THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3803, 1 February 1927, Page 11

THE APIARY.

By

J. A.

For apiary work the weather in Southland still continues very broken. The scale record this week was 0,2, 7,0, 0, 6, 1 pounds, so that three days of the seven were blanks. For the apiarist it is simply a waiting time. Very little is required in the way of accommodation. It would be folly to try to extract until there is something more substantial in the hives. The danger of swarming is nearly past, though I fully expect there may be one or two next week. I prefer to let them please themselves rather than do the lifting that would be required to prevent them. A walk through some of the near-hand cow paddocks revealed the fact that the high winds and blustery weather that we have had has dried up the grass very much, and that with a continuation of it the clover would soon disappear. Saturday’s rain, however, would do much to save the situation and cause a fresh blooming of clover. Through Saturday night and Sunday morning there were 12 hours of steady, quiet rain, which was much needed. Just at this stage, when the hopes of Southland beekeepers seem to be trembling in the balance, it may be interesting to quote the records of the last week of January for some of the past seasons. In 1922 the scale record from January 23 to 31 was 12, 7,1, 1, 11, 11, 4,8, 4 pounds respectively for each day, making a total of 591 b, and with what had been previously gathered a total of 811 b for the month. The season, however, was a late one. and a good flow continued through February, giving a total for that month of 931 b, and for the season of 1741 b. In 1923 the season had a sudden ending on the 25th of January, after which no increase showed on the scales. The last four days’ gathering was rather remarkable, being on the 18th 221 b, on the 19th 151 b, on the 22nd 91b, and on the 25th 131 b. The total for January was 1201 b, and for the season 1661 b. No record was taken by us of the 1924 season, while that for 1925 is not available as I write. For 1926 the season ended on the 24th of January, and showed for that month 1141 b. with a grand total of 1611 b. Compared with the above, the season of 1927 so far as it has gone is very poor. To the 22nd of the month the total for January has been 331 b, with only 191 b previously gathered, or a total of 521 b. Were the season, as in 1923 and 1926. to end on the 25th of January, the surplus would be nothing; but this is not usual, and it is quite reasonable to expect that a good flow maj' continue well on into February. i OUR FIELD DAYS.

The writer feels rgther ashamed that he could not accept the invitations to Heriot on the 22nd or to Greenfield on the 29th to take part in these functions. Nothing would have pleased him better than to have been present at both of them. It, however, means a long day to either’ of them, and I have not been so robust as usual this season; while. there were other difficulties in the way that I could not get over. At time of writing the Heriot function is past. It was raining at Roslyn Bush, but I hope that at Heriot it was better, and that the beekeepers who would assemble had a good time. The Southland Association’s meeting on Wednesday, the 26th, will also be pagt when these notes appear in print. I am hoping both for a good day and a good meeting of beekeepers. EXCLUDERS. The value of excluders to the apiarist is a much-debated point. The excluder is a sheet of zine so perforated that, placed between two chambers in the hive, it will allow the worker bees to get through, but not the queen or drones. The idea of the excluder is to confine the queen to the brood-nest and prevent her laying in patches through the supers that are intended only for surplus honey. For many years past I have not used excluders in the first half of the season, except in connection with operations to prevent swarming, such as the Alexander method or variations of that method. In midseason, however, I begin to use excluders more freely. It is not wise- to extract frames with brood in them, and I therefore, to keep the queen away from them, put her below an excluder. At that time in the season it does not matter if the queen is somewhat cramped for space, as the breed then reared will not count in the honey-flow. It will also be found that a brood-nest below an excluder will be better furnished for winter. There is in the bxcluder a certain amount of check to the free carrying of honey up into the supers. That is the objection to their use in the earlier part of the season. In three weeks from the time the excluder is put-on the brood abovje it will be hatched out, and as it hatches out the combs will be filled with honey.

BAD AUCKLAND SEASON. AUCKLAND, January 26. While nearly all industries in New Zealand are claiming records, the totalisator being a possible exception, the busy bee, until the advent of the present spell of hot weather, had had anything but a profitable time. Up to the new year most of the apiarists in the Auckland province have been compelled to feed their bees. On one bee faim on the Rotorua line several tons of sugar ware fed out to the bees before Christmas, and this was not an isolated case, as, owing to there being so much water in the flowers and clover, the -bees were not able to get the sustenance they needed. However the heart of the bee farmer now rejoices and the bees are buzzing merrily and working energetically in an endeavour to make up for lost time. From what can be gathered at the moment there appears every prospect of the honey season being below the. normal with a possibility of an increased price to the consumers.