BUILDING UP COLONIES 
167 
on the stage of action at just the right 
time is the goal toward which the bee¬ 
keeper has been working since last sum¬ 
mer. So far as he is concerned, this great 
army of workers is that for which all the 
workers born at other times have existed. 
The bees reared previously have been use¬ 
ful only in as much as they have contrib¬ 
uted to the final production of these “har¬ 
vest hands,” and bees reared later are use¬ 
ful only in as much as they are able to con¬ 
tribute to the maintenance of the colonies 
until next season, unless there is a later 
honey flow which they may help to gather. 
The period of brood-rearing just pre¬ 
ceding the honey flow, therefore, has a 
significance not found at any other season. 
Whether the main honey flow comes in 
March and April as among the orange 
groves of California and in the tupelo and 
orange regions of Florida, in June and 
July as in the clover region of the North, 
or during August as in the buckwheat re¬ 
gion of New York and Pennsylvania, the 
size of the crop of honey that can be har¬ 
vested depends largely upon the amount of 
brood reared during the six or eight weeks 
just preceding the beginning of the main 
honey flow. 
Since the tendency to rear brood is 
strongest in the spring, the beekeeper whose 
location furnishes the main honey flow im¬ 
mediately after the period of natural 
spring brood-rearing, is fortunately lo¬ 
cated, for he then produces his workers for 
the honey flow at the time the bees are most 
willing to co-operate. If anything pre¬ 
vents the colony from reaching its peak 
in brood-rearing in the spring, such as 
weakness or insufficient food, it may climb 
to its maximum strength later in the sea¬ 
son when normally the tendency to rear 
brood would be less intense; but, after the 
first spurt of extensive brood-rearing of 
the season, it is difficult to induce colonies 
again to rear as much brood during the 
same season. 
When there is a succession of honey 
flows during the season having an interval 
of dearth between, the bees usually increase 
brood-rearing in response to each honey 
flow. They can also be induced to rear a 
large amount of brood after the natural 
period of heavy brood-rearing in the spring 
by stimulative feeding (see Feeding and 
Feeders, sub-head feeding to stimulate 
brood-bearing), but during the natural 
building-up period of spring they will rear 
brood extensively even in the absence of 
an early honey flow and without stimula¬ 
tive feeding, provided they have enough 
bees to take care of a large amount of 
brood, a good queen, plenty of honey and 
pollen stored within the hive, and water 
easily available. Brood-rearing at this time 
is apparently stimulated chiefly by the on¬ 
coming of spring, tho even in the spring 
more brood is usually reared if some early 
nectar and pollen can be brought in from 
the fields. 
Building up for an early honey flow, es¬ 
pecially in the North, is therefore a rela¬ 
tively simple matter with colonies that have 
wintered well and have a good queen. Colo¬ 
nies that come thru the winter with three 
pounds of bees that have not been unduly 
aged by winter and that have a vigorous 
queen need only to have abundant food 
(honey, pollen, and water), ample room 
for the queen to lay eggs, and protection 
from cold winds and low temperatures of 
early spring, to cause them to build up to 
powerful colonies within two months. 
Weaker colonies buildup slowly, sometimes 
requiring three or four months to reach 
full summer strength. 
To have most of the colonies strong in 
early spring involves not only good win¬ 
tering (see Wintering), but also condi¬ 
tions during the previous late summer and 
fall favorable to the rearing of sufficient 
young bees for winter. The first steps to¬ 
ward the building-up of colonies for an 
early honey flow should, therefore, be 
taken the preceding July or August by 
seeing that each colony has a vigorous 
queen (preferably young) and also suffi¬ 
cient stores, if there is no fall flow, as well 
as sufficient brood-rearing room to insure 
the rearing of young bees for winter. The 
second step is that of good wintering to 
conserve the energy of the bees which form 
the winter colony; and the third or final 
step is that of providing conditions favor¬ 
able to heavy brood-rearing in the spring 
when the instinct to rear a large amount of 
brood is the strongest. Weak colonies in 
the spring are 'usually unprofitable and 
should be eliminated as far as possible. 
Remembering that the bees are more 
