94 



MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



worry is the objective of the author. In the first place 

 unless there is a fairly heavy flow of honey, and nice warm 

 weather (day and night), it is useless to give a super. 

 The days may be fine enough but if the nights are chilly 

 the bees will not lie able to maintain warmth sufficiently 

 to go on uninterruptedly building comb. The result is 

 sections of various widths and colours. 

 ■ Should the honey flow be in cpiantity and the bees 

 still loth to occupy the sections, an examination of the 

 brood-chamber will disclose one or more combs glutted 

 with honey. As long as there is room in the brood-nest 



if .■'«<Sc .Mt. 



Fig. 48. Evolution of Comb-honey. 



for honey it is vain to expect it to be stored above. The 

 remedy is to leave no comb room for honey storage down 

 below. Many colonies will, if unattended to, fill all the 

 availal:)le lu'ood-cells and so prevent the (pieen performing 

 her oviparous duties. Needless to say wlien this happens 

 the colony very soon dwindles down to a mere handful 

 of bees, incapable of storing a surplus of honey, or else 

 the queen, tiring of her vain searching for egg room, 

 finally leads off a swarm. 



The apiarist alive to this danger will lose no time 

 in effecting an alteration. Two or more of the outside 

 brood-combs will probalily ))e solid honey. These must 

 be removed, and sheets of foundation alternated with the 

 brood-combs. There ai-e, then, no empty cells below to 

 hold lioney, consequently it is forced above. As the 

 foundation is built out tlie cpieen occupies it with eggs, 



