THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3467, 24 August 1920, Page 7

THE APIARY.

By J. A

A Nolson beekeeper writes:—"l am writing to you to ask you a few questions. The first question is, Have you ever tried forcing the bees' to build up in the spring? I have been figuring up to build by forcing the bees by spreading the brood till I have two full 10-lrame bodies of brood; then to split them into two. I would not have them build up too early. I think if I have them built up so that I have, say, three frames of brood on top by the time there are drones flying, so that I can rear and mate queens. As soon as I have young queens I intend to lift the old queen into the top and put an excluder in between and smoke in virgins. I would move the old queen in the morning and smoke the young, one in late in the afternoon. Question 2: Have you tried the smoke method of introducing queens? What bees have you (race, I mean) ? I have only 'one pure Italian, and 16 with ' some " mixture and eight blacks." This letter set me thinking of days long gone by when the writer used to dream of early increase by spreading the brood, and various other means. In our experience it all boils down to giving the bees the natural conditions under which they can normally and steadily increase, and allowing them to carry out the- business in their own way. There are two schools of beekeepers, one who, like our young friend (we think he is young), would stimulate in the spring; and the other, who say, leave the bees alone, but see that they are fully supplied. Of the first was the late Mr Alexander, a famous American beekeeper. His system was to begin about a month before the bees were likely to have any adequate supplies of nectar, and stimulate by feeding dailv about half a pint of very thin syrup, say two of water to one of sugar. This was supplied in a feeder inside the hive, and fed in the evening. The idea was to give the bees the impression that nectar was plentiful, and stimulate the queen and colony generally to regular and quick laying and building up. This can be successfully, and easily done, as we have in our experience repeatedly proved, and if weather and nectar conditions fit in so that when your work is done the bees can continue it fiom. the field all will be well and first-class results attained. But, and this is the difficulty if weather and nectar conditions do not "fit in with your arrangement then, instead of having a big army of workers, you have a big army of consumers. And to add to your difficulty the stores —both the syrup which you fed and the honey which they had before—has been consumed and manufactured into a .large army of hungry bees. Wo think the risk is too great. Of the second school are men like Dr O. C. Miller and the late &.M. Doolittle. These men, if they had to feed at all, did it usually from a reserve of combs of sealed honey, and did it in such a way as not to disturb the bees, but allow them to ?o on normally in the work of increase. This, after all, is tho safer plan, and will usually give the best results Spreading the brood in spring is not a wise plan, and is not likely to give good results. , , Then, with regard to your proposal to put up the old' queen. above an excluder and smoke in a virgin below. What we should expect would be that the young queen, if accepted, would lead off a swarm. If you want to work along ' these lines it would be better to nut your old queen, after she has established herself in, say, seven to 10 days, on a new stand close by, and then go through the old broodnest, which may have reared cells in the meantime, destroy the cells and run in your virgin, as thjs old broodnest will have only sealed brood and no larvse, it will be hopelessly queenless, and will accent the virgin queen _ the more readily. - The smoke method of introduction is all right. If you do_ not wish to increase the number of colonies you will get fine results by, so soon as your young queen is laying, putting on. an excluder, then" Dut on a super of extracting combs, and on top of this the broodnest of your old queen, first killing the queen. This will make a colony that, given a chance, will do good work. , The writer's term as president of the National ended with the -Tune Conference. Mr Wra. Watson, of Gerald me, is now president. I am. comparatively speaking, a new chum at Tasmn.ii. My beekeeping has all been done in Southland. And my decided Drefei-;c«ce is for Italian bees, and I like the gold«n colour best. Will be glad to hear from you again.

PROOUC-BMG A HOOD PRO?

Sorrw Suggestions as to How to Get Good

Results in the Apiary

My first swarm came to me in 1885. _ I was at work in the field when my wife sent out a luncheon by my daughter. She saw something unusual on a big weed, and when she arrived told me she had seen a big bunch of flies in crossing a slough, and was afraid for some time to pass by. Or investigating, I came into possession of my first swarm. In three years they increased to 11 colonies, and noticing in Gleanings, Mr Hutchison's advice, "If you want to succeed, keep more bees," I accordingly continued to increase the .number. My limit seems to be from 60 to 100 colonies. I raise my own queens and sell quite a lot. I have tried all races and their crosses, but for 10 years or more have had Italians only. My colonies are set out in a half-diamond. The corner of the diamond comes close up to the north side of my house, the basement of which I use as my storage place for supplies. In this way all _ the rows come close to tho base of supplies, saving many steps. One of my colonies filled 14 10-frame supers, nine frames to the super. I have always run for comb honey until the war, then I changed to extracted, and now having over 1000 combs don't like to change back. The way I get results is to have all colonics ready in September the pre\ious year, with lots of young bees and stores and also young queens. When putting them in the cellar, every hive is weighod and numbered, and a record is kept of the weight and of the weather at the time of putting in and at the time of taking out of the cellar. I also make note of queens that have any superior traits. This keeps me posted as to what to expect from different colonies the coming year. I novor loosen the cover until some warm dav when all are busy flying, and then only examine to see that none are queenless. All having plenty of stores, I never have to move comba for this purpose. Just

before fruit bloom I choose a good day and feed in the open, sometimes one day, sometimes three days. This feeding is not to supply stores, 'but to stimulate broodrearing. Next I give every one an empty body of combs underneath, leaving the brood above where it will keep warm. Then I let* the colonies alone until the dandelions are yielding well. At this time practically every colony will need more loom. I give either a full-depth or shallow super, according to how many young bees are on the combs. Before the dandelions are over some are three stories high, and after the flow is over they need more room. This I give by removing the body that I put underneath and placing it on top, my object being to keep brood-rearing going all the time. I try to have all the bees possible in each hive ready for the clover. Oft-times I have to add a super of framed, as the young bees become- so numerous that even the three stories don't give them enough clustering space. As soon as I see the first blossom on white clover, every colony gets a thorough overhauling. The, body where I find the queen is attended to first.' The two outside combs are not moved. The frame on which is the queen is put in the centre. The other spaces are filled - with empty combs. Above this body is placed an excluder and above this a super containing the combs having "the most sealed brood. Those having honey are placed in the third super on top. At the same time I clip all the queens and then wuit for the clover to begin. If the flow starts slowly the bees' inclination is to swarm. If I decide any are thinking of swarming, I give them a body of combs to relieve the crowded condition. As soon as they begin sealing honey, I give more room at once next to the brood-nest. Then as the flow continues, instead of opening the hives I lift them and thus estimate the amount of honey and whether another super is needed. Bees should never be smoked when the flow is on, as the young bees that are wax workers will go down, and in most cases stop work. This causes swarming, and stops storing considerably. I don't have 5 percent, swarming since using this method. When running for comb honey I use on entirely different way. I notice that many beekeepers have trouble in getting bees to work in the comb-honey super. This never bothers me, for this reason: If a colony will only crowd the brocd-nest full of honey, no matter how good the queen, presto, off coes her'head, and another one is given. Here is where raising your own queens pays. _ Dr Miller is one man that is also, I think, producing bees that get the most honey for his management. I find that introducing new stock is detrimental in some cases. You have to try any new blood one season before getting the cross in your stock. If there proves to be an undesirable trait, it may sometimes take as much as five years to breed it out, and this is just an upset for all tho work von hnve done for manv years.

My total yield last year was "13,5001 b of extracted and S 3 24-socticn cases.—A. A. Clark in Gleanings.