Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 233, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1911 — Attention to the Bees [ARTICLE]

Attention to the Bees

All the colonies should be carefully examined. If any colonies have died during the winter remove the combs of honey that remain and place them under some other strong colony before robbing begins. If any colonies have become queenless others ean be procured from the south and substituted. a Do not let the colony dwindle away for want of a queen for it may yield you fifty or even a hundred pounds of honey the coming season. The bottom boards should also be scraped and cleaned from the accumulated cappings which always gather there during the winter. On top of the hive you will probably find ants gathered in the packing with thousands of eggs ready to hatch. Clean them out and sweeten up the hives in general. It may be that some need a coat of paint. Get ready for the honey flow and give the bees every chance to build up. Section boxes brood frames should also be gotten in readiness. It is. easy to manage bees when the preparatory work is done. It will do no harm to let the bees get a little cbm meal from the bln. Some beekeepers make a regular prac_.ce in early spring of setting meal in qunny spots protected from the wind fbr the bees to gather as a substitute for pollen to stimulate brood rearing. This is not necessary in locations where natural pollen is abundant. When brooding is heaviest bees require most water. In spring they may be seen about the well in search of this necessary article, which goes to make up their daily bill Of fare. They will fly a great distance for it if not obtainable near by. Many bees are lost and chilled when thus carrying water for their brood. If there is no water accessible near at hand it will pay you to supply some.

Take a barrel and set it a few feet from the ground, fill it with water and cover the top so no bees will drown. Then bore a very small hole near the bottom of the barrel and let the water drip on a board. The board should be slanted slightly to cause the water to flow slowly along. From this source the bees will be able to help themselves. The nearer the water is to the apiary the fewer bees it will require ae water carries, a very important feature at this season when the warmth and energy of every bee is needed in the hive to help build up the colony. When honey begins to come in from the fields, it is no longer necessary to supply them with water for they will get enough of it from the thin nectar which is daily brought into the hive. • The best time to transfer combs and bees is when the combe are light and tree from the honey. Brood-rearing Is but fairly started, consequently the work is quickly accomplished withou' the loss of brood and a dauby mess o. wasting honey, a: is the case when combs become filled with new honey and brood-rearing is in an advance stage. I find that even 'n New Jersey that conditions differ so widely that no set of laws can be laid down for all localities. I would, however, make this suggestion, that wherever early blooming trees are present such as soft maples, or elme, it will not be necessary to feed meal for when it becomes warm enough for the bees to fly freely these trees will be found to yield pollen in abundance.

I would set the combs from which the bees have died during the winter in an empty hive body and place them under a strong co 1 my and close up all the openings except the entrance un dec the lower body, compelling th? bees to pass ov / "’ the unoccupied combs continually when leaving or entering the hive. In this way the combs will be kept free from the wax moth until such a time when they can be used for swarms or other purposes. When the queen gets crowded for space in the upper body she will go down and commence laying 'ggs in the empty combs below, These combs of hatching brood can be used to great advantage in building up weak colonies. The wide-awake farmer does not wait until his bees have swarmed and are clustering on a tree-top before he thinks of preparing a hive for them. All preparatory work, such as making and painting hives, wiring brood frames and getting the section boxes ready for the anticipated honey crop should be done at leisure times during the dull period on the farm before the rush or other work takes place. How easy it will be to manage a dozen or more colonies of bees this sumtqer if everything is set in readiness. For instance. If a swarm issues It will only be the work of a few minutes to take the hive from the barn and hive the swarm into it. If the honey flow bursts forth suddenly what satisfaction it will give you to know that you have on hand a few hundred section boxes ready to set on the hives at once. If this work is put off until summer time it is more than probable It will not be done at all. When feeding the bees be careful not to spill any of the sweets about the apiary, for robbing is often starved that way. English and French gardeners are always in the market for live toads, and not unfrequently as much as |M per hundred is paid for this insect destroyer. It to estimated that every time a boy kills x toad he is destroy lex SIM worth of stock oa s farm