13 



eggs hatch in three days and all larvae are fed for three days on 

 royal jelly. Queen larvae are fed on royal jelly for 5i days. 



Wax is used for making comb and also for capping honey and 

 closing up small openings into the hive. For this vs^ork it is gen- 

 erally combined with propolis. Propolis is a gum obtained from 

 flower buds. Wax is secreted by the bees from eight small open- 

 ings, four on each side of the abdomen. Each piece of wax is 

 very small and is deposited by the bee in position for the making 

 of the cells. When cells are being made the bees attach them- 

 selves to the frame bar or to the new comb and build down. They 

 cling to one another, forming long chains. Those bees producing 

 wax are constantly moving up, crawling over the other wax pro- 

 ducers, thus a continuous movement is kept up. 



PREPARING HIVES FOR THE HONEY CROP. 



Tropical conditions for bee keeping are different from those 

 in the temperate zone. In the North the bee keeper has certain 

 seasons when his bees are not active; during the winter months 

 the bees are in winter quarters and at this time they are consum- 

 ing honey. When the spring opens the bees come out and at once 

 commence to gather honey and pollen to raise brood. This new 

 brood is to produce the bees which are to raise more brood a:nd 

 to gather the surplus for the coming season. Many times in the 

 early spring there is very little honey and pollen for the bees and 

 the bee keeper has to stimulate brood raising by feeding. Here 

 we have to keep our brood chamber always full of bees so as to 

 be ready for a flow of honey. There are a number of heavy flows, 

 but they do not come on at fixed times. Thus spring manage- 

 ment should be kept up all the year. After any heavy flow of 

 honey the brood chamber should be looked over and if the outside 

 frames are full they should be taken out and placed in the supers, 

 or, if the frames are built up with worker cells filled with honey, 

 they may be uncapped, the honey extracted and then returned to 

 ^ the brood chamber for the queen to lay in, thus giving the same 

 amount of space for the queen as she had previous to the fiow. If 

 the frames full of honey are placed directly into the super from 

 the brood chamber, empty frames with full foundations, or frames 

 with starters, may be put in their place, thus keeping up the 

 laying space for the queen. 



SV\r ARMING. 



In northern countries swarms come off in the spring, but 

 they may occur here at any season of the year. 



Swarming is often caused by the over-crowding of the brood 

 chamber by the worker bees in their haste to store honey. They 

 fill all the brood cells which cramps the queen and she at once 

 starts the swarming fever. This may be prevented if the bee- 

 keeper will supply his colonies with supers in which the bees may 

 store their surplus. If the bees do not seem inclined to store 

 honey in the supers they may be encouraged to do so by placing a 



