BUILDING IIP COLONIES 
idly; but, if the reserve supply runs low, 
brood-rearing is reduced to a degree that is 
ruinous at the very time that the “harvest 
hands” are being reared. 
In the clover region there is an old say¬ 
ing among beekeepers something like this: 
“1 f the bees do well on the early flowers 
and fruit bloom, there will be a good crop 
of honey in June.” This old saying im¬ 
plies some mystic relation between the two, 
by which it is possible to predict what the 
honey crop will be by noting how well the 
early flowers yield. This relation is no 
longer a mysterious one; for the up-to-date 
beekeeper, by supplying the deficiency in 
stores when the early flowers fail, is still 
able to produce a crop of honey, as he thus 
furnishes the food which is necessary to 
produce the workers that gather the crop. 
During the month of May in many of 
the northern States, and during April or 
earlier farther south, most of the brood 
which is destined to make the “harvest 
hands” are being reared. Whether the food 
used in rearing them is being brought in 
from the fields or is being supplied by the 
beekeeper thru feeders or is stored in the 
hive, the amount must be sufficient if tbe 
colony is to attain full strength in time. 
One of the easiest ways to insure this is to 
give each colony a second story of combs 
which are about two-thirds filled with hon¬ 
ey. This second story becomes an auto¬ 
matic feeder, feeding the bees only as food 
is needed; and, in many localities at least, 
such a feeder, in addition to being auto¬ 
matic in its action after being filled the 
first time, is usually refilled each season 
without cost to the beekeeper, because of 
the better condition of colonies thus abun¬ 
dantly supplied with stores. 
Such a large supply of honey apparently 
stimulates brood-rearing in the spring, and 
as the honey is consumed, the queen usu¬ 
ally enters the second story, expanding the 
brood-nest into it, during the period of 
greatest brood-rearing when a single story 
may not furnish enough room for the 
brood.. This second story partly filled with 
honey, therefore, not only acts as an auto¬ 
matic feeder, but it also supplies room for 
additional brood-rearing at the time this is 
most needed. Some beekeepers use a shal¬ 
low extracting-super for this purpose, 
which they call the food chamber. One 
1G9 
shallow super is supplied for each colony. 
This is tiered up among the other supers 
during the honey flow so that it is filled 
with good honey, and, at the close of the 
season when the regular supers are taken 
off, this food chamber now filled with 
sealed honey is left on the hive. 
If a second story is not used to supply 
the bees with ample stores for spring 
brood-rearing, the next best way is to save 
over combs of sealed honey and give these 
to the colonies as needed during the spring. 
Each colony should have the equivalent of 
at least two full combs of honey on hand 
as a reserve supply at all times thruout the 
building-up period. If combs of honey have 
not been saved for this purpose it is neces¬ 
sary to feed the bees during the building- 
up period, unless the colonies were unusu¬ 
ally well supplied with stores the previous 
fall or early nectar is abundant. The syrup 
may be given in small amounts daily as in 
stimulative feeding, or ten to fifteen 
pounds may be given at one time if more 
convenient. 
It is important that bees in early spring 
should have reserve combs of pollen. These 
are almost as important as combs of sealed 
stores. In some localities when there is no 
natural pollen in- the hive the bees will rush 
out in the early spring, go to some barn 
searching for feeding-troughs in stables, 
and help themselves to the ground feed; 
for brood cannot be reared without some¬ 
thing- besides mere honey or syrup. (See 
Pollen; read as to the necessity of pollen 
for brood-rearing.) Of course, after bees 
can get natural pollen from the fields dur¬ 
ing warm weather they usually find an 
abundance for all their needs. 
Sometimes the main honey flow does not 
follow immediately the period of heavy 
brood-rearing of spring and these “harvest 
hands” may become consumers instead of 
producers; but these strong colonies can 
usually gather enough to live on, being- 
better able to gain a living from minor 
sources of nectar than weaker colonies, ex¬ 
cept during a complete dearth of nectar. 
But after the colonies have built up to 
great strength it is difficult to maintain 
their strength until a later honey flow on 
account of the reduction in the amount of 
brood. 
In some locations, such as in some of the 
