March, 1909. 



American l^ee Journal 



wall sometimes an inch thick, which is 

 almost the same as having no packing 

 at all. I have secured the best results 

 with surrounding packing when such 

 packing is only separated from the bees 

 by at most a heavy grade of duck can- 

 vas, or similar material, permitting of 

 the free passage outward of moisture, 

 and at the same time retaining the heat 

 of the cluster. Since the heated and 

 moisture-laden air of the colony to a 

 great degree rises, the value of absorb- 

 ent packing above the frames is readily 

 to be seen, and there should always be 

 provision made above the packing for 

 a free circulation of air to carry off 

 the moisture passing off through the 

 packing. 



If these points are observed, colonies 

 left undisturbed in well painted and tight 

 hives, placed in surroundings with rea- 

 sonably good drainage, will winter in 

 good shape. Even in our mild Califor- 

 nia climate I have frequently raised the 

 covers of colonies wintered without win- 

 ter protection, to find the cover soaked 

 with mr)isture. and sometimes pools of 

 water of condensation standing on the 

 top-bars of the frames and drizzling 

 down upon the stores and cluster. For 

 this reason I recommend, even under 

 California conditions, that if the best 

 results arc to be obtained in our damp 

 winter climate, at least some top pack- 

 ing should be given the bees, with free 

 ventilation above for the escape of mois- 

 ture. 



Early Sprino Ox-erh-xulin-c. 



An early spring overhauling will be 

 found especially advantageous in the de- 

 termination of the exact condition of 

 each colony. This should be done as 

 soon as the winter is broken and con- 

 tinued warm weather is assured. The 

 disturbing of bees during cold weather 

 is at all times to be discouraged. This 

 applies equally well to jarring as well 

 as to actual manipulation. It is self- 

 evident that if the cluster is broken 

 through opening a colony in the cold 

 the inability of the bees to cluster again 

 leads to their chilling, resulting disas- 

 trously. In the case of jarring, the bees 

 become excited, move about, and gen- 

 erate an excess of heat ; this heat, to- 

 gether with an excess of moisture given 

 off from the cluster, causes condensa- 

 tion when it strikes the walls of the 

 hive, and dampness results. 



In California the first overhauling 

 usually takes place the last of January 

 or the fore part of February. In the 

 course of this inspection the work of 

 each queen should be noted, and special- 

 ly strong colonies selected for early 

 queen-rearing operation^. Frequently 

 the weaker colonics may be strengthen- 

 ed with judicious addition of emerg- 

 ing brood from stronger ones; also an 

 equalization of stores may be profitably 

 carried on. At this time, and more es- 

 pecially a little later, there are certain 

 manipulations to enlarge the brood-nest 

 which may be carried on — the real, posi- 

 tive steps toward the building up of the 

 bees for the harvest. 



I have alluded to this period as a crit- 

 ical time for colonies of bees, and it 

 is in the operations carried on at this 

 time that the skill and judgment of 

 the bee-keeper are brought into play. 



For a long time many colonies at this 

 season do not seem to gain appreciably 

 in numbers although they are regularly 

 rearing brood. This is due to the fact 

 that the brood-rearing is limited to the 

 strength of the colony, and in amount 

 is but a little beyond the rapid death- 

 rate of the old bees of the colony. If 

 left to itself the average colony will 

 slowly gain in strength, and then sud- 

 denly taking a new lease on life, as it 

 were, surmount its critical stage and 

 rapidly increase almost in -a geometrical 

 ratio. But for the average spring honey- 

 flow coming in May or June, and in 

 California sometimes earlier, this rapid- 

 ly breeding stage is not reached early 

 enough to populate the colony to its 

 full capacity by the time the harvest is 

 on ; for the bees that go into this early 

 harvest must come from eggs deposited 

 at least 5 weeks prior to the harvest, and 

 to insure a goodly number of them 6 or 

 7 weeks prior to the harvest. Mani- 

 festly to have a colony breeding freely 

 7 weeks prior to the spring harvest, 

 posits that the critical period in the his- 

 tory of that colony's brood-rearing op- 

 erations must have been past I to 12 

 ■ weeks prior to the harvest in question. 

 In other words, some 3 months before 

 the spring honey-flow, steps should be 

 taken speedily to enhance brood-rearing, 

 and give every queen the opportunity 

 to operate to her fullest egg-laying 

 capacity. 



Incre.\sing the Brood Are.\s. 



The first steps to be taken looking 

 toward increasing the brood-areas of a 

 colony at this season of the year, is the 

 bringing about of the most favored con- 

 ditions under which naturally the bees 

 would produce the most brood. Nearly 

 all varieties of bees are governed some- 

 what in their rearing of brood by the 

 presence or absence of a honey-flow. 

