in warm clfmates. Their inability to sting does not deprive them of 

 the means to outwit their enemies and various methods are adopted 

 to defend their nests and stores. Some species are quite aggressive 

 in habit, and will resolutely attack human beings in spite of their 

 diminutive size. They will bite savagely with their strong jaws, 

 while others spray their victims with powerful fluids which cause 

 nasty burns. So it's not all honey keeping stingless bees. 



If docile bees are kept in the apiary, they should, of course, be 

 used for the rearing of new queens. Queen rearing is one of the most 

 interesting phases of bee-keeping, and is so simple that it is within 

 the reach of anyone. In dealing with the characteristics of a good 

 bee, it should not be forgotten that temper is a trait derived from 

 the drone. For this reason it is essential that if a bee-keeper possesses 

 mixed types of bees in his apiary, and desires to breed from one of 

 them, then he must rear his drones from the most gentle colony. 

 This is actually the first step in successful queen rearing, and it 

 should be one's aim to flood the apiary with drones from the most 

 quiet tempered stock early in the season before the drones of vicious 

 colonies are flying in any numbers. The drones do not of necessity 

 require to be reared from the same stock as the queens. The best 

 method of achieving this is to place a frame of drone comb into the 

 middle of the selected stock. Care will, of course, have to be exer- 

 cised that such a procedure does not tend to promote swarming, but 

 this aspect of bee-keeping should be carefully studied first from any 

 of the best text-books dealing with this subject. Having reared or 

 bought a queen from a docile colony, the savage stock must first 

 be de-queened and the new queen introduced. The assistance of an 

 expert in circumstances such as these, should be sought by the begin- 

 ner or anyone whose heart flinches at the prospect, for it is a job 

 which can only be done properly or not at all. See Snelgrove's 

 comprehensive book on this subject. * 



As the clover flow comes to an end, so does the temper of even 

 the best behaved stocks seem to decline. This is due to the bees' 

 natural desire to defend their accumulated winter stores. When the 

 colonies have been robbed of their harvest by the greedy hand of 

 man and there is no nectar about, robbers become evident — and 

 then look out for stings. Tempers are short and attack is swift. 



Bad temper in bees may be due to any of the following con- 

 ditions: — 



Permanent . . Strain of bees. 



Temporary . . Bad weather. 



Hunger. 



Excessive manipulations. 

 Outbreak of robbing. 

 Disease. 

 Constant removal of queen cells. 



"L. E. Snelgrove. The Introduction of Queen Bees. 



39 



