BEE KEEPING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 June 1930, Page 11

BEE KEEPING

WORK IN THE APIARY (Contributed.) It is commonly thought that a beekeeper has nothing to do during the winter months. This fallacy can easily bo dispelled when it is realised that only those colonies that have wintered well can possibly procure bumper crops during the next season. So that trie importance of giving the bees the proper attention ut this time is as important as at any other time. ' The beekeeper should be busy with the paint brush, painting boxes whereevor it is needed. It is generally found that supers need painting once In every two years; a beekeeper. who neglects to take the precaution of preserving his supers is only making an unnecessary expense for himself, and .as the most expensive items that a beekeeper has to contend with are tile supers, they should be one of the first things to receive his attention. During tho coming months the beekeeper should have the opportunity of giving his attention to the improvement of equipment in his honey house. One item which is always a problem with beekeepers is some satisfactory method of dealing with the cappings; even in well-drained cappings there -is a considerable amount of money which any beekeeper is loth to waste. There are many capping melters on the market which have proved themselves satis! factory in dealing with the problem. The most up-to-date honey houses are now equipped with electric capping melters that are capable of handling the cappings obtained from the extraction of a ton of honey. These, of course, can only be used by beekeepers in a sufficiently large way to warrant the initial outlay necessary for such a melter. Other capping melters used are steam and water heated melters, such a 3 the Baines and tho Gibb melters. These, when used with care to prevent the overheating of the honey, prove satisfactory in rendering down the cappings and obtaining the honey obtained in them, but of course could not be expected to cope with the same quantity at one time as the electric melter. •

Few beekeepers pay much, heed to the quantity of wax that is wasted during a year's work in the apiary, such as,the scrapings from the top of the frames, and the small pieces of burr comb that are continually being removed from the hive. They are usually placed in. front

of the hive I to Allow- the bees to fclcan out what honey is' in them, and then in most cases trodden into tho. ground. This can all be. saved and easily melted down in a Solar wax melter. To any beekeeper at all haiidy with tools a solar wax melter. is quite a simple thing to make. It‘is a Well-fitted wooden box having a, tight- fitting double-glass' top, with.the two pieces' of glass, about: half an inch apart, .and fitted inside with suitable trays to hold; the scrapings of wax and pieces of burr comb, with containers fitted to the bottom of the box into which the wax will drain. Theso solar wax extractors are placed in tho centre of the;apiary sloping towards the sun, so as to catch the full benefit of the rays of the sun. The action of the sun melts’ the wax, producing a very good quality light coloured wax. . It would pay. any beekeeper to have one of these extractors, when he would find that he was making money out of wax that hitherto he had been wasting. And, lastly, . during the long evenings of the winter have an ‘excellent opportunity of improving their knowledge of beekeeping, Even the most experienced beekeepers are always learning some new wrinkle which will help them to carry out their operations with the bees more economically. No opportunity should be. lost in attending t)ie instructive meetings of your local branch of the Association, of which you Can become a memberat a very nominal sum. I will leave it to the Association to tell you of the many advantages that the beekeepers are receiving as a result of. the action of the Association; •