BUILDING UP COLONIES 
166 
David Running’s 16 x 40-foot concrete building. There are two different floors besides the cellar where 
the bees are. wintered. The cellar has a capacity for nearly 350 colonies. Where gravel is cheap, concrete 
is cheaper than lumber in the long run. 
for winter. Tims in early spring a colony 
is strong as to numbers if it contains as 
many as two and a half to three pounds 
of bees ( about 12,000 to 15,000 individ¬ 
uals), but it is not really strong two 
months later unless it contains 60,000 to 
100,000 workers, the increase in numbers 
during the spring building-up period be¬ 
ing usually more than fivefold in prosper¬ 
ous colonies. 
I.t is fortunate for the beekeeper that the 
bees regulate their numbers in this way ac¬ 
cording to the needs of the season; for 
this makes it possible for them to store a 
surplus of honey during the honey flow 
and reduce the amount they consume at 
other times, provided the large population 
comes on at the right time for the honey 
flow. The most important thing in all bee¬ 
keeping management is to have the largest 
number of workers come on the stage of 
action at the right time to take full ad¬ 
vantage of the honey flow. . 
After brood-rearing is begun in earnest 
in the spring it usually requires about two 
months for colonies of normal early 
spring strength to build up to full work¬ 
ing strength, the gain during the first 
month usually being slow but becoming 
rapid during the second. In localities 
where the main honey flow usually begins 
about two months after the beginning of 
spring brood-rearing, this works out well 
for the beekeeper, since it furnishes a large 
force of young workers just when they are 
most needed. For example, in the northern 
portion of the United States where the 
honey flow usually begins in June most of 
the workers that gather the crop must be 
reared during April and May, and, in order 
that these workers shall be young and vig¬ 
orous when the honey flow begins, most 
of them should be reared during May. 
Colonies which build up most rapidly just 
before the main honey flow usually store 
more surplus than those of equal numerical 
strength which build up more slowly, 
since more of their workers are young and, 
therefore, capable of a greater amount of 
work. 
These workers are the “harvest hands” 
of the hive; and, if the flowers and weath¬ 
er do their part, the crop of honey will 
usually be much or little according to 
whether the workers to gather it are many 
or few. A great horde of workers coming 
