hive in the spring 

 see that the outside combs are filled with 

 honey; note the ]iosition and number of 

 combs of bi'ood in the brood-nest, but do not 

 disturl) their ord(>r. There is this important 

 point at this and each examination: See 

 that the comb next to the brood (except the 

 outside one) is empty. Just as soon as the 

 weather will permit and there are bees 

 enough to keep this comb warm the queen 

 will lay in it, and you can then add another. 



There will be no chilling of brood and no 

 scattering of the cluster. After 12 years of 

 ]>ractice I have not discovered any draw- 

 backs. If this method does not spread the 

 brood, either the queen is poor or there are 

 not enough bees. W. H. Miller. 



Tivoli, N. Y. 



o — l a ^ SB 3:a3 



Conditions Affecting It is unnecessary to 

 Early Brood point out the peculiar. 



Rearing. yes, remarkable 



weather that we have 

 been having in the clover-honey-prodncing 

 sections of this continent. Time and again 

 my own bees have had a good cleansing 

 flight, and I was of the opinion that bees 

 were wintering well. At the same time, I 

 felt that it was more than likely that they 

 might consume an unusual amount of stores: 

 so I determined to examine them early this 

 year to see if they were running short. 



On Feb. 23 I went to one of the apiaries 

 enclosed by a fence eight feet high, removed 

 the cover from the four-colony wintering- 

 case, and after removing the jiacking of 

 forest leaves quietly turned back the duck 

 cloth. Twelve colonies were examined in 

 this way, and the bees in them appeared to 

 be in fine shape, every colony alive and the 

 bees quietly clustering and having a clean 

 book — all of which indicated good wintering. 

 I left thoroughly satisfied that they were 

 wintering well. 



On March 2, when discussing this subject 

 with Floyd Markham at his home in Ypsi- 

 lanti, Mich., he was of the opinion that his 

 bees were rearing brood. He said some colo- 

 nies had for some time been carrying water: 

 so we examined three of these. In one colony 

 having a young queen, we found no brood. 

 The second one, headed by an older queen, 

 had brood in four combs. I noticed several 

 cells which appeared as tho young bees had 

 emerged from them, and there was capj>ed 

 (lione brood. The leader can do his or her 

 own thinking about this. The next colony 

 had three combs with brood and quite a 

 number of young bees. 



My own bees are packed with thicker 

 l)acking than Mr. Markham 's. From the 

 way my bees are clustered I doubt whether 

 thev ai-e breeding at all, or as much as his: 

 and, as the climate of Ypsilanti must be 

 about the same as that of Brantford, I can- 

 not help but wonder whether with thicker 

 packing at the entrance of my hives the 

 bees have not been less affected by outside 

 temperature. It is my purpose to find this 

 out very soon. 



In any case beekeepers should take warn- 

 ning and find out as early as possible 

 whether their colonies have plenty of stores. 

 Many a beekeeper has lost colonies between 

 April ] and May 15, because they have been 

 short of stores. E. F. Holtermann. 



Brantford, Ontario. 



