THE APIARY

Otago Witness, Issue 3331, 16 January 1918, Page 7

THE APIARY

By J. A

A BEEKEEPER'S DIARY—SEASON" 1917-1918. January 2 to 4.—Tho weather has been .very cold and unseasonable pince New Year, and nothing has been done in the apiary. To-day (.Friday, 4th) wo lit up our smoker for the first time for a week. Somo combs that were raised from the brood-nest 10 clays ago vvero gathered into stacks of four to hatch out, forming what will by and by be two new colonies. Twenty-two of these stacks were shaken a week ago, and the resulting colonics put on foundation, the combs going to tho melt-ing-pot after passing through the extractor. We-had a look through these 22 colonies this afternoon, and found all but ono or two of the young queens laying. The inspection was made principally to pick out any broken-down foundation. Putting such -a weight of bees on to foundation very often results in breaking-down, and if not rectified at once it is more difficult to do later. Yesterday the bees were robbing badly, and one queenless colony was nearly robbed out. To-day they have not been nearly so bad, and in the afternoon seemed to be doing fairly good work on clover. Tho. storm has meant a considerable shrinking in the hives, and it will take a good clay's work to turn the scales upwards? again. January o to 7.—The weather is again favourable, and the bees are now doing good work again. On Sunday (6th) we had one swarm, and to-day (7th) there were three. We went through about 80 broodnests to-day, and found queen-cells in a large proportion of them. It goes to prove the truth of the old saying about idle hands getting into mischief. Nothing would Stop it so well as a rush of clover honey. It was on this date last year that our scale hive put on 271 b—a record for us. To-day was a similar one as to weather conditions —warm and moist atmosphere; but the record to-day was just 61b. However, our scale hive has fallen from grace. A double swarm was put into it on December 1, and so little attention has been paid to it that it is only to-day that we have discovered that it has ho brood, and is-, therefore, queenless. A large proportion of the bees are gone, and the remainder are working only half-time. Its value as a scale colony is, therefore, done, and, though it is late in the season, some change will require to be made. Just what to do will be decided to-morrow. January B.—Shifted scale hive, putting a new swarm in its place. - The swarm was a good one, with laying queen. To have patched up the old colony would have been of doubtful use on the scales. To-day we finished our round of the broodnests, and hope that it will give a decided check to swarming. In the afternoon we started the extractor going through some combe that have to go to the melter. The honey is running well, and the extractor is working well, so that if the clover and the bees will do their share, we shall be right into the push of honey-harvesting. REGISTRATION OF APIARIES. "We wish to remind beekeepers that it is now the law of the land that every apiary must be registered. We understand that quite a number of beekeepers are under tho impression when compiling returns for the Government Statistician that this covers tho registration of apiaries, and, consequently, have neglected to fill in the cards which are required by the Director of the Horticulture Division. We beekeepers fought a long fight to get registration, and now that we have it we should give the department every assistance by prompt registration. There is no tax and no cost for registration, while cards can b,e procured from the instructor for .the district. MARKET REPORTS. The latest we have seen on honey prices 13 a telegram from tho H.P.A that late shipments .have brought £l4O per ton on the Bristol market. With prices like that going beekeepers should have no difficulty in being loyal to the co-op. We understand that the B. and D. Co. are giving a guarantee that the price will not come below 60s per cwt for three years after the war. Surely that ts good enough. There are other firms offering a higher advance than the B. and D. Co. have done so far. Our watchword should be loyalty, and not be ' led away by any offer, no matter how tempting. BEGINNERS' LESSONS. By H. H. Root, in Gleaning 3. There is no time in tho beekeeper's year Bo interesting and so exhilarating as when tho swiftly-revolving extractor throws the multitude of tiny streams of golden honey from' tho heavy combs. It is the _ realisation of tho beekeeper's ambition—the culmination of his fondest hopes. A word of caution is necessary, for the beginner in his eagerness may decide that the honey is thick enough before it is scaled over, and that all the hard work on the part of tho bees in capping the honey, and on his own part in uncapping it afterward, may just as well bo saved by extracting the combs before they aro sealed over. This is a serious mistake, for the bees themselves are the best judges of the ripeness of the honey ; and since they do not seal it over until it has reached the proper consistency, it is far safer to let them decide, and adopt tho rule of never extracting a comb that is not at least threofourths capped oyer on both sides. If the honey is so nearly sealed, it is safe to assume that tho bees in the next few hours will cap tho rest. Perhaps the majority of the combs may be entirely sealed over; but tho beginner and professional beekeeper aliko cannot do better than resolve never to extract a comb that is not at least three-fourths scaled on both sides. Somo beekeepers work from hand to mouth—that is, thcy_ havo not more than two supers of extracting combs per colony: and as soon as one super is nearly sealed ' over they extract thoso combs in order to give moro room. This plan, while it requires a less expensive equipment of supers and surplus extracting combs, requires moro careful watching and rather moro time during the honey-flow. Others go even so far as to pick out two or threo full combs from a super, extract them, and then put them back again. If ono has plenty of time at his disposal there is, perhaps, no objection

