THE HONEY INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18395, 10 May 1923, Page 12

THE HONEY INDUSTRY.

WORK FOR SLACK PERIOD.

■PREPARING FOR NEW SEASON

STARTING AN APIARY.

. , BY APHIS. . !The output -of honey for the whole of the Dominion the past season was below the average, which, owing to extraordinary unsettled weather during, the main part of the gathering season, "was ' fully expected. Much of the honey coming to hand, however, appears to be of excellent quality. >' • „ The only period in which the commercial beekeeper can consider himself free to take a holiday from his apiary work is during this month and part of next month, after his bees ' have been fixed up for the winter. During eight months of the year, that is, from-the, beginning of October till the first half of May, ,the owner-of; 300 or 400 colonies scattered about in several apiaries many miles apart, has a strenuous time to keep up with his work. There is no eight-hour day for him. During the busy season : Sundays and general! holidays are all work-days, but being his own master, : and the work congenial, he does not feel it • a hardship. The off season in bee work I often consider of. great advantage, as it gives ample time to do a lot of what may be termed dead work, such as making, repairing,; and painting hives, moving bees where necessary to start new out-apiaries, and the score of. little jobs in preparing for .the following season. ' ' ' , 1

' r Making Hives. : 7* Many settlers in the backblocks and out of the usual traffic lines are debarred , from keeping a - few hives of bees to r obtain honey for family consumption on 'account of the initial 4 expense in purchasing the legal hives from distant manufacturers, but more especially - the excessive ' cost 'of carriage. Year after year as the season comes round, - instructions are' given iin this column for making a cheap legal hive, which, if carefully constructed, "will serve all the purpose of the more expensive ones, and will cost but a, trifle. The following are the instructions: . Secure a complete. and sound 'benzine case, and carefully knock off one of the sides. If the sides of the case are not level all round, build them -up level with fillets of wood. The inside depth should be lOin. Next nail on at each end, ■ half ;an inch below the inside upper edges of the case, to suspend the frames from, a, fillet of wood Jin, thick by fin. wide,, and the length of the inside end of the case. The frames when suspended from these should be a clear Jin.' off the bottom of the hive. An entrance jin. , wide should be cut out the full width 'of the lower part of one end of the case, and. an alighting-board nailed on underneath, projecting from 2in. to 3in. in front. A' loose bottom board can -be arranged in place of the fixed one, and ;is a decided advantage. Top or surplus honey-boxes can be made in the same way, but will < not require a bottom. Beginners should purchase • " Hoffman self-spacing frames" from th%' manufacturers, as . they ' need. to be very accurately made, and are difficult to make by hand. If it is desired, however, to coni struct frames the following are the j dimensions:—. .Cut the • top bar 15-16 in. wide by fin. deep, and 18Jin. long. Shoulders should be cut out on ends Jin. long, leaving a trickness of to rest on the fillets. The ends should be BJin. long, the same width ,as the - top bar, and gin. thick; bottom bar 17£ in. long, Jin. wide, and £in". thick. There are ten frames to each hive. ;■ The cover can be made from the side knocked off,. and should have small fillets, lin. wide, nailed on right round" the edge, to overlap "the body. Cover the ' top with ruberoid or other waterproof material, and let it' overlap the edges. A capital waterproof covering can be made by first giving ; , the, wood a good coat of thick paint, and, while wet, laying, on butter cloth,- letting it overlap the -edges, and painting over it. The paint on the wood will oozq" through the cloth, : and , the covering will/last for years tacks- are needed. , ; Light-coloured paint is best, as with this the. hive will keep cooler when exposed to the sun than if painted a dark colour. '' • - When setting the hives out" place four half , bricks, one at each corner, for the hive :to rest on. ; The : front should ;be nearly lin. lower than, the back of the hive. J f The actual outlay for such a hive, allowing 9d for the box, would be under 2s 6d, providing the person made his own frames. With the additional 1 full sheets of comb-foundation, which is necessary to complete the hive,' the total outlay would be about Bs. There is a large number of these hives in use at the present "time. . • Beginning Beekeeping. The spring is the best time for beginners to start, and October ■ the best month as the colonies are then making good headway, but in the meantime procure and read up a good standard work on bee culture. " Beekeeping," by E. F. Phillips, is one of the best. Dr. Phillips is in charge of bee culture in the United States of America. This and other good works on , beekeeping may be procured from the N.Z. Honey Producers' Association. Auckland. ? Also make arrangements with the association,\or some reliable beekeeper, to supply a couple of good colonies about the first .of > October, free from disease, and with an ample supply of food. Don't' buy swarms to start with; purchase established ■ colonies, and, <, if • possible, visit a commercial beekeeper and get .hints. and information how to proceed after you procure the 'bees. All ' experienced beekeepers are very liberal. minded, and ever ready to impart information and help beginners. . Commercial Beekeeping. To those who are desirous ,of taking up beekeeping as a business I would strongly recommend, if possible, their putting "in a season with an established commercial beekeeper, ior ,atA, the State Apiary, Ruakura Farm of Instruction. With the former one might arrange 'to get a small wage, but don't let the amount of wage stand in the way if you can afford to keep, or partly keep yourself for a while, as the tuition will enable you to start intelligently, and avoid expensive mistakes, ! and so save in ' a short time whatever it has cost you for your training. If, however, it is practically impossible to adopt this line of proceedure, then the only plan after you have made a start in the manner suggested is to study the standard work, subscribe to a monthly bee journal, watch the bee columns of this paper,,and gradually increase your colonies each season until your apiary is large enough to launch out "in a good dairying district as a commercial bee fanner. But understand, you could learn more in one season under an experienced man than you could on your own in three or four seasons, for there is many, a valuable ' wrinkle in bee management that may take years to learn unless shown jor informed by an experienced beekeeper. „' •; Bees' Winter Quarters. When once the bees are fixed up for winter they should not be disturbed unless > : absolutely necessary. If . any of the hive i covers are showing signs of leakage watch the mats after heavy rains, and if any are damp remove them and replace with dry ones; for this purpose there should always be a few spare mats on hand. Where p.'anting for shelter is to be done later on. i the ground should be prepared at once by digging and draining, if necessary, be- j fore the winter, rains set in. The planting ; can be done next month, and if the ground is prepared now it will be of ! great benefit when planting takes place. ! Any alterations in the apiary or honey j house needed should be done* during the winter in dry weather.