July, 1923 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



437 



of migrutory beekeeping. There is no gain- 

 saying the fact that tliere is a great deal of 

 hard work connected with moving of bees. 



Honey Sources. 



In migratory work we do not always 

 move to obtain a surplus. Early in the sea- 

 son it is often the intention to have the 

 bees situated where they can avail them- 

 selves of early bloom, such as willow, deci- 

 duous fruits, principally almond and prune, 

 and certain varieties of eucalypti and mus- 

 tard. In the fall it is necessary for the 

 bees to breed up sufficiently so as to rear 

 the necessary amount of young bees to in- 

 sure favorable spring breeding, and also to 

 secure enough stores for the same purpose. 

 Thus, the migratory beekeeper 

 avails himself of the late-bloom- 

 ing honey plants. The chief late 

 and early plants are willows and 

 eucalypti. In parts of the San 

 Joaquin Valley, in favorable 

 ^vears, willow furnishes honey- 

 dew as late as November and 

 December, and every year in all 

 parts of the state, pollen and 

 nectar in January and Febru- 

 ary, according to the season. 

 Several eucalypti, according to 

 the species and season, bloom 

 during the winter months and 

 have proven their worth for 

 stimulative purposes. 



As spring advances, orange and sage are 

 the big drawing cards. Sometimes they 

 come into bloom simultaneously; but orange 

 secretes earlier than sage and, since the flow 

 is shorter and rapid, there is time enough 

 to move to the sage as the orange flow be- 

 gins to fail. At the termination of sage, 

 there are several good nectar sources. The 

 central California sage beekeepers prefer to 

 move to alfalfa; others may tarry longer 

 and wait for a flow from either wild buck- 

 wheat, wild alfalfa, or possibly sumac; or 

 they too may journey, but toward the coast, 

 to the lima bean fields of Ventura and Los 

 Angeles counties. 



When moving from sage to alfalfa the 

 preference is to go into Nevada, since al- 

 falfa is a far better secreter in that state 

 than it is in California. Owing to the foul- 

 brood laws of our neighboring states, this 

 form of migration confines itself to the 

 shipment of three-pound packages of bees. 

 However, the alfalfa of the San Joaquin 

 Valley is nearer at hand and very good 

 yields are obtained from the second, third, 

 fourth and fifth crops. April, May and 

 June are the sage months, according to the 

 locality and season. Alfalfa in California 

 usually starts to secrete in June and con- 

 tinues till August or September. 



In the fall of the year the great valleys 

 afford better bee pastures than the Coast 

 Range Mountains or southern California. 

 The upper Sacramento Valley leads Avith 

 star thistle, a most excellent honey plant, 

 producing a most excellent honey. Other 



prominent Sacramento Valley fall plants 

 are mint along the rivers, and tarweed, yel- 

 low sticker and blue curls along the plains. 

 In the San Joaquin Valley the honeydew 

 from the willow, in favorable seasons, starts 

 early and lasts well into winter. Along the 

 plains alkali weed, spikeweed, jackass clo- 

 ver and blue curls are good secreters of 

 nectar, especially where they have been 

 favored with late spring rains. 



Nevada beekeepers think quite as much 

 of our orange groves as we do of their 

 alfalfa fields, and these two sources of nec- 

 tar are worked to mutual advantage. 

 When to Move. 



One of our most difficult problems is to 



The Ford truck does good work when distances are not too great. 



determine the best time to move. Again we 

 find ourselves confronted with the elusive 

 subject concerning the character and dura- 

 tion of honey flows, and we find it neces- 

 sary to resort to our records and observa 

 tions. Our records should sliow us our 

 daily gains, and when we find that such 

 gains have lessened to four or three pounds, 

 or perhaps notice a very slight inclination 

 to rob (a sure sign of flow stoppage) we 

 know at once that it is time to move. We 

 disregard the fact that we may possibly get 

 a daily gain of two or three pounds for 

 another week, and also that our next flow 

 may not start for several days, a. week, or 

 possibly longer. We believe that a migra- 

 tory beekeeper always makes a mistake if 

 he waits till a flow is practically over before 

 moving. If he does, he has shaken some- 

 what the morale of his bees, his queens 

 have practically ceased laying, and the 

 brood-nests during the latter days have be- 

 come well filled with honey. Conditions 

 such as these may be avoided by moving 

 early, and it is a well-established fact that 

 moving incites breeding. A journey always 

 seems to stimulate the bees to greater field 

 activity. Thus when bees have been moved 

 to a new locality, although the main flow 

 has not yet commenced, they are, in the 

 main, better prepared for future honey 

 gathering. 



If it is found necessary to move bees in 

 warm weather during a good honey flow, it 

 is better to do so in the early hours of 

 morning than in the evening when the bees 