to this; but it cannot be recommended as good practice for one who wants to make ..the most out of his business with the least expenditure of labour. The other plan, to which there is no possible objection except tho added first cost of the equipment, is that of leaving tho honey on the hives, tiering up super after super, and then extracting the whole crop at ono time. Of course, when two honey-flows are close together, tho extracting should be dono at the close of the first flow, so that the two crops, if of different flavour and colour, may not be mixed. If the beginner is looking to the future and desires to plan, he positively must not yield to the temptation to get all the honey possible the first year. Instead of extracting ono or two combs in a super when they aro full, it is much better to allow tho bees to build new combs from full sheets of wired foundation. This is ono of the very best forms of preparedness and a bit of "business foresight that the beginner especially cannot afford to overlook. Uncapping the Honey.— Assuming that the combs havo been freed from bees, the first work _ after a suitable outfit has been prepared is to uncap the combs. Tho uncapping-barrel, which was a favourit form of capping receptacle of the late W. Z. Hutchinson, is a practical, - inexpensive outfit. Crakcrbarrcls, especially these without heads, are cheap, and they answer tho purpose very well. When one barrel is full of cappings, packed down as tightly as possible, it may be moved over another tub to drain still further, and an empty barrel put in its place. A somewhat more convenient arrangeriicnt, and one not very much more expensive, is the uncapping-box. This box ought to be about 19in wide, so that the uncapped combs can be placed cornerwise in one end before they are extracted. In this way no extra paraphernalia is needed to take care of the honey dripping from these uncapned combs. The box may' be any convenient length. A cross-piece with a nail-point in the middle on which to rest the combs furnishes a good support. The bottom of the box is covered with heavy screen and supported from the galvanised iron tray by iin cleat 3 nailed on lengthwise. If preferred, a larger number of cleats can be nailed on, not oyer i'm apart, and the screen dispensed with. In uncapping, it is always best to have the bottom-bar of the frame nearest the right hand, for the bottom-bar is narrower than the top-bar, and the uncapping is, therefore, easier. When one side is uncapped, the comb should be reversed, therefore, end for end, instead of being merely whirled around on the nail-point. There is a knack in uncapping rapidly, and this "knack" cannot be described nor photographed. It is acquired only-through , the school of experience. It helps to have ' the knife hot. and, therefore, a pail of water practically at boiling-point is a help. A steam-knife is far better; but unless the beginner has at least 50 colonics, it would hardly pay to invest in a steam-knife, boiler, etc. —ln the Extractor. — When putting combs, into the extractor care should be taken to select two that weigh about 'the same; otherwise the reel will be unbalanced, and will do an immense amount of shaking about. If the combs are new and fragile—that is, if no brood has ever been reared in the cells to strengthen them by means of the fibrous cocoons, the handle of the extractor must be turned slowly at first until the bulk of the honey is out of the first side; then the pockets swung around and the handle turned slowly again for a few revolutions. Then the reel may be speeded up and all the honey extracted from the second side. Finally, the pockets must be reversed to the first side again and the rest of the honey extracted there. In this w*ay the fragile combs may be extracted without breakage. Tough old brood-combs do not require^such careful handling; henco the advantage of using them for brood by the plan given in lesson No. 6. No honey should be drawn from the gate at the bottom of the extractor until there is enough to reach within 2in or 3in of the bottom of the reel; then a pail should be set underneath and the gate swung wide open. The pail_ will fill in a very few seconds; and during this time the hand should never be taken from the handle of the gate. Running honey over on the floor just once will forever cure anyone of tho habit of taking 'the hand, off the extractor-gate. By waiting ' until there is quite a depth of honey in tho bottom of the extractor, the pail fills quickly, and practically no time is lost. Walking over a floor sticky with honey is not pleasant, and trying to clean it up without hot water is worse still.

The pail of honey should be poured into tho strainer-can, and., as mentioned in les, son No. 6, no honey should be drawn from this until it is full. In this wav bits of cappings and foreign material will float to the surface, so that 'there will be no danger of the cheese-cloth bag clogging up. • The honey should be drawn off into cans no faster than it is poured into the strainer. «