THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 11

THE APIARY.

By

J. A.

Inquirer” writes: “You have been urging very strongly the building of the colonies of bees in the spring, even going so far as to compare the hive of bees to a miniature factory for the manufacture of bees, and stating that success in the honey-flow period depends on the successful development of the colony during the period that precedes it. Might I ask the following questions:—Do you consider that if a colony is left in the autumn with sufficient sealed stores to carry it through to the honey flow without danger of shortage more can be (lone, or that it is advisable to do more? Do you believe that any system of stimulation is a safe or wise thing? ’’ These questions are very much to the point, and I am glad to try to answer tnem, as it will bring out more clearly what 1 have been advocating. To answer the questions shortly, I do not think that more can be done for a colony that has as much stores as it can use previous to the main flow, nor do I believe that stimulation is a safe thing unless it be for the four weeks previous to the main now, and then only by a beekeeper who has considerable experience. Ihose answers, however, leave a good deal unsaid. It is an old saving that bees do nothing invariably. ’The unexpected often happens. The amount of stores that is ample for one colony will not suffice for another. Queens do not all start at the same time and work at the same pace, and the beekeeper sometimes finds work so long delayed that he wonders whether there is a queen there at all. In another colony he finds that the pace has been such that the hii e is full of bees and the stores are nearly used up. These, of course, are the extremes, but if we are going to give all the provision required in the autumn su PPly each colony all that the liveliest queen can use. In order to help beginners, let me say that the supply of stores is not required maiu]j- to feed the bees, but to feed the young brood developing in the combs. A queen will start her brood nest in the centre two combs and extend on both sides, always widening the circle and keeping the nest an oval shape. The combs must contain honey or nectar must b e coming in or the extension will not take place. As the brood nest extends, however, the honey is used up, and this progresses naturally until the sides of the hive are reached, provided all the combs are furnished with food for the young larva;. If they are emptv, then until there is a flow the extension will not take place. It has always been regarded that a colony furnished with 10 combs of solid sealed stores was amply provided, and that with the assistance of light sprint flows it was safe. At Oakleigh I always regarded it so, but out in the open plain, where the bees have to wait for clover, it is questionable whether the best results can be obtained without further provision. Another trouble that our seasons have been so often of late years cut short that it is difficult to obtain a number of colonies with sufficient provision in the brood chamber. A percentage of the combs is poorly filled when the weather changes and the flow ends. It is for this reason that I advocate having a half-super filled early in the season and stored away for spring use. To go back to the question of stimulation, it will easily be understood that to give a colony the impression of r. flow coming in from outside will cause stimulation _ and make all the activities of the hive go on with increased vigour The result will be that the queen is better fed and her work pushed on, the brood nest extended, and the stores used up correspondingly quickly, and a large population attained much in advance of the main flow.

Mr Alexander, of New York, who was a great advocate of stimulation, always advised against this. He did not stimuuntil about four weeks in advance ol the clover yield, and in doing it he had this advantage—that he could depend on greater regularity in the beginning of that yield than we can. I can remember a season in Southland in which the clover How began on January 27 and lasted until February 15, giving a good crop; but to have stimulated the colonies for full hives at Christmas time would have been four weeks too soon and have necessitated heavy feeding for all that time. Mr Alexander’s method of stimulating was to give half a pint daily of a thin syrup—two ot water to one of sugar. The beekeeper who practises stimulation must be prepared to give very close attention to his bees and not be afraid to keep a good supply of sugar. Neglect under the circumstances would mean serious loss.