 This is least true, perhaps, of the Car- 

 niolans. which may be said to be con- 

 tinuous breeders. On the other hand, 

 it is pre-eminently true of blacks or 

 Germans, and to a large degree also of 

 Italians, that the absence or least slack- 

 ening of the honey-flow is accompanied 

 by a relative cessation of brood-rearing 

 activities. 



Then, the first step to increase the 

 amount of brood in a colony, it is seen, 

 is to supply the bees with a regular 

 source of food-sujjply in the absence of 

 such a one naturally, This, then, is the 

 principle upon which the practice of 

 stitnulative feeding rests, a practice in- 

 volving some labor and outlay, but one 

 which always pays, even when the col- 

 onies so fed have an abundance of stored 

 food. It is the idea of a regular source 

 of incoming food-supply which acts as 

 a stimulant to the otherwise lethargic 

 and tardy colony. The food fed for 

 spring stimulation need not be a heavy 

 syrup— about equal parts of sugar and 

 water by weight, thoroughly mixed, and 

 fed warm, will be found to be sufficient. 

 Some honey may be added if on hand, 

 but it is not necessary provided the bees 

 have access to pollen, and only en- 

 dangers the starting of robbing through 

 its strong odor. 



There are many ways of feeding. In 

 general I believe, for stimulative pur- 

 poses, some form of top feeding above 



the cluster to be best, as by means of 

 an inverted jelly glass, with the top 

 punctured, or on a large scale some 

 similar but more rapidly handled form 

 of feeder. Small quantities of food 

 given frequently will be found to bring 

 about the desired results. 



The next natural condition favoring 

 the production of brood to be apprecia- 

 ted is the tendency of a colony of bees 

 to organize and expand its brood-nest 

 into a sphere or oval dimension. It 

 must be borne in mind that a queen not 

 only beginning near the center of a lit- 

 tle forward of the center of a comb, de- 

 posits her eggs in ever-enlarging circles 

 or ovals, but in like manner organizes 

 her brood laterally as well, causing the 

 brood-nest to assuiue the form of a 

 sphere or ovoid. This is especially to be 

 noticed early in the season when the 

 cluster is small. At this season it will 

 be noted that the queen has small patch- 

 es of brood in several fraines, prefer- 

 ring thus to confine her operations with- 

 in the cluster of the bees comprising the 

 colony at the time, .^s the cluster en- 

 larges she increases her brood-areas 

 normally in all directions, adding slight- 

 ly to the area in each comb occupied, 

 and to preserve the spherical or oval 

 form will e.xtend her operations slowly 

 to the combs next adjoining the combs 

 already occupied. It is just here that 

 the bee-keeper can step in, and with the 

 normal enlargement of the cluster hasten 

 the relative enlargement of the brood- 

 areas beyond that point to which the 

 queen would ordinarily, of her own ac- 

 cord, extend her brood. This is done 

 by a judicious spreading of the combs 

 containing brood, and the insertion of 

 good, well-drawn brood-coiubs contain- 

 ing little or no honey or pollen. An 

 eiupty comb thus placed in the middle of 

 the brood-nest will be rapidly filled with 

 eggs, and through such manipulations 

 the brood-nest can be enlarged more 

 rapidly than it would be if left undis- 

 turbed to take its course. 



Some judgment is required in thus en- 

 larging the brood-nest, care being taken 

 not to spread the brood too much, more 

 than the size of the cluster will warrant, 

 taking into consideration the possibili- 

 ties of cold snaps and attendant con- 

 traction of the cluster. Care should be 

 taken in the selection of the proper 

 combs for insertion in the brood-nest. 

 No combs containing scaled honey or 

 pollen in appreciable quantity should be 

 thus used since such combs are liable to 

 act as a division-board and divide the 

 brood-nest, not infrequently resulting 

 in the abandomnent by the Ix^es of one 

 or the other halves of the nest, result- 

 ing in the loss of brood through chilling 

 on account of a forced contraction of 

 the nest. To obviate such dangers, and 

 yet permit of a more rapid increase of 

 brood through facilitating the oviposi- 

 ting /)f the queen, in the case of weaker 

 colonies, emerging frames of brood 

 from the stronger colonies may be in- 

 serted. The young bees thus added to 

 the strength of the colony will enable 

 the cluster to care for luore brood. The 

 combs so supplied the colony, will be, 

 as fast as the young bees emerge, taken 

 possession of by the queen and the 

 brood-areas so proportionately increased. 

 From time to time as the cluster grows, 



