ROBBING Chapter XVI, 
and they would pay little or no attention to it. But it is this fact alone that 
so often gets the beginner into trouble, for he becomes careless during the 
honey flow, and then some day, when the honey is not coming in, a repeti- 
tion of the former carelessness brings on double trouble. During a honey 
flow, when necessary to remove supers of honey, bees may even be shaken 
or brushed from the combs without attracting robbers in the least; but 
during a dearth of honey such work must be done very rapidly, the apiarist 
moving so quickly from hive to hive that the robbers can get no chance to 
pounce on any exposed honey. Robber bees will even attempt to steal 
honey from a comb being momentarily examined by the beekeeper, or even 
dodge into an open hive from the top. 
During a honey dearth it is much pleasanter, for the beginner at least, 
to free the combs from bees by means of the bee-eseape. But here again 
caution is necessary; for, if the cover does not fit bee-tight, robbing will 
be started in the shortest possible time, as the robber bees from other hives 
very quickly find the unguarded opening and have the honey all to them- 
selves, since-the bees of the hive being robbed are shut out from the super 
by the bee-escape board and so are unable to defend their stores. One 
should always be careful, therefore, in adjusting the bee-escape below the. 
supers, to see that the cover above is not warped; it would be well not to 
remove the inner cover when slipping the escape-board under the supers, 
since the bees will have this cover tightly propolized to the top of the upper 
super. 
It is the height of foolishness to suppose that bees will not find any 
opening, however small, if there is one. They will not notice it when they 
are getting plenty of honey in the fields, but will quickly find such an 
opening at other times. 
Robbing When Extracting. 
When extracting during a honey-dearth it is important to see that ali 
windows are screened. The door of the room where the extracting is done 
should not be a screened door; otherwise, there will always be a cloud of 
bees flying about it, and some of them will get in every time it is opened. 
The window must be screened (better double-screened), but the door should 
be solid. It always makes trouble to spill honey on the floor, especially if 
the building stands on piers or stakes so that the bees can get underneath. 
The honey leaks through the floor, of course, and the bees find it shortly. 
This is why a room having a tight foundation is better to use when ex- 
tracting. 
Another possible cause of robbing after the extracting has been done 
is the nearly dry cappings. When these have drained so long that no more 
honey will run out they may be put in a solar wax-extractor (a shallow 
box having a glass lid, and lined with black sheet iron). The heat of the 
sun melts the cappings, and the liquid wax collects at the lower end in a 
suitable receptacle. Unless this box is tight the bees can get started on the 
honey that separates from the wax. Of course, it is necessary to protect 
all unmelted cappings from the bees. It is hardly safe to assume that no 
more honey will drain out, for slow dripping keeps up a long time. 
The only use which the beekeeper can make of the robbing tendency 
of bees is in cleaning up his sticky combs after extracting. (See page 82.) 
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