NOTES FOR BEEKEEPERS

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 71, Issue 4, 15 October 1945, Page 418

NOTES FOR BEEKEEPERS

Control of Brood Rearing

DURING the next two months beekeepers should give each colony detailed examinations and make any adjustments necessary for the promotion of maximum field bee population at the commencement of the main honey flow. As a worker bee has to perform duties within the hive for the first two or three weeks of its life, colonies should be adjusted so that a strong force will emerge from the brood cells about three weeks in advance of the honey flow. To accomplish this, a correct understanding of the principles influencing brood, rearing is essential, as any lack of knowledge or mismanagement may ultimately cause a reduction in the honey crop. The important factors which assist in the control of brood rearing are summarised as follows: — 1. Young and prolific queens. 2. Sufficient bees wintered over to meet early brood-rearing requirements. 3. Good worker combs in the brood chamber. 4. Ample stores of honey and pollen. Poor Queens Hives which contain queens in their third year or which for any other reason are undesirable should be marked for early requeening, as these queens are usually unable to maintain intensive egg-laying and invariably fail or induce swarming when brood rearing should be at its height. A maximum of egg-laying should be reached six weeks before the main honey flow. When drone-laying queens or laying workers exist in a colony the worker bees are usually old and few in number and are not worth requeening or otherwise saving except by uniting to a “queen-right” hive. Before uniting, the drone-laying queen must be killed and all the drone brood replaced with new combs, otherwise this drone brood may cause the good queen to be superseded. A drone-laying queen is one that has been unable to take her mating flight or has been incompletely fertilised. There are various reasons for this condition, but the main causes are generally attributable to unfavourable weather preventing the mating flight or to the novice beekeeper clipping the queen’s wings while she was still a virgin. The presence of a dronelaying queen is recognised by the

fact that she lays her eggs irregularly 1 in the worker cells, from which only stunted drones are raised, but in most instances the bees neglect such brood and allow it to die. The cappings of such brood cells are easily identified, as they are abnormally bulged and present a dome or bullet-shaped appearance. The brood of a “laying” worker is very similar to that of a drone-laying queen, the main difference being that the eggs are laid in a more erratic manner with up to a dozen or more eggs in each cell. As in the case of drone-laying queens, any eggs that may hatch will produce only male bees. Colonies in this condition should be dealt with similarly to those containing drone-laying queens. In this case, it is practically impos-

sible to detect the “laying” worker,, and as the bees will kill her as soon as they realise that the colony is “queen-right,” there is no necessity to locate her before uniting. Ample Stores A careful assessment of the honey and pollen stored in each hive is ► necessary to ensure that the bees will not starve and that brood-rearing is not checked. During October the weather is usually broken, and there is seldom sufficient nectar being gathered to supply the total requirements of the increasing numbers of. young bees and brood. Stores consumption is heavy at this time of the year, and if nectar is not being gathered in sufficient quantities any colony found with less than 101 b. or 151 b. of honey (the equivalent of two or three full combs) should be given supplementary combs from hives with a surplus. Where honey is not available the colony should be given a feed of sugar, syrup. Brood Accommodation Combs containing a large proportion of drone cells and combs

which may be damaged in any way should be removed from the brood nest and replaced with combs containing all worker cells. This should be done before the bees have a chance to utilise them for brood rearing or for the storage of early nectar. Queens are reluctant to make use of such combs, and will usually confine their activities to the one side of them, thus creating crowded brood nest conditions despite the availability of ample space beyond. Further, large numbers of useless drones will be reared, thus restricting the free expansion of the brood nest for the profitable worker brood. A few spare supers of good worker combs should be on hand when examining the hives to replace the culled combs. Colonies with vigorous, autumnreared queens will have from six to eight well-filled frames of young brood, and from now on the strength of such colonies will rapidly increase. If the hives are single storey, . additional room should be given to prevent overcrowding by adding a super of drawn combs. Where drawn combs are not available, a super of. frames fitted with full sheets of foundation comb should be given as an alternative. Beekeepers intending to make an early increase in the number of hives should not be tempted to force early brood-rearing by the practice known as “spreading” brood combs. This method not only disturbs the normal working of the bees, but also divides the brood-nest. If cold weather sets in, the bees may not be able to cluster effectively on the divided brood, and serious loss of brood through chilling will result. Alternatively, when a queen has ample room on the outsides of the normal cluster and the hive has a surplus of honey correctly

stored, a compact brood nest will be maintained. Moreover, any extension of rearing will be regulated , by . the number of bees available to cover the brood. . • Swarm Prevention When colonies become very strong prior to the beginning of the main honey flow there is a danger of swarming. It is therefore essential that an effort should be made to overcome or reduce the swarming incidence. Swarming is the result of the bees’ natural instinct to propagate the race, but to allow colonies to swarm is contrary to successful apiary practice. The prevention of the swarming impulse and the subsequent control of

swarming are the greatest problems with which beekeepers have to contend. In many instances, however, swarming is the result of incorrect hive management or lack of attention to certain fundamental necessities. When the factors that induce bees to make swarming preparations are understood and certain remedies are applied the number of hives that actually swarm will be greatly reduced. Colonies headed by. old queens are more likely to swarm than those having young queens. Want di room and ventilation on hot days will induce swarming, and extra supers should be provided slightly ahead of requirements. An excessive number of drones is also a cause, and this can be prevented by culling all drone combs and replacing with combs built with worker cells. Where a colony has prepared for swarming, the issue of the swarm can be retarded for a time by destroying all the queen cells and by placing "an additional super immediately above the brood chamber. A further examination of the brood nest should again be made in about eight days’ time to ascertain if another batch of cells has been raised, and if so, more drastic measures must be applied. The queen cells should again be destroyed, but on this occasion several combs of brood should be removed from the hive and replaced with empty drawn combs or frames with full sheets of foundation. This creates a situation somewhat similar to that of a newlyhived swarm, and the bees generally accept it. The brood removed from the hive may be distributed among the weaker colonies that are able io care for it in order to assist them to build up more rapidly. —E. SMELLIE, Apiary ' Instructor, Christchurch.