THE APIARY.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXX, Issue 2, 20 February 1925, Page 131

THE APIARY.

FINAL EXTRACTING.

February will probably see the end of the main honey-flow in most districts, and beekeepers will be wise to remove the last of the honey before the cold nights arrive. Once the honey in the hives has been allowed to become thoroughly chilled there is little prospect of its becoming warmed again when - uncertain weather sets in. Wherever inclined to be thick the honey will be found exceedingly difficult to extract unless it is warm, and the beekeeper who delays too long will find that he will have to return to the hives combs almost as heavy as when they were removed. Thin honey extracts best when it is warm, but it is imperative that thick honey be not allowed to cool before extracting., One of the principal matters to be attended to when the last of the honey is being removed is the condition of the brood - chamber. Many prolific queens keep the brood-chamber so full of brood throughout the season that the bees have very little room to store honey in it. Consequently, if all the honey in the supers is removed, such colonies stand a chance of being starved out before the end of the

winter. These colonies should not be reduced to less than two stories, and on no account should their stores be less than 30 lb. to 40 lb. It must be borne in mind that all the brood in the hive will hatch and must be fed, and that in addition the queen will continue laying for some months to come, while in some districts breeding may continue throughout the winter, To ensure the colony coming out strong in the spring it must be left with ample stores to carry it through the months of dearth. Unless there is ample evidence of an abundant autumn flow the beekeeper would be wise to leave his hives oversupplied rather than undersupplied. USE OF BEE-ESCAPES. For the comb-honey producer the Porter bee-escape is an invaluable aid in the removal of his, crop. Removal of comb-honey by the ordinary method of brushing, &c., is apt to result in the piercing of many cell-cappings, with consequent leakage ; but by the' use of this simple little appliance, fitted in a board the size of a super, combhoney can be removed without any disturbance of the colony. The super or supers should be prised up from the brood-chamber, two or three puffs of smoke driven into the hive, and the board gently slipped into place with the round hole of the escape uppermost. If this is done in the afternoon, by morning the super will be empty of bees. For extracted honey the use of the escape is a more doubtful matter. In the first place, it is of absolutely no avail where there is brood in the super. The bees will not leave the brood, and the morning will find the combs still covered with bees. It might almost be said that the bee-escape is of no use for extracting combs unless the hives have been previously provided with excluders. In addition, especially in Southern districts, the use of the escape-board tends to allow the honey to cool considerably before morning, thereby making the work of extracting a much more difficult proposition. If there is a tendency to rob, the use of the bee-escape will materially assist in removing the honey late in the season, and whether their use is invariably advocated or not it is as well to have a few on hand. .■ • PREVENTION. OF ROBBING. The taking of the last of the honey is the time when the beekeeper must display endless caution to prevent robbing. ' A bad attack of autumn robbing is—next to disease— about the worst thing a beekeeper can experience. Before starting the day’s work he should have all appliances handy, have formed a plan of how the work is to be carried out, and should, if satisfactory, adhere to that plan throughout the day. A light barrow fitted with a tray to catch honey-drips, and two or three cloths of a size to cover the whole of a super, and moistened with a very weak solution -of carbolic, acid, are some of the, things which will obviate much trouble. As the combs are removed from the supers they should be brushed and shaken as free of bees as possible, placed in an empty super on the barrow, and covered with a damp cloth. Close every hive as soon as it is finished with, and remove the combs to the honey-house, which should be bee-proof. At the close of the day the wet combs should be returned to the hives as expeditiously as possible, and by morning the apiary will

be found to be in its normal condition. No pieces of wax, spilt honey, or anything likely to attract the attention of the bees should be left uncovered. If the bees show a tendency to pounce on any particular hive the entrance should be contracted considerably and wet grass piled in front of the hive. If working in one portion of the apiary should cause robber bees to become too attentive it is advisable to shift the scene of operations to another part. It must be borne in mind that autumn robbing once commenced is hard to check, also that it is usually brought about by careless manipulation of the hives. WEAK COLONIES. As far as possible weak hives should not be tolerated during the .winter months. During the warm days these stocks rarely escape the attention of robber bees, and are easily molested. Once they are attacked it is exceedingly hard to save them, and despite the efforts of the beekeeper they eventually get robbed out. It is usually the presence of weak hives in the apiary that starts autumn and winter robbing, and it is by far the best plan to unite them with stronger colonies in the apiary and avoid the risk of creating a disturbance among the bees' when normal winter conditions should prevail. If weak colonies are not detected until late in the season a good plan to follow when uniting them- is to put the weak hive on top of a strong one, placing a piece of newspaper between the two hive-bodies. In the course of a few days the bees in the weaker hive will eat their way through the paper and unite peaceably with the bees in the stronger hive. The surplus combs may. subsequently be removed, and the hive made snug for wintering. . If weather conditions permit, it is advantageous to destroy the queen in the weaker hive prior to uniting. PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. As soon as the last of the honey is removed the beekeeper should see that the colonies are in good order for wintering. The first matter for attention is that of stores, which, as already indicated, should be abundant : the second that of the queen's condition. . After these two important matters are settled the beekeeper should satisfy himself that his hives are watertight and draught-proof, also that his apiary is well provided with shelter in the form of good hedges or other wind-breaks. With regard to the queen, autumn, is the time when strict attention should be paid to weak and failing queens. None but the best queens should be allowed to go into winter quarters. Poor queens should be destroyed, and either superseded by young and vigorous ones or their colonies united with those of the better queens before the winter sets in. No queen should be tolerated which cannot provide the colony with an abundant supply of young workers before the cold weather arrives. It is quite certain that the queen that goes back in the autumn will be in worse case after the winter, and will not produce enough workers to provide a surplus in the following season, even if she . does not fail entirely before the spring or develop into a drone-layer as soon as brood-rearing commences.

E. A. Earp,

Senior Apiary Instructor.