16 lABMEES^ BULLETIK 1012. 



If more stores must be given them or if some of the late honey is to 

 be removed in order that it may be replaced by better honey or by 

 sugar sirup, then handling of the bees after frost may be needed, but 

 after the last essential handling it is much the best plan to pack the bees. 

 In parts of the country where bees are wmtered outdoors it is quite 

 customary to delay packing until Thanksgiving Day, but this is 

 too late by far except in the extreme South (zone C). 



It is safe, therefore, for the beekeeper to use the dates shown in 

 figures 5 and 6 and the data given in Table I as a guide to the time 

 of packing. He may be assured that if he delays packing later than 

 the dates shown therein the bees will suffer by a loss of colony 

 strength and vitality at a season of the year when they can ill afford 

 to be weakened by neglect. Under no circumstances should packing 

 be delayed more than two weeks after the date given for each zone. 

 Further, if packing is delayed until after cold weather begins, the 

 disturbance of the colony may induce the beginning of bi'ood-rearing, 

 and this in turn may result in the death of the colony. If by chance 

 a colony has been left unpacked until after the bees have been con- 

 fined by cold weather for three or four weeks, the packing may do 

 more harm than good. 



TIME FOR THE REMOVAL OF PACKING. 



If bees are given the right amount of room, stores, and protection 

 early in the fall, nothing that the beekeeper can do will benefit them 

 until it is necessary to handle them because of preparations for 

 swarmins: or because of the incoming nectar. Of course if bees ax-e 



CD ten . ^^ 



well packed they get so strong in the spring that if crowded they 

 begin preparations fw swarming earlier than do colonies which have 

 been neglecte4 during^:he winter. By following the methods here 

 described the season for swarm control is advanced, so that usually 

 it is entirely passed before the honey-flow begins. 



In the region of Washington it has been found best not to remove 

 the p^acking until at least May 1. Farther south or in warmer 

 regions it may be well to remove the packing earlier, but in localities 

 such as New York or Wisconsin (zone F) the packing should be left 

 in place until at least May 20, and usually until June 1. Obviously 

 this will be impossible unless two hive bodies are left on the bees all 

 winter, or unless more room is given in the early spring, before 

 unpacking. It has been found that if the bees are allowed to remain 

 in the cases until the dates named they may then be taken out ready 

 for whatever nectar may come. By that time they should have 

 12 frames of brood — far more than is found in the average colony 

 throughout the country even in the midst of the honey-flow. Such 

 Isolonies are so strong that if cooler weather comes after they are 

 unpacked, as it sometimes does, they are not injured by it. Of 

 dourse the bees would be as well or even better off if the packing 



