THE APIARY.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXX, Issue 3, 20 March 1925, Page 203

THE APIARY.

DEALING WITH SUPERS. All extracting-combs should be removed as soon as they are cleaned up by the bees. At this period it is important that the bees be restricted to. as small a space as possible. By reducing the size of the hive there is less air-space for the bees to keep warm, and they winter better. It is advisable to leave some supers on the hives where impossible to confine the bees to the brood-chamber. These supers may be dealt with in the spring, when most of the bees will be in one story. A good plan to induce the bees to quickly clean up the wet combs in the supers is to place a mat in which is cut a small hole about i in. square between the brood-chamber and super containing the combs. The bees, finding the combs partly cut off by the mat, lose very little time in removing the honey from them. At the time of this operation the excluders should be removed from the hives they may be cleaned and stored away until required again. Remove all bare combs, taking care not to bend the wires. Zinc excluders are readily cleaned by plunging into boiling water. FOUL-BROOD. A,strict watch should be kept on the brood-combs for symptoms of foul-brood. In case disease is found in a bad form do not attempt to treat the colony, but destroy it. Very little success will attend treatment at this season, and it is far wiser to postpone it until the spring. ' Too much caution cannot be exercised in handling infected colonies in the autumn, as robbing is likely to be started and disease spread by the robbers. If the disease occurs in a mild form, take out the infected combs and substitute clean drawn-out combs. Mark all diseased colonies for treatment, and carry out all operations with diseased hives as expeditiously as possible. Tinkering with diseased hives in the off-season is dangerous, as the beekeeper will find to his cost. ' - CARE -OF EXTRACTING-COMBS. If proper care is not to be exercised in storing the extracting-combs when removed to the honey-house it is far better that they should be stored in the hives. If the latter plan is adopted the mats must be

placed on top of the brood-chamber and the supers tiered above the mats. Unless the apiary is well sheltered, however, they must be weighted, as the winter gales may easily upset them when only empty combs are stored inside. It is far better to remove the combs if it can possibly be done, and thereby obviate the labour of lifting the supers if it becomes necessary to examine the brood-chamber. But in this case the combs must be properly housed to secure them from destruction by mice . and wax-moths. It is not . uncommon to find tiers of extracting-combs destroyed as the result of carelessness. Mice are especially destructive, and the damage they will do in a short period is such as to render the greatest trouble worth while in preventing them from . gaining access to the combs. During extracting many combs may become damaged, but the damage can be repaired by the bees when the combs are returned to the hives. As a rule, however, mice destroy the combs beyond repair, and no effort on the part of the bees can restore them to their original form. It is during the working season that the beekeeper realizes the value of combs in securing a crop. A shortage of combs during the flow will often, prevent the bees being kept in working trim, and the production of honey will be greatly restricted. Mice destroy the combs to gain access to the pollen, and render- them , foul and offensive to the bees. In the absence of a mouse-proof' room the combs can be stacked in supers tiered one . above another. Be sure that there are no holes or cracks in the supers through which mice can obtain an entrance. Place a queen-excluder at the bottom of the tier and another on the top. Queen-excluders, if used as described, are a complete success in preventing mice from destroying, combs during the off-season. . Should the wax-moth be detected the combs must be fumigated. Bisulphide of carbon is generally used for destroying insect-life, but it should be used with great caution, as it is highly inflammable. It is far better when storing the combs at the end of the season to place a few moth-balls among them.' , This will usually be sufficient to prevent the attack of the moths. CARE OF UTENSILS. As soon as the honey has been disposed of all utensils used in handling the crop should be thoroughly cleaned. Remove all traces of honey from the extractor, tanks, uncapping-knives, &c. ' Wash carefully with boiling water and dry thoroughly to prevent rusting. The high cost of working equipment should impel the beekeeper to take great care in storing his plant during the off-season. It is advantageous to use loose washing covers of close texture to cover the tanks and extractor. The covers will help to keep the utensils free from dust that is likely to accumulate during the winter. See that all metal parts likely to rust are given a good coating of oil. In season or ■ out of season the watchword of the beekeeper . in the extracting-house should be cleanliness. BOTTOM-BOARDS. ' -. Before finally closing down the hives for winter the bottom-boards will require attention, and may be cleaned by scraping. Usually there is an accumulation of pollen, wax-particles, and dead bees, and,

if left, this material is liable to become mouldy and offensive to the bees. The quickest way is to provide a spare bottom-board ; lift the hive on to a spare one, scrape the old board,. and replace the hive. MATS. It is highly important that every hive should be supplied with one or two good mats during the winter months. Mats keep the bees warm, more especially when gable roofs are adopted, and in case of a late examination having to be made this can more readily be done without disturbing the cluster. . Not enough attention is paid to the use of mats, both in winter and summer. They , are serviceable in both seasons, and the beekeeper would be saved a great deal of trouble if he could be persuaded. to place them in all hives. In winter they keep the bees warm, and in the summer prevent the bees from building combs in the roofs. Neglecting their use altogether when using gable roofs is a constant source of trouble, and leads to unnecessary labour in removing the comb which the bees will have built in the roof. There is no excuse for not using mats, as almost every beekeeper has ample material on hand for making them. Good mats can be made from clean corn-sacks or sugar-bags. They should be cut to exactly fit on top of the frames. A corn-sack will cut up into six mats, and what remains can be used for the smoker. A good plan to adopt in cutting mats is to place a zinc excluder on the material and cut to the same size. Calico mats are useless, providing no .warmth and being readily gnawed by the bees.

E. A. Earp,

Senior Apiary Instructor.