BnUetin No. 33 April, 1921 



THE 



CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



EXTENSION SERVICE 



H. J. BAKER, Director 

 STORKS, CONN. 



Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, 



State of Connecticut, Connecticut Agricultural College 



and U. S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



^..,_-^^ By L. B. Crandall 



The queen bee is the most important individual in the 

 colony. We might almost say the queen is the colony. She lays 

 the eggs which produce all the members of her colony, even that 

 of her successor. If she is a strong, vigorous, Italian queen, 

 her colony will be strong and active. If she comes from a 

 strain that generally produces a large surplus crop of honey, 

 under good management her bees will be likely to produce 

 large crops of surplus honey. It is important, then, to see 

 that the queen in each colony is a good one. 



Things to do Before Unpacking. 



The first thing to do for the bees in the spring, is to ob- 

 serve their flight as an indication of their condition. If the 

 bees fly strong on pleasant daysi in spring, and are seen to 

 bring in pollen and to visit damp places for water, it is an in- 

 dication that the colony is in good condition. 



Colonies which do not fly well and do not gather pollen, 

 and water when other colonies are doing it, are likely to be 

 weak and may be queenless. If your records show that such 

 colonies have old queens (more than two years old) you may 

 conclude that they are queenless. Such colonies should be 

 opened on the first warm day, soon after noon, and a careful in- 

 spection given. If no queen is found, and neither eggs or 

 brood, a new queen should be secured at once, or the colony 

 should be united with some strong colony. 



Issued in Furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and fune jo, 1^14 



