Moths, Wasps, Hornets, and other Enemies.—In the warm summer evenings, bees are often much annoyed by the attempted inroads of moths, particularly the small Wax Moth (Tinea Mellonella), of a whitish gray colour. These are sometimes formidable foes, and their appearance at dusk on the alighting-board is the signal for a commotion. It is difficult to eject them if they obtain a footing in a hive, where they will deposit their eggs, spinning their silken webs, and they now and then increase so as to cause its entire destruction. When these vermin have established themselves, there is no remedy but driving the bees into another hive. To prevent the ingress of these troublesome invaders, it is sometimes desirable for an hour or two in an evening to close the entrance, by placing before it a screen of gauze, wire-grating, or perforated zinc, to be removed at dark.[Q]
[Q] A difficulty sometimes occurs when it is necessary to confine bees, or drive them into the hive, as the alighting-board is often covered with them in an evening, and the numbers are increased on the least alarm. In this case take a small watering-pot, and gently sprinkle the board and entrance, when the bees, mistaking this for rain, will retire withinside.
Poultry, and some kinds of birds, are destroyers of bees; and many, that from weakness or other causes fall to the ground, become a sacrifice to them. In particular, that little marauder, the Blue Tomtit or Titmouse (Parus major of Linnæus), must not be tolerated. In summer he will devour bees, and feed his young with them; and in winter he will even try to force an entrance into the hive.[R] Rats and mice must also be guarded against, as well as slugs and snails.
[R] In some parts these birds are very numerous; and poison has been found efficacious, placed at the hive mouth, in little balls of lard, oatmeal, and nux vomica, mixed together.
The nests of wasps ought to be destroyed: from their superiority in strength and activity, they are very annoying, and often destructive, to bees towards the end of summer; and the nuisance must forthwith be met by contracting the entrance to the hive, when the passage is more readily defended.[S] In this place it may be well to draw attention to a very simple mode of dealing with wasps attacking a hive. We shall have occasion hereafter to notice the fondness of bees for barley-sugar: let a piece of this be laid across, or just within, the entrance of the hive, so as greatly to narrow it. This is so attractive to the bees, that they muster at the door in greater force than the wasps durst venture to assail. As fast as the fortification is devoured, it ought to be renewed, and the out-generalled enemy will retire from a hopeless contest.
[S] Amongst well-informed apiculturists an apology might seem to be necessary in referring to so bigoted an author as Huish; but Huber’s observations on some of the habits of bees have frequently been the subject of his ignorant ridicule; and particularly where he says that they occasionally erect barricades, for greater security. Mr. Golding has given a confirmation of Huber’s assertion. He says, “At the end of summer, a kind of curtain, apparently a compound of wax and propolis, and about a sixteenth of an inch thick, was erected before the entrance of one of my hives; about two inches and a half in length, and half an inch in height, with the exception of a small aperture at each end.” Dr. Bevan, in the ‘Honey-Bee,’ exhibits a drawing of this piece of fortification. My own experience is perfectly conclusive, as the following extract from my journal will show:—“July 31, 1842. Weather fine. Removed a box of honey from a collateral hive. The wasps had been troublesome for some days, and as the entrance to the centre box was left fully open, the bees had contracted it for better defence. A thin wall of what appeared to be propolis was attached from the upper edge of the doorway, extending along its centre, and closing all up but a space of about three quarters of an inch at each end. I never witnessed a more convincing proof of the sagacity of the bees than this beautiful proceeding.” So runs my journal; to which I may add, that the entrance to the box, so contracted, was five inches in length, and three eighths of an inch high; or double that of Mr. Golding’s. From the hint thus derived from the bees themselves, I constructed the moveable blocks or mouth-pieces described and shown at [page 44].
Insects of all kinds, as earwigs, spiders, wood-lice, &c., should be cleared away from the hives and stands, and ants' nests destroyed. Cobwebs must not be permitted to remain, or numerous deaths would ensue to the bees from entanglement in them. In short, we may sum up by a general recommendation of cleanliness, in every way, and the removal of whatever serves as a harbour to dirt and vermin.
Super-hiving.—Should the weather continue favorable for honey-gathering, the colony must be inspected in about three weeks from the time of hiving. Indeed in sultry weather, and where the swarm is a large one, it is often politic to place a glass or small super upon it very soon, as a ventilator, to moderate the temperature, and prevent the clustering of the bees at the mouth of the hive. If the combs are worked pretty nearly down to the floor, and the cells in a good measure filled, no time should be lost in supplying additional working-room; more especially if symptoms of crowding are apparent, for by this time young bees are coming forth. We may here observe that many experienced bee-keepers object to supering in the case of a new colony, preferring to give the requisite room at the bottom, by means of a Nadir; which, as the bees carry their stores upwards, often ensures abundance in the stock-hive, the nadir being removed in the autumn. Under the head Depriving System, are some remarks as to the mode of using nadirs; as also under that of [Nadir Hive], and [Nadiring Stocks].
