45 



for a few days, and loses the opportunity of laying, say, from fifteen hundred 

 to two thousand eggs each day, the colony would quickly dwindle down, 

 especially as the average life of the bee in the honey season is only six weeks. 



A short time ago I came across a strong colony with almost as many 

 bees hanging outside the hive as would have made a decent swarm. Seeking 

 the cause, I found an excluder on, and the breeding-space blocked with honey. 

 I^ took it off and put on another top box filled with frames of comb-founda- 

 tion. All the bees that had been hanging out in enforced idleness went to 

 work at once, and when I examined the hive a week afterwards, the ten 

 sheets of foundation were worked out and a good deal of honey stored in 

 them. What, however, was of the highest importance was that most of 

 the honey had been carried up from below, and the queen had taken 

 advantage of the extra room provided her by the bees to lay in. 



For my part I care not where the queen lays — ^the more bees the more 

 honey. If she lays in some of the super combs it can be readily rectified 

 now and again by putting the brood below, and side combs of honey from 

 the lower box above ; some of the emerging brood also may be placed at 

 the side of the upper box to give plenty of room below. I have seen excluders 

 on in the latter part of the season, the queens idle for want of room, and 

 very little brood in the hives, just at a time when it is of very great im- 

 portance that there should be plenty of young bees emerging. 



IV. SPRING FEEDING OF BEES. 



Next in magnitude to the losses of bees which result from inattention 

 to disease are thosj which occur in the spring months through starvation. 

 Few but experienced beekeepers and those who suffer financially from 

 losses realise how readily the food-supply may become exhai.sted after 

 breeding is in full swing in spring. In my rounds hitherto I have found 

 it a general complaint that numbers of colonies have died ofi in the spring. 

 The owners did not know the cause, and when starvation was suggested 

 they were quite surprised, as they " had left plenty of food in the hive the 

 previous season," and it had never occurred to them that the supply might 

 run short. All beekeepers worthy of the name will take care that their 

 bees never run short of food, be it spring, summer, autumn, or winter. 



THE CAUSE OF STARVATION. 



Given a fair supply of stores in late autumn, when fixing the bees up 

 for winter, a colony will use comparatively little during the winter months, 

 but as soon as breeding begins in the latter part of July or early August 



