EARLY HONEY FLOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 296, 14 December 1936, Page 5

EARLY HONEY FLOW.

' BEEKEEPERS BUSY. [ — AND ALSO THE BEES. { c SEASON'S GOOD PROSPECTS. Beekeepers all over New Zealand are - now busy round the hives, and the bees " themselves are even more busy storing honey. A mild, wet spring has brought on abundance of clover, and the bees can find honey in" plenty to be harvested. Business is booming indeed, as far as honey making in the hives is •• concerned. The earlier spring, however, was a t difficult time for bees and "honey■j matchers" alike. Usually the trouble is to keep down the strength of the hives and prevent swarming. This year, with * intermittent sunshine, periods of rain ), and strong winds, and several cold [i snaps, the problem has been to keep up n their strength. Now the clover has come on the honey n has started to flow a full week earlier e than usual, but' the bees are backward. 0 Continued fine weather, however, . will s help them increase their strength, and I- with an abundant honey harvest to be [. gathered, a big production Season should - be experienced. But that depends on e the weather. Round the Hives. In apiaries round Auckland everyone is now hard at work preparing the hives for the storing of honey. At his Puhinui hives Mr. P. A. Hillary explained these operations to a "Star" reporter. e Early in the afternoon the bees were . in happy mood, for the sun was shining r brightly. Millions of them, it seemed, t were coming back laden from the fields, 1 or going out for more honey, keeping 0 up a cheerful buzz all the time. s A few puffs of harmless smoke dis--3 organised the hive to be opened, and - the buzzing struck an angrier note. - Acting on an instinct developed through centuries of forest fires, the bees made 1 for the honey at the first puff, and began leaving "the hive. When the smoke

cleared the evacuation ceased, but the i bees, laden with honey,, were no longer 1 in a fighting mood. I When the lid of the hive waS removed, ' masses of crawling bees were revealed. Some still had their heads in the honey ' cells, for all law and order had gone 1 with the smoking. The frames were taken ' out one by one, and the beekeeper's ' expert hands, unharmed, brushed off s clusters of bees. ' 1 Here is the queen, her long, fat, body easily picked from the workers and drones. Her court is disorganised by the panic, and the retihue of grooms and attendants are thrown into a rabble. Yet all stand aside and turn "eyes front" as she hurries about, for even her majesty is ruffled. Preparing the Frames. As each frame is taken out the bigger ] drone cells, and queen cells, which the j bees may be tempted to use, are < destroyed. New frames, with artificial s wax foundations for the cells, are f added, and the hives are nearly all built t up another * tier. i A. kind of metal grille is inserted over £ the bottom box. The bars are spaced to J the minutest part of an inch, so that 1 [ workers can pass through but not the [ , queen, • who must now keep to the c bottom box. The tipper hive will then be used exclusively for honey, as the a queen cannot lav there. f All stages in the making of honey are r [ seen as the frames are taken out, and ® , the bees,; buzzing their indignation, 1 shaken off. As yet there are no com- 1 [ plete framed filled with honey and wax- c capped. Round the edges are honey } 1 cells, but more have eggs or nymphs j inside. These are open if they contain 1 eggs or very young pupae, and capped s with a kind of papier-mache if the f inhabitant is approaching full size. 1 Taking the Honey. j When all the frames have been a examined and the hives built up to the t required height, the lid is replaced and c the bees left in peace to continue filling the hive with honey. Usually the apiarists begin taking the honey about a week from now, but this year,- owing to the trying spring, the 11 bees are late and will have to be left i another fortnight before they have their 1 honey ready. s When the cells are capped with wax fl the beekeeper knows the honey is I mature and will not ferment. He slips v ,in aa «sca.pe boaad under the top box, c

in which the honey is stored. This board has a hole through which the bees can pass downward, but cannot return. Thus the top box is vacated. The frames full of honey are then taken to the extracting house. The cells are capped, then the honey extracted by a centrifugal machine. By a series of processes it is settled, clarified, skimmed, and set, after which it is ready for the market.