August, 192i 



GLEANINGS IN BEE U L T U R 10 



537 



the liives. It should then be safe without 

 further funiigution if stored in tight boxes 

 or comb-honey shipping cases. 

 Early Honey Removed Before Fall Flow. 



Houey that is to be extracted should not 

 be left ou the liives longer but should be 

 taken off and extracted early this month, if 

 this has not already been done. The only 

 exception to this of course is in tlie few 

 locations now having a honey flow; but, even 

 in such locations, the earlier-gathered honey 

 should now be taken off and extracted. Later 

 in the month the bees may gather darker 

 honey than that gathered earlier, and the 

 two kinds of honey should not be mixed. 



In taking off honey during a dearth of 

 nectar, great care is necessary to prevent 

 robbing. If the honey is taken off by means 

 of a bee-escape, it is important to be sure 

 that there are no cracks under the cover 

 where bees might crowd in, for robber bees 

 would soon find these openings, and when 

 the super of honey can no longer be pro- 

 tected by the bees inside, the robbers make 

 quick work of carrying away the honey if 

 they are able to crowd through a crack 

 into tlie super. When honey is taken off 

 without the bee-escape as described last 

 month, the combs of honey, as they are tak- 

 en out of the hive and put into the extra 

 super, should be covered immediately with 

 a piece of canvas so robbers do not g£t a 

 taste of the honey. Honey that is taken 

 off in this way and extracted immediately 

 is easier to extract than after it becomes 

 cold. For this reason some use the venti- 

 lated escape-board, for with this the honey 

 does not cool off as much as when the or- 

 dinary escape-board is used. 



What Colonies Need in August. 



As to the care of the colonies this montli, 

 the important thing to keep in mind is build- 

 ing now for next year. The condition of 

 the colonies at the beginning of winter is 

 determined largely by the conditions during 

 this month and next. No matter how 

 strong the colonies are now, if no more 

 brood were reared this season they would 

 be worthless for winter, since the bees now 

 in the hive will all have died of old age be- 

 fore winter or be too old to survive the 

 winter. The bees which live through the 

 winter and early spring must therefore come 

 from the eggs that are laid from this time 

 until brood-rearing ceases in late September 

 or early October in the North, and a little 

 later in the South. Where there is no fall 

 flow, the actual strength of the colony now 

 is less important than the amount of brood 

 that is reared in August and September. The 

 bees naturally reduce the amount of brood 

 during late summer and fall, especially if 

 the queen is old or inferior. When there is 

 a fall honey flow the bees usually rear plenty 

 of young for winter; but, if there is a 

 dearth of nectar, they may not do so ex- 

 cept in those colonies which have young 

 queens reared this season and which have a 

 sufScient amount of honey so that brood- 

 roaring need not be reduced on account of 



insufficient stores. The only safe thing for 

 the beginner to do, who does not know 

 whether his locality furnishes a dependable 

 fall honey flow, is to leave enough honey 

 now to run the bees liirough a possible 

 dearth of nectar from this time on. Usually 

 colonies operated for extracted honey put 

 nearly all their honey into the supers, so 

 there would be but little left if all the 

 honey were taken from the supers. At the 

 close of the honey flow, at least five full 

 frames of honey should be left in the upper 

 story when taking away the honey. This 

 much should be left, even though there will 

 be none to extract unless a fall honey flow 

 is certain. Colonies operated for comb hon- 

 ey will have more honey in the brood-cham- 

 ber at the close of the honey flow, but even 

 these sometimes do not have enough to last 

 them through a long dearth of nectar during 

 late summer and fall. To be safe, they 

 should have the equivalent of four or five 

 full frames of honey. 



In addition to an abundance of stores 

 each colony should have a good queen. This 

 is a good time to replace old and otherwise 

 inferior queens, for a young queen that be- 

 gins to lay this month, together with plenty 

 of stores, will practically insure that the 

 colony will be in good condition for winter. 



To find and kill the old queen and intro- 

 duce a young one at this season is some- 

 times quite a task for a beginner; but it can 

 be done, and the ambitious beginner need 

 not hesitate to undertake it if he has only 

 a few colonies. The printed directions, sent 

 out by the queen-breeder, for introducing 

 the new queen should be strictly followed. 



It is not necessary, of course, to replace 

 any but old queens. If any of the colonies 

 have swarmed during the season, it should 

 be remembered that the parent colony has 

 a young queen if all has gone well, while 

 the swarm has an old queen. The young 

 queen in the parent colony should not be 

 replaced, unless she is of inferior stock or is 

 otherwise undesirable. 



Management for a Fall Honey Flow. 



In localities where much buckwheat is 

 grown and near swamps where fall flowers 

 are abundant, the main honey flow of the 

 season may begin this month. In such lo- 

 calities of course it is not necessary to leave 

 so much honey in the hives at the close of 

 the early honey flow. For extracted honey 

 most of the early-gathered honey can be ex- 

 tracted and the empty combs put back on 

 the hive and left there for the fall honey 

 flow. It is usually not best to put on comb 

 honey supers for the fall honey flow, for fall 

 honey is usually dark and not suitable for 

 comb honey. It is better to put on an up- 

 per story of combs or full sheets of founda- 

 tion as for extracted honey, and, if these 

 are filled, this dark honey may be needed 

 next spring for brood-rearing. If not too 

 far north where winters are severe, this up- 

 per story can be left on all winter. Colonies 

 thus abundantly supplied should build up 

 rapidly next spring. 



