GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1921. 



it to ii]icii tliorouglily before extrneting, 

 atlio fuiy of the conihs tluit aie sealed or 

 nearly so, may be taken out of the super 

 and extracted at any time. This is some- 

 times quite desirable if there are not enough 

 supers to hold the entire crop, for these 

 combs of honey can be extracted and the 

 empty combs returned to be refilled. 

 What To Do With Late Swarms. 



There will probably be some late swarm- 

 ing this season in the North. Swarms that 

 issue near the close of the honey flow are 

 quite a nuisance and it is sometimes rather 

 puzzling as to what is best to do with them, 

 for if they come too late they may not 

 gather enough stores for their own use dur- 

 ing late summer and fall, to say nothing of 

 their winter stores. Swarms that issue in 

 July may be managed as described in the 

 May issue of Gleanings, providing the honey 

 flow is good and may be expected to con- 

 tinue for two or three weeks, but if swarms 

 issue too near the close of the honey flow, 

 it will be better not to permit a division of 

 the original colony at this time. 



A late swarm may be hived back into its 

 own hive without the queen, then all but 

 one of the queen-cells destroyed six days 

 later, the one queen-cell (the finest-looking 

 one) being left to requeen the colony. If 

 the queen 's wings are clipped she may sim- 

 ply be caught and killed while the swarm is 

 out, or if a queen-trai5 is used, the trap may 

 be removed (first being sure that queen is 

 in it) and the queen disposed of at any con- 

 venient time. When the queen accompanies 

 the swarm (not having her wings clipped 

 and no queen-trap being used) the swarm 

 after clustering may be shaken into a bas- 

 ket, carried to the hive, poured out in front 

 of the entrance and induced to re-enter the 

 hive, but first covering the entrance with an 

 entrance guard or a queen-trap to keep the 

 queen from going in with the bees. When 

 most of the bees have gone into the hive 

 thru the queen-excluding metal, those re- 

 maining can then be driven in by smoke, so 

 the queen can be found and killed. 



Sometimes when a swarm issues just as 

 the season is closing, it works well to liive 

 it in a box, placing the box close beside 

 the hive, then after a day or two shaking 

 the swarm out of the box and hiving the 

 bees back into their own hive. If it is 

 quite late in the season, the bees will some- 

 times destroy their own queen -cells when 

 this is done and give up further swarming. 

 Beware of Robber Bees. 



After the honey flow, every precaution 

 should be taken to prevent robbing. At this 

 time, if a hive is opened and the combs ex- 

 posed for even a couple of minutes, bees 

 from neighboring colonies may have time to 

 get a taste of stolen sweets, after which 

 they may come in great numbers for more. 

 If these robbers are able to enter the hive 

 before the colony being handled has had 

 time to reorganize for defense, they may 

 come by the thousands to carry away loads 



of honey. The colony being roV)bed may be 

 so completely overcome by the robbers that 

 it fails to organize for defense, and is soon 

 practically ruined by the attacliing robbers. 

 After such a start at robbing, the robbers 

 may attack other colonies in the vicinity, 

 and any that are too weak to defend them- 

 selves will be robbed of all their honey in 

 the same way. 



Not only are colonies ruined in this way, 

 but when bees begin to rob they become ex- 

 ceedingly cross and attack any living thing 

 within several rods of the apiary. The city 

 or village beekeeper, when taking honey 

 away from the bees at the close of the sea- 

 son must be exceedingly careful not to ex- 

 pose any honey where robbers can get at it, 

 for there is great danger of starting the 

 bees on a rampage of robbing and stinging, 

 causing great annoyance to the neighbors. 

 All such troubles can be avoided by a little 

 care, but unfortunately many beginners 

 must pass thru at least one such ordeal be- 

 fore they fully realize the .seriousness of 

 exposing a little honey after the close of 

 the honey flow, and the necessity of pre- 

 venting even the slightest beginning of rob- 

 bing. 



How to Detect Robbers. 



Robbers are inclined to collect around the 

 edges of the hive cover or between the 

 brood-chamber and the super, if the proT^o- 

 lis which sealed these cracks is broken by 

 ojjcning the hive. Bees do not do this ex- 

 cept when trying to rob, so this is always a 

 danger signal. When they begin to do this 

 it is time for the beginner to quit working 

 with the bees, tho the veteran may be able 

 to continue his work by extreme caution. 



When robbers succeed in passing the 

 guards at the entrance, tlie beginner can de- 

 tect this by the great commotion at the en- 

 trance. Robber bees do not usually alight 

 at the entrance and go directly into the 

 hive, but dart about before alighting, watch- 

 ing for a chance to sli|i by the guards. They 

 may alight at the entrance in a nervous 

 manner and again take wing, doing this re- 

 peatedly before actually entering the hive. 



If the colons- being robbed fails in its 

 defense, the roVtbers enter moie boldly and 

 may be seen conning out with loads o*' stolen 

 honey. In doing this they usually run up- 

 ward on the front of the hive before taking 

 wing, instead of flying direct from the en- 

 trance. The commotion of robbing can be 

 distinguished from the plavflight of young 

 bees by the appearance of the bees, the rob- 

 bers being older, by the higher pitch of their 

 humming, and by their nervous manner in 

 flight. Robbing may occur at any time of 

 day, while young bees usually take their 

 plavflight early in the afternoon. 



Taking Off Honey at Close of Season. 



As soon as the honey flow ceases, all comb- 

 honey supers should be taken off the hives, 

 regardless of whether they are finished or 

 not, for if left on longer, the bees will ruin 

 the sections by covering them with propolis 

 (Continued on page 452.) 



