February, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



85 



less than two inches of packing material at 

 the sides and about eight inches above, was 

 much better, even with entrances equally 

 small. The waste of energy in sending air 

 currents thru the small entrance must be ex- 

 cessive on warm days in the spring. 



If the results claimed for heavy winter 

 packing' may be attained by enlarging the 

 entrances, except during the coldest weather, 

 are there not still some conditions present in 

 many localities, which may render of doubt- 

 ful value the packing or wintering of enor- 

 mous colonies? 

 When Colonies May Be Too Strong in Spring. 



The old golden rule of beekeeping, "Keep 

 your colonies always strong," is as good ad- 

 vice now as in the past, but I am almost sat- 

 isfied that I have wintered tons of bees that 

 were of no value to me some years, making 

 considerable feeding necessary and probably 

 not adding to my crop of surplus honey. 



Colonies run for extracted honey and hav- 

 ing a large number of young bees, a young 

 queen and a fairly good late flow of honey, 

 go into winter with a very large force of 

 bees, many of which are quite old. Even 

 without protection, these colonies usually 

 winter quite well; then during dandelion and 

 fruit bloom, they rear a relatively large 

 amount of broody to be followed by a period 

 when there is usually very little nectar to 

 be had. During the two to four lean weeks, 

 there is too often a real difficulty in getting 

 the queens to lay freely and make any con- 

 siderable increase in the amount of brood 

 reared. Colonies are sometimes weaker when 

 the honey flow arrives than they were in 

 early May. 



The comb-honey man, with his brood- 

 chamber honey-bound late in the fall and 

 usually smaller colonies, winters very well; 

 and, as there is not the big force to rush 

 early brood-rearing, it is probably easier to 

 get that steadily increasing amount of brood 

 up to our June honey flow, which is so de- 

 sirable. If a large increase is desired, that 

 is another matter. It will then pay to win- 

 ter a large force of bees, and make quite an 

 increase during fruit bloom. 



As to whether or not packing is desirable, 

 it appears to me that in some localities there 

 may be some things that the producer of ex- 

 tracted honey may do to advantage with 

 very strong colonies late in the season. An- 

 other season I shall test some of these fully; 

 I would have done so this year but for my 

 absence from home nearly one-third of the 

 season. 



Eliminating Old Bees in the Fall. 



Possibly one of the simplest plans to elim- 

 inate a lot of the old worthless bees is to 

 set out several robber traps about the time 

 that brood-rearing ceases, and, after the bees 

 are robbing to some extent on a few combs 

 of honey, trap all robbers for a day or two. 

 It is said that there is a surprising comfort 

 in equalizing stores and preparing such a 



yard for winter, free from the annoyance of 

 countless robbers. 



Ry eliminating most of the old robber bees 

 it is highly probable that the spread of foul 

 brood may be reduced very greatly, and it 

 it not impossible that, in all localities where 

 there is much foul brood, trapping of the rob- 

 bers in all commercial apiaries may be the 

 greatest means for disease control during 

 the fall months. 



Another plan, which may be successful, is 

 to close the entrance of each very strong 

 colony for a day or two, so no bees can get 

 into the hives, yet all desiring to do so may 

 get out thru a simple escape. Early in the 

 morning, a day or two later, the clusters of 

 old bees may be scraped into a can and de- 

 stroyed. Another plan, used by some, is to 

 remove the strong colonies a short distance, 

 and place empty hives, with a comb or two, 

 in their places, to catch the returning old 

 bees. Possibly other methods, which may be 

 much better, may be devised for getting rid 

 of theSe old bees. 



When living in S. Dakota, I was told that 

 Daniel Danielson, now of Brush, Colo., had 

 divided colonies in such a way, late in the 

 season, as to secure about all the old bees in 

 one hive, and most of the young bees in an- 

 other, and even tho cellar-wintered the col- 

 ony made up of old bees died. Geo. A. Em- 

 erson of California, for years an extensive 

 producer, tells me that even there some 

 study is being made, and apparently with 

 considerable success, of methods of elimin- 

 ating the old bees in- the fall; and I think 

 it possible that in many localities it may pay 

 well to do so, where there is sufficient time 

 for medium-sized colonies to breed up for 

 the honej^ flow and where but little increase 

 is desired. Where one winters, year after 

 year, a host of non-producers, there is a 

 waste of tons of honey, that the producer, 

 from what I have seen of him in several 

 states, can ill afford to lose. 



I shall expect this article to bring forth 

 considerable criticism from sentimentalists 

 w^ith their heads in the clouds, on the ground 

 of alleged cruelty in destroying these worse 

 than useless consumers; but many of these 

 same men are not above extracting so close- 

 ly that countless numbers of colonies starve 

 to death in winter, or moving bees with so 

 little ventilation that they fairly scream for 

 air and liberty. The plans suggested only 

 shorten somewhat the lives of some of the 

 bees, and, in my opinion, they are fully as 

 justifiable as any taking of life of other ani- 

 mals that man may live. 



If there is a possible gain in your local- 

 ity, with your conditions, by wintering me- 

 dium-sized colonies of young bees, eliminat- 

 ing most of the old ones, packed or unpacked 

 as your climate demands, then let us work 

 out the methods necessary, and save the tons 

 of honey now wasted by the useless consum- 

 ers, and by so doing i)ut our business on a 

 better paying basis. 



Meridian, Idaho, 



