C, -[j ]•; A N T \ a S 1 X B K 



CULT U K K 



Ski'tember, 1922 



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TALKS TO 



Geo. S. 



IN the Xoith 

 the bees com 



plete the shap- 

 ing of their af- 

 fairs for winter 

 during Septem- 

 ber or early in 

 October. If nec- 

 tar is available 

 they now store 



more in the brood-chamber, sometimes 

 crowding the brood-rearing space during 

 the latter part of the month until but little 

 brood is left. It is interesting to note that 

 the honey is stored as far as possible from 

 the entrance, thus placing it above and 

 back of the brood. Finally, late in Sep- 

 tember or early in October there is left only 

 a little spliere of brood in the lower front 

 portion of the brood-chamber if the colony 

 is well provisioned with honey for winter. 

 Then the queen quits laying entirely or the 

 bees refuse to care for the few eggs she 

 does lay, and brood-rearing is suspended for 

 the winter. This usually occurs about Oc- 

 tober 1 in the North and a little later in the 

 South. When the last of the brood emerges 

 there is left a spherical portion of the 

 brood-chamber containing vacant cells. This 

 is where the winter cluster is formed, if the 

 interior of the hive becomes so cold that the 

 bees must cluster away from the walls of 

 the hive and the ends of the combs. 



Noting the location of the winter cluster 

 in October or November in such cases, some 

 liave concluded that the bees cluster near 

 the entrance because they need ventila- 

 tion; but, if they look later after the bees 

 have consumed most of the honey in the 

 front of the hive, they will note that the 

 cluster has moved awaj^ from tlie entrance. 

 The amount of stores a colony has, can thus 

 be estimated b}^ the position of the cluster. 



Since the bees now arrange things in the 

 liive for their safety during winter, the po- 

 sition of the combs should not be changed 

 unless necessary. Combs can be taken out 

 to examine the colony at any time desired, 

 but they should be put back into the hive 

 in the same order they were before. Ordin- 

 arily it is not necessary to take out any 

 frames from the brood-chamber in Septem- 

 ber. If the colony liad a young queen that 

 was laying last month, we may be reason- 

 ably sure she is still all riglit. The amount 

 of lioney the colony has, can be estimated 

 by lifting the hive and looking in at the 

 tO|). Sometimes lifting up a single frame 

 from the middle of the brood-chamber tells 

 tlie beekeei)er as much about the condition 

 of the colony as a com])lete exainiiiatioii of 

 every comb. 



Honey Plants That Bloom in September. 



September is also the time of fall tiowers, 

 and in some localities there may be a good 

 honey flow some time during the niontli. In 

 the buckwheat region the buckwheat honey 

 flow, which begins in August, sometimes con- 

 tinues during the first week or ten days of 

 Se|>tember. In the far north wliere willow- 



BEGINNERS 



Demuth 



1 



TU 



heib is abun- 

 ant, the honey 

 flow from this 

 excellent honey 

 ]jlant often con- 

 t i n u e s into 

 September. I n 

 portions of the 

 north e astern 

 states, especially 

 the New England states, goldenrod often 

 continues furnishing considerable surplus. 

 In swampy places the swamp Spanish 

 needle and other fall flowers come into 

 bloom early in September, furnishing a 

 rich amber honey sometimes in large quan- 

 tities. In the Mississippi Valley, hearts- 

 ease (sometimes called western smartweed) 

 often continues to yield sufficient nectar to 

 cause the bees to work in the supers well 

 into the month of September. Later in the 

 month and extending into October, the as- 

 ters, if abundant, continue to tempt the bees 

 to the fields even after the weather becomes 

 too cold for their safety. 



Much depends upon the locality whether 

 the bees gather much or little during Sep- 

 tember. In some localities considerable sur- 

 plus is stored, while in others the bees gather 

 less than they consume. Sometimes during 

 a light fall honey flow when the bees must 

 spend so much time in searching for nectar, 

 the colonies become greatly depleted in num- 

 bers, so fall honey flows are not always bene- 

 ficial. However, brood-rearing is usually 

 stimulated by the incoming nectar sufficient- 

 ly to make up for this depletion. 



Where the fall honey flow is heavj^ it may 

 be necessary to extract the finished honey 

 from the supers early this month to give 

 the bees room. Instead of tiering up the 

 supers as during the early houej' flow, it is 

 usually better to have but one extracting- 

 super on each hive during the fall houej' 

 flow, for the cooler nights and the tendency 

 of the bees to concentrate their work are 

 not conducive to good work in several 

 supers. For the same reasons, it is usually 

 not advisable to produce comb honey dur- 

 ing the fall honey flow. 



Colonies Become Smaller as Autumn 

 Approaches. 



The beginner will probably be surprised to 

 note the decreasing number of bees at this 

 time. When compared with their great 

 strength in June and July, the colonies now 

 a[)pear to be small. Regardless of their 

 strength in midsummer there is now a ten 

 (Iciu'v for the colonies to become uniform in 

 strength, so that all colonies having good 

 ((ueens, ])lenty of food in August and Sep- 

 tember and sufficient room for the queen 

 will be about the samt> size, which is their 

 normal winter strength. 



If nectar is available now, colonies having 

 good queens may have brood in six or eight 

 combs or the equivalent of four to six 

 combs completely filled with brood. If nec- 

 tar is not available but the colonies are 



