.IlNK, 1921 



G L E A N I N G S T X REE C U I. T U U E 



345 



suitable for conib-liouoy production is sliort 

 in duration, the beekeeper should now get 

 out of these workers every ounce of energy 

 he can induce them to surrender for his 

 profit. If anyone should have any senti- 

 ment against doing this, let him remember 

 that the bees apparently are hapjiiest Avhen 

 working the harvest. Let us increase their 

 hapj)iness. 



Visible and Invisible Loafing. 

 Comb-honey producers are well acquaint- 

 ed with the tendency of bees to loaf, even 

 iluring a good honey flow when conditions 

 are not the most favorable. Sometimes the 

 most trifling adverse condition upsets the 

 spirit for work and brings visible loafing. 

 At other times the loafing is less in degree 

 and may not be noticed by the beekeeper. 

 In either case it means a loss. Loafing, 

 whether visible or invisible, usually in- 

 creases until the cavise is removed, and 

 sometimes for a long time afterward. For 

 this reason the prevention of even tlie 

 slightest tendency to loaf during the honey 

 flow is really one of the biggest problems 

 with which a comb-honey producer has to 

 deal. For, if this can be accomplished, seri- 

 ous loafing can be prevented and swarming 

 can be greatly reduced. During some sea- 

 sons most of the colonies that prepare to 

 swarm could have been induced by better 

 management to work energetically thruout 

 tlie season without a thought of swarming. 



Conditions Reducing Colony Morale. 



Some strains of bees are more inclined to 

 loaf than others. Old bees usually work 

 less vigorously than younger bees, and colo- 

 nies having old and failing queens usually 

 work with less energy than colonies having 

 vigorous queens. Queenless colonies, espe- 

 cially those hopelessly queenless, usually 

 work with less vigor than queen-right colo- 

 nies. It is well known that anything which 

 causes discomfort to the bees within the 

 hive, such as heat, lack of viMitilation, or 

 lack of room, may start loafing. Insufficient 

 room for ripening and storing the incoming 

 nectar or conditions suggesting a comple- 

 tion of the season 's work, such as sealing 

 honey down adjacent to the brood, as is 

 normal at the close of the season, are strong 

 factors in causing bees to loaf. Any con- 

 ditions within the hive which in any way 

 tend to check the freest expansion of the 

 liive work, apparently checks the work of 

 the field force almost immediately, and 

 when the field workers begin to remain in 

 the hive during the day in increasing num- 

 bers visible loafing is soon brought about. 

 Colonies which surround the brood-nest with 

 a rim of honey and confine their work to 

 the brood-chamber, as at the close of the 

 season, usually loaf badly. In fact, those 

 conditions which were mentioned last month 

 as bringing on a tendency to swarm, are the 

 very ones which bring on a tendency to 

 loaf. Even the destruction of queen-cells, 

 in the attempt to induce a colony to give 



up swarming, often results in a V>ad case of 

 loafing, except possibly when this is done 

 soon after the queen-cells were started. 

 When the beekeeper by force prevents the 

 bees from carrying out their program in 

 swarming after it has once been started, 

 the bees often retaliate by loafing. Thus 

 when bees and beekeeper work rn opposite 

 directions, the bees, not being permitted to 

 have their own way, may take it out in sul- 

 len loafing in the midst of a good honey 

 flow. In some things they can be led, but 

 not driven. 



Conditions Increasing Colony Morale. 



It is not enough merely to prevent the 

 tendency to loaf, but the workers should be 

 stimulated to do their utmost while the 

 honey flow lasts. Each of the field work- 

 ers could surely make more than four or 

 five trips for nectar during a day, which is 

 about their usual average day's work. 



Any condition which speeds up the work 

 within the hive, especially by inducing the 

 younger bees to leave the brood-nest to go 

 to the su[)ers earlier in their lives, tends to 

 speed uj) the work of the field bees. The 

 ideal condition for best work is that of pro- 

 viding a job for all of the bees which stay 

 within the hive as soon as they are old 

 enough for inside work. This is the condi- 

 tion in a newly hived swarm. Eeducing the 

 number of idle hive workers apparently 

 speeds up the work of the field bees. 



Beekeepers have long been familiar with 

 the energetic work of a newly hived swarm, 

 or of a colony just beginning a new job, 

 such as preparing a set of newly added ex- 

 tracting combs for incoming nectar, espe- 

 cially when these combs are placed adjacent 

 to the brood with but little if any honey 

 between. If the stimulus resulting from the 

 beginning of a new job could be sustained 

 thruout the honey flow, no doubt the field 

 workers would each carry in six or eight 

 loads of nectar per day instead of four, 

 thus increasing the crop of honey in pro- 

 portion. This is exactly what the skillful 

 beekeeper attempts to do, and the extent to 

 which he is able to keep his bees contented 

 and to stimulate them to put forth greater 

 effort determines to a large extent the 

 amount of honey he can produce with the 

 working force which is available during the 

 honey flow. By skillful management during 

 this time the beekeeper is able to secure 

 yields of honey probably never equaled by 

 colonies of equal strength in their natural 

 state, and certainly never equaled by 

 colonies that are neglected. 



Effect of Skillful Supering. 



After the honey flow has begun, a stagna- 

 tion of colony activity must be prevented 

 and the stimulus of new work must come, 

 to a large extent, thru the management of 

 the supers. This is where the production of 

 extracted honey by giving empty combs ad-- 

 jacent to the bi'ood, offering a new job for 

 the bees again and again as more room is 



