Among the Bees

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7105, 14 March 1933, Page 5

Among the Bees

APIARY NOTES TOR MARCH By D. 8. Robinson, Apiary Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Palmerston North. Before removing the last of the teur* plus honey, the beekeeper is advised to make a careful examination of tho stores available in each hive for winter feed for the bees. Some beekeepers are rather apt to remove too much honey from their hives with tho result that if the bees are not carefully watched, they either die of starvation or require feeding far earlier than would bo the case if normal supplies had been left on the hives. At least 35 to 40/ lb. of honey should bo available for each normal colony for winter use. When removing the final surplus honey for extracting, an inspection of the brood nest should be made and any empty combs should be replaced with combs full of honey. Care should be exercised when removing honey to see that no honey is spilt about the apiary. Honey spilt on tho ground will excite the bees and start robbing to the detriment of the weaker colonies in the apiary. Should robbing be started, it can often be checked by placing a few handfuls of wet grass against the entrance of the hive, or by changing the position of the hivo, being robbed with that of the hive from which the robbers arc emerging. Hives should be examined for the purpose of ascertaining if each possesses a laying queen. If any hive is found to be queenless, it should he united with another hive. Weak colonies are difficult to winter, as they aro liable to bo robbed out, and this act may start wholesale robbing when everything in the apiary should be quiet. One of the most simple methods of uniting two colonics is by placing the weaker hive on top of a stronger one, and placing a 'sheet of newspaper between the two hive bodies. In the matter of a few days the weaker colony will gnaw through the paper and unite peaceably with the bees in the stronger hive. The super and combs may afterwards be removed and the combs stored until the spring.

A thorough inspection should bo made for foul brood, and if any colony is found to be infected with this disease, it 'should bo burnt. At this time of tho year bees will not readily draw out comb foundation, and as tho basis of treatment for foul brood by the Me* Evoy method is for the bees, while under treatment, to convert what honey they may have in their honey-sacs into wax, the giving of dry combs to a colony under treatment for foul brood is to run the risk of further infection. When the inspection of tlio health of the colony is being carried out, the conditions of tho brood chamber, bottom board, roof, etc., should be noted, and all deflective portions made good before the wot season sets in.