BEES AND HONEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18707, 13 May 1924, Page 14

BEES AND HONEY.

WORK FOR THE MONTH.

SEASONAL DIRECTIONS.

ATTENTION TO THE HIVES.

BY APIS. Full instructions were given last month for fixing the bees up snugly in , their winter quarters, and if closely followed thev should need no further attention for the next three months. In cases where the fixing has been delayed it should be done at once before the real wintryweather sets in, which usually commences Nearly in the second half of the month. Do not neglect to keep a look out for leaky covers, especially after heavy rains, and to change any mats that may become

damp for dry ones. . In. many ways the " off season 'in bee culture is" I consider, of much importance to commercial beekeepers, and the industry generally. Where it is carried out on a commercial scale, with several outapiaries to attend to, the work, if properly conducted, with the view of ; securing the largest crop of honey possible, is very strenuous for seven months in the year, from preparing for the main nectar-flow to the final harvesting of the season's crop of honey— the beginning of September to April following. .During this period there are no holidays to look forward to, no Sunday "rest, and no five o'clock limit to the day's work. _ It is peg away as hard while the nectar flow is on, so that the bees may be assisted in every way to' store the largest amount of honey they can before the season closes. To the sterling beekeeper the work among his bees,-however strenuous, is not irksome, but a pleasure; nevertheless the off season is a welcome change, he knows the result of his season's work, and in this respect is relieved of all anxiety, whether it be good, bad or indifferent. After his honey is marketed, which in most cases would be by the end of April or in the first half of May, he is then free to take a wellearned holiday before.he begins to figure out his plans for the next season. Another advantage of the off season to the commercial apiarist is that much of what we may term the dead work of the apiary can be done, such as forming new out-apiaries, making any needed alterations to the honey house, repairing and painting the hives in use, and making up new ones, and do other odd jobs, thus enabling the apiarist to devote the whole of his time during the* honey season to the working of his bees. Hives lor Beginners.

Many settlers in out of the way places ' from the regular lines of. traffic are debarred from taking up the only form of profitable bee culture owing to the heavy expenses connected with the purchase and carriage <rt factory hive 3 of the legal pattern. It is not so much the first cost of the hives that tell against their pur- • chase, but the heavy cost of carriage to backblocks that makes them expensive, consequently many such settlers, in order to obtain some of the honey that is going to waste around them fori family use, run the risk of prosecution by domiciling bees in common boxes, which are illegal and unprofitable from a commercial point of view, inasmuch that the honey raised in such boxes is unfit for marketing pur-

very excellent hives can be mad© out of motor spirit cases at the cost of & few nails, and a piece of ruberoid for the cover of each hive. * Motor spirit cases are now so plentiful everywhere that backblock, settlers would have no difficulty in securing; not far distant from their homestead as many as they require st a trifling cost, and be it understood Buch cases are the exact dimensions of a ten-frame Langstroth hive, so that the bodies and frame 3 are interchangeable with factory-made hives. Since Mr. I. Hopkins, the former Chief Apiarist, introduced these spirit-case hives in the Government Bulletin on Beeculture nearly twenty years ago, many, thousandshave been in use throughout the Dominion. When carefully made and given : a .couple of coats of paint before use they -will last for very many years.

A Spirit-case Bee Box. ! A complete case containing two tins of ■ benzine as it stands has two broad sides 'which, 'in converting, become the top and bottom of the hive. One of the sides must be carefully knocked off to serve 'as a cover, and the upper edge of the case made level all round, the inside depth • being 10in., no more nor no less. 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 fin:- thick by ?in. wide, and the length of the inside, end of the case. The frames • when suspended from these should be a clear gin. off the bottom, of the hive. An entrance Jin. wide should be cut out the full width of the lower part of or.e end of the case, and an alighting board nailed on underneath, projecting from 2in. to 3in. in front. A loose bottom board ear. be Mrranged 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 selfspacing frames '* from the manufacturers, ■V as the v need to be very accurately made, and are difficult to make bv hand. If it is : desired, however, to construct frames the following are the dimensions: ' Cut the. ton bar lin. wide by Jin. deep, and 18? in. long. Shoulders < should _ •>« cut on ends ?in. long, leaving a thinness. of Jin. to rest on the fillets. The ends should Id© B^in. long, thesamo width as the top bar, and |in. thick ; bottom bar 17£ in, long, iin. wide, and -lin. thick. There are ten frames to each hive.'

How to Make Covers.. /... . The cover can be made from the s'de knocked off. and should have s.nail fil- • Jets, lin. wide, nailed on ridit round the edge, to overlap the -body. Cover the top with ruberoid or ether vaierproof material, and: let it overlap the ' edges. A capital waterproof covering can be mad© by first giving the wood a good «oat of thick paint, and, while wet, hy- • ing on better cloth, letting it overlap the edges, and: painting oven t. lhe paint on the wood will ooze through the . cloth, and the covering will last . for y ears tacks are needed. _ Light-col-oured paint is best, as with this the hive (will keep cooler when exposed to the cun than if painted a dark colour When setting the hives out, place four half bricks, one at each corner, for -he hive to rest on. The front should be nearly lin. lower than the ■ back - of the hive. '. ' . " , . The above directions are given m their original form, but an improvement.;may he made by doubling the sides, which ' would require the sides off another case to be nailed over the first. It makes the hi*es much stronger and less liable to twist when using a loose bottom board, which is preferable to a fixed one there are some very fine ones of this kind at -the Government apiary made by cadetsThe fourteenth annual conference will be held next month at Dunedin, I am not certain whether the exact date nas '• been decided upon but as soon as I learn the date I will let my readers know in ' . ■ case any of them would wish to attend. :* The . conference extends over three da>s, End is usualy attended by close on 100 delegates and'visiting beekeepers from all parts of the Dominion. The annual meetings are held under the authority of the National. Association of New Zealand *seekeepers, which the Government recog- ••• nize as . the representative body of '.the industry in this ; country. Al■V. . the attendance at each, conference fo'-V l ' ww « e it would be much larger •Mr-' -noncoa the big travelling exfffflfc ! penses, and on . this account the Associate- • on decided Wisely to adopt an -itinerary circuit, and hold the annual meetings in §|% r _, different beekeeping centres alternately: in t]ifl North and South Islands, which has S<V.v* -i. . found to bo of great advantage to the industiy. t, I j expect a the conference KwteM- hold t 3 1325 meetings in - he last held here in 192 was m jl|ry largely attended and very successful.