CHAPTER III 



OF AVOIDING BEES' STINGS 



There are three lines of organised defence against attack from bees, 

 and these are respectively: — 



(1) The keeping of docile bees. 



(2) Personal protection. 



(3) Correct manipulations.. 



Part One — Docile Bees 



If bees do not respond to smoke, 

 And handling them is not a joke: 

 Their mother can't be very nice, 

 Get rid of her at any price. 



Devizes Doggerel 



The docility of bees is given first because it is quite the most 

 important point, and the other two are secondary in their relation 

 to being stung. Careful and correct handhng of bees should, of 

 course, be an essential part of every good bee-keeper's character, 

 but the amount of protection required or worn is a measure of the 

 sweetness or otherwise of one's bees. Savage bees do not store more 

 honey than quiet tempered ones, and make bee-keeping an ordeal 

 instead of the pleasure it rightly should be. It is, of course, true 

 that nasty tempered bees do store well, usually those that are black 

 in colour. This may possibly be due to the fact that bees in colder 

 climes, on the whole, tend to lose their brighter hues so that the 

 darker bees are more climatised, and can therefore work out of doors 

 at lower temperatures, though whether a greater store of nectar 

 is gathered is debatable, since a fall in temperature adversely affects 

 the nectar yield. Whatever truth there is in this does not conceal 

 the fact that bee-keepers who possess colonies with this undesirable 

 trait leave their bees alone, with the result that not being interfered 

 with, they get on with the job of storing honey. The more savage 

 they are the less they see of their owner. 



Needless to say the retention of such bees is not good practice. 

 Apart from the distasteful reception that greets the opening of their 

 hive, it really is necessary from time to time during the season to 

 examine stocks for various purposes especially during the swarming 

 period. There are many bee-keepers who simply dread the prospect 

 of having to open up a bad-tempered colony during the season, and 

 rely, unfairly so, upon experts or others willing, or unwilling, but 

 good natured enough, to come and help them out. This is not as. 

 it should be because the average bee-keeper is extraordinarily good 

 natured, and should not, therefore, be imposed upon. Besides. 



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