THE APIARY

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 9

THE APIARY

By J. A

A SUMMER IN A SOUTHERN APIARY, A EEEKE-EPER'S DIARY. December 6. —Swarming continues steadily. We have the casting well under contiol, so that it is only first swarms we have to contend with. A colony which previously had swarmed, and the swarm returned followed by two others, swarmed again to-day. While on the wing it was joined by another, and the two together formed a great maso of, bees. They now occupy two three-story hives. We are starting on an average about three or four new colonics every day, and most of them are very strong. December 7 and 8. —The condition of the weather—wet and windy—put a check on the spiary work. There was no rise in the scale hive and no s.warms. This, however, is what the beekeeper expects, and in this case a greater fall of rain would have been very acceptable; there were only slight showers. Most people imagine that sunshine is all that bees require to make them prosper; but that is not so. In order to get nectar there must be moisture enough to keep the clover sappy and fresh, otherwise the bees soon tire of visiting flowers that are not yielding. Beekeepers soon learn that too much drouth is far mor: against them than too much wot. December 9. —Warm and sultry, with a breeze from the north. The bees were very active to-day, honey coming in very freely. Wo have been bothered by a desire en the bees' part to come in to the honey-house to lick wet combs, but to-day they have not fctoubled us. When they do that it indicates some scarcity in the field. It is always a good indication of the nectar supply when the bees prefer to go to the field. There wore a few swarms to-day, two new colonies being started. December 10. —Windy from the northwest, and sultry. Rather strong in tho morning for the bees flying, but before midday they got fairly to work. Had occasion to go over the ground where the bees are, in tho main, goinjr for nectar. There is a surprising amount of flax and cabbage tree bloom. Both are yielding well, but particularly tho flax. As a reminder of. boyhood's days I stopped to taste the precious Bwcet, and was surprised at the abundance. Some flowers I inverted and squeezed between forefinger and thumb gave three large drops of nectar. The bees can sip it there like drinking out of a trough. Another surprise I got was to find that in a gully whore the flax was all cut for milling purposes last summer there was a strong new growth and a forest of flower-stalks. The scale hive, while the > bees are working on this abundance, is rising at tho rate of about lib per hour. In the native bush there is also a profusion of bloom. _lt would seem as if tho wonderfully fine spring had resulted in far greater than usual plant development—a development that is everywhere apparent. In the Oakleigh Orchard I have laboured for tho last seven years to show that, good crops of good apples could be grown in Southland, but never received any adequate reward. This year there is abundance, even such varieties as Jonathans, Coxs. and Stunners are loaded—tho Sturmers tpo much so : they will require thinning. December 11.—Damp and misty rain. A welcome freshener to the grass, but not enough to increase the moisture in tho ground. An off day for the bees. We were busy in the honey-house putting foundation starters into frames. December 12.—Out into the apiary again. Most of the day was spent in nipping out queen cells. A number of colonies that had swarmed and had cells cut out were gono over again, and had all but one good-look-ing cell removed. In the first removal the cells are usually found round the edge of the <-omb. particularly on the bottom; in the second trip they are mostly located on the face of the comb, and consist of worker cells enlarged and extended. These do not look so good as the longer ones round tho edges, but probably measurement would show them just as large. I like to do this last round as near to the time the queens are due to hatch as possible, as one can chose the cell to be left. I don't know why, but very often some of the queen cells contain dead queens, and to leave one of these means leaving the colony queenless. I have had a disappointment in a queen, from which I expected great things. Examining her colony a few days ago I found the taint of disease. To-day I shook her on to starters. Tho colony occupied four stories, and was crushed at that, so that shaking such a colony meant a good deal of trouble. I supposed, for two reasons, that the queen might be in the bottom story—one was that the bees were rapidly shutting her out of the top stories with honey, and the other was that, on my first examination. I found the combs of the" bottom story well hatched out. and just in process of being relaved. So T put .aside the three top stories and began with the bottom one, shaking the bees off tho combs on to tho starters in a fresh story, keeping, et the same time, a close watch for the queen. My gu"S3 proved right, so I simply shook that story only, and then made up the old colony as it was before, changing it to a new location; thus leaving the queen on starters on the old stand. Before night, tho returning bees had mado it a verv strong colony, while tho old stories had plenty beee left to care for the brood, and would be dealt with later.

