THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3672, 29 July 1924, Page 11

THE APIARY.

By

J. A.

SPRING FEEDING. With the month of August the apiarist in the south begins to watch tor signs of movement in his hives. Usually between tfte middle and end of the month there comes a day in which, the bees flying freely, he can take a hurried run through his colonies and find out their condition. In doing this there are three things that he wants particularly to observe —one is the amount of food supplies, another whether the colonies are queen-right, and the third is if there is any disease. In regard to the amount of supplies, it is not iikely that this first round will show them short unless they havo been altogether too light in the autumn. It will, however, be possible to mark the colonies that are in danger of being short a little later on, and this should be done in such a way as to keep that fact ever commanding the beekepers’ attention. The system of marking is by the varied uses that can be made of a brick on the cover. Placing it at the front, or the back, or in the middle, on its side or end, are amongst the ways we adopt. As long as there is a fair quantity of honey in the hive we do not wish to feed; there is danger in several ways in doing so, the most important of which is that of, at so early a period, stimulating brood rear-' ing. We do not want the bees to do this so early: it is exhausting to the queen, and means using up a lot of stores that would do more service later on. We do want brood rearing to be done, but to go on at a normal pace. The old winter bees do not have a long life when springtime comes, and these must be replaced; but there is no object in increasing to a very large population until it gets much nearer to clover time. The danger of stimulation only comes through feeding in dribiets over a considerable time. There is no fear of causing it if, for instance, combs of sealed honey are given, or warm syrup fed as quickly as the bees can take it in, and then completely stopped for a lime. My object in writing at this time of feeding is not so much to talk about methods as to, at this early stage, impress on beekeepers, particularly on those without much experience, the fact that September and October are always the months that decide whether the conditions are right for the coming season’s crop. If stores are plenty ancl the queens are good there will result strong colonies, and the almost certainty of good resuits. The point, however, is this: that during those two months supplies meit away like snow; and, especially in the south, there is often very little coming in from the field, so that the beekeepr may find that colonies, which on his last visit seemed to have plenty, are on the point of starving. If examined they will show little or no eggs and young larvae, and may even be found uncapping the sealed brood and pulling out the young bees. If this latter stage is reached the beekeeper should not expect that colony to do very much for the season. In the winter months, when the bees are in a semi-dormant condition, not much demand is made on the stores, but in the breeding time, in spring, the work of the bees is to turn stores into young bees, and they do it. under favourable circumstances, very quickly. The bees have, however, an instinct which teaches them to go slow in the face of danger from want, and in this way they sometimes tide over a. period of short supply. That, however, is not in the interest of the owner. “Go slow” is no good to anyone—not even to bees. The second purpose I have in view in an August examination is to find out any colonies that may have lost their queen. Usually such colonies are heavy, and have a large supply of pollen, and may have a few drones amongst the beos._ If there is no brood, then these further indications will almdst certainly point to queenlessness. A queenless colony at this time is useless except that its combs can be used to aid the "most needy colonies amongst these which are queen-right, and for this purpose they come in very handy. The third quest is to watch for disease. The characteristic sunken, or perforated, or dark-coloured cell, is the indication, and if, when uncapped, it shows the usual scale, or brown sticky mass, then the disease is there. August is not the time to deal with disease; to have any hope of success it should be treated when the honey season begins, say, in November, but it will help considerably if at this time it is found, as is often the case, in the form of only a few cells on two or three combs in the centre of the brood nest, to take these away, and close up the others. The disease will not then make much headway November, and will not have reached the more infectious stage. These colonies should be well marked... the beeway kept very small and left severely alone until the time for shaking comes, and, further, do not run any risk of allowing them to swarm, as this is one of the most certain ways of spreading the disease.