AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



239 



Topics o! Interest. 



Gainlno Victor? Over Roier Bees. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Tt is said that writers give the bright 

 side of bee culture more largely than the 

 dark, which I am free to admit, for when 

 in a happy mood we are more fluent 

 talkers than when sad or perplexed. 

 Just now I am perplexed and troubled 

 with robber bees trying to get at every 

 exposed comb when I open a hive, and 

 that a little of the dark side may appear, 

 with your permission, JNIr. liditor, I will 

 tell the readers of the American Bee 

 Journal something about how robber 

 bees bothered me a few years ago, and 

 how at tliat time 1 " got the beat^ns " of 

 them, and how this has helped me to 

 have the best of them ever since. 



If anything about bee-keeping makes 

 me feel out of sorts, it is to have robber 

 bees hovering all day long about every 

 hive in the apiary that they think there 

 is a possible chance of forcing their way 

 into. The year I speak of, a little honey 

 had been coming in slowly up to about 

 August 1, when there was an entire 

 stoppage in the secretion of nectar, so 

 that there was nothing for the bees to 

 do ; while every day the heat was intense, 

 which is just the time to put all the 

 possible vim into a robber bee. Add to 

 this the running of a queen-rearing 

 business, in which I am sending out from 



00 to -iO queens some days, and the 

 reader will take in the situation. 



The cover could not be taken off a 

 nucleus before there was a host of 

 marauders ready to pile in, so that, had 

 it not been for the bee-tent (which, by 

 the way, is a great help to any apiarist) 



1 could not have done anything at all, 

 except quite early in the morning and 

 late at night, both of which times are 

 very unpleasant to work with bees. 



The bee tent would hold the robbers 

 at bay while the hive was being opened 

 and closed ; but when the bees, kept out- 

 side by the tent, would flock in upon the 

 removal of the same, in would go the 

 robbers, then a fight would ensue, which, 

 in some instances, v^ould-have resulted 

 in a victory for the latter, had I not 

 promptly closed the hives of some of tlie 

 weaker nuclei. 



After a little experience robbers become 

 very cunning and determined. They 

 will hover all day at the entrance of a 

 nucleus or weak colony, from 2 to 10 at 



a time, and alight down with fanning 

 wings as a tired bee would do after 

 having been from home for a long time, 

 and in this way get past ihe weary 

 guards. Again, when some of the guards 

 caught a robber, other robbers would 

 catch hold of the robber also, and hold 

 on, pulling back till the robber got away, 

 when they would whirl around, as if 

 looking for another robber, and run into 

 the hive. In this way they would wear 

 out the guards of these weak colonies, 

 and keep me on the jump all the while. 



Talk about the pleasures of bee-keep- 

 ing when a man has to go on a jump 

 from early morning till after dark, in 

 tlie scorching sun the most of the time, 

 with the mercury up to 90^ or 95^^ in 

 the shade ; and add this robbing per- 

 plexity, and you will have something not 

 always told about in our bee periodicals. 



Well, there is a pleasant part of it 

 after all, and that is what I wanted most 

 to tell the readers about. The bright 

 side again, you see. What was it that 

 could make such a time bright and 

 pleasant ? Jut this : I beat the robbers 1 

 and I have been victor ever since. Win- 

 ning a battle makes days of struggle and 

 hard toil seem pleasant. From such a 

 struggle, with victory, a satisfaction 

 comes that cannot be had through ease 

 and indolence : in fact, "ease and indo- 

 lence, if long continued, give no satis- 

 faction at all. In watching, I often 

 noticed that when a robber slipped by 

 the outside guards into a hive, it would 

 be led out by a bee from the inside of the 

 hive. 



This set me to thinking, the result of 

 which was the fixing of every nucleus 

 and weak colony as follows : Heretofore 

 I had the entrance to the hives right 

 direct onto the combs. To accomplish 

 what I wanted to, when I opened a 

 nucleus, I took the frame having the 

 most honey in it and set it clear to the 

 opposite side of the hive from the 

 entrance, then the frame having the next 

 most was put close to it, and the one 

 having the most brood in it, last; having 

 the frame with the most brood nearest 

 the entrance, no matter how many frames 

 the hive contained. I now drew up the 

 division-board and closed the hive. 

 This left the entrance on one side or end 

 of the hive, while the. nucleus or weak 

 colony was on the other. 



If a robber slipped by the outside and 

 inside guards it now had to travel over 

 considerable space, all along which were 

 scattered guards ready to receive it. If 

 it succeeded in getting by them through 

 stratagem, it first came to the division- 

 board, and if it got around that, the next 