SCALE HIVE RECORD FOR WEEK TO DECEMBER 12. December 5 .... A'et weight .. ODlb December G—lncrease for day, 61b .. 751 b December 7—lncrca se for day, .. 751 b December B—lncrease8 —Increase for day, .. 751 b December 9—lncrease for day, 9lb .. 84lb December 10—Increase for day, .. 811 b December 11—Increase for day, .. 811 b December 12 —Increase for day, 21b .. 861 b Gain for week lolb Four days, owing to unsuitable weather conditions, gave no result. The colony is now very strong, and occupies three stories.

DISTURBING SEES IN WiNTER. A correspondent writes that it will soon be time for the bees to go into winter quarters, and wishes, to know if it will do any harm lor him to look at them occasionally during their winter nap. Ho says an old beekeeper told- him that he examined the bees at all times of the year, and in all kinds of weather, and that it did no harm. 1 em well aware, from, past experience, how anyone having a bad case of the '"boo fever" can be amused by looking at them during winter; but from that same pastexperience _ I think it far better to amuse ourselves in some other way. During the spring and ©ummer, when tho bees are able to fly, a little disturbance is not injurious, and at certain times a manipulation of tho hives and combs may be made very profitable, especially if it can be done when there are no robber bees prowling about to pounce upon their stores. If tho apiarist is thoroughly informed on the condition of each colony of bees as to their needs, he can better supply them, in time to be of the most service. But in cold weather tho novice cannot be too much warned against the ill-effects of a disturbance of colonies, whether they are in the cellar or in the open air. Boos at such times are closely clustered together in as compact a shape as the combs allow.

If a hive is carefully opened it will be noticed that tho bees' heads, so far as may be, arc all turned toward the centre, and that they move but little, all their efforts seemingly tending- to gain access to the warmest spot. If outdoors, the disturbance causes them to "break the cluster" to ascertain and drive off tho danger. If tho weather is around the zero mark many will become numb, and perish before the cluster can be properly formed again. If in the cellar, tho disturbance may cause more trouble, as the bees will become more alert to drive off intruders, and many fly out and get lost on the cellar bottom". And if the disturbance is long continued, the bees will fill themselves with honey, and in turn feed the queen, which will result in premature breeding, bee diarrhoea, and death. Thus quietude is almost indispensable. If- the novice must satisfy his curiosity he must do it at the peril of the bees. If food for each colony has not been supplied before the bees go into winter quarters, it is a difficult thing to supply, this now without risk. The proper time to feed is as soon as the last flowers which give a surplus have gone out of bloom—during the last half of September and tho first half of October, hero in tho northern States. Then frequent disturbance causes the bees to become fearful that they may bo driven from their stores; consequently they fill themselves with honey to overloading, and then, when tho disturbance ceases, they unload it back into the cells again. But this filling with honey and putting it back in the cells brings on an excitement which has caused them to consume more than they otherwise would, and there is consequently overloading of tho intestines. And as bees are so cleanly that they will not discharge the fasces in the hive unless they are positively obliged to, their anxiety for a chance to get into tho open air causes them to break the cluster and raise the temperature in tho hive to summer heat, which makes broocl-rcaring almost a necessity, even in mid-winter, the result of which is a wornout vitality, which gives what is called •'spring dwindling." so that the old bees nearly all perish before the bees emerging from the brood become plentiful and strongenough to build up. There are times in winter when it will well pay to look after the bees that are on their summer stands. It is when a warm clay comes, in which the temperature rises to from 45deg to 60dog in the shade, with no wind, or nothing stronger than a breeze. If the hives are surrounded with snow it should be shovelled away, and the entrance? to the hive cleared of dead bees, so that the bees can have a flight and empty themselves of their feces. .Some even' recommend that, if tho bees are slow about 'coming out, or if the hive is in the shade, the hive bo pounded on gently, so that the bees may become aware of the warm atmosphere outside. But I have found more trouble from the bees coining out and becoming chilled on the snow with the mercury standing at from 35dcg to 40deg in the shade, when the sun is shining brightly, than in their staying inactive when it was warm enough for them to fly safely. At times, when the bres come out and are lost on the 'Snow, it is best to shade the entrances by setting up a board in front of each hive, or by sweeping snow against tho front. If any colonies arc known to be lacking in stores, such warm days in winter are just the time to supply them by putting in the number of combs of sealed honey which will be required. This is far better than to try to feed syrup or honey in cold weather. —G. M. DOOLITTLE.