Dysentery.—Care should be taken to clear away any dead bees at the mouth of the hive, for these give great offence, besides endangering the safety of the family, by preventing the passage of air. Whilst the bees are in activity, they carefully remove every dead body from the hive; but in winter this service should be occasionally performed for them. In particular it should be attended to if signs of dysentery appear, which may be known by the dark-coloured evacuations, offensive smell in the hive, and frequent deaths. This malady often attacks the strongest hives, too much closed at the mouth, particularly at the latter part of winter or in early spring, the most critical time for bees; and no doubt it is attributable to unnaturally retained fæces in a damp impure atmosphere, with deficient covering and ventilation. It has been thought that the want of water predisposes the bees to dysentery. As soon as the disease is apparent, no time should be lost in lifting the hive from its board, expelling the vitiated air, and scraping and washing away all impurity; repeating the same process, if requisite, on some fine subsequent day. But the board should be dried before the hive is replaced on it; or a fresh one may be at once substituted for it, with less loss of time and annoyance to the bees. I have restored a stock to perfect health by thoroughly cleaning and ventilating it, after a third of the inhabitants had fallen a sacrifice. All remedies, as they are called, by feeding with various prescriptions, do more harm than good. “Bees,” says Gelieu, “have no real disease: dysentery, about which so much noise has been made, and for which so many remedies have been prescribed, never attacks the bees of a well-stocked hive that is left open at all seasons, but only those that are too long and too closely confined. They are always in good health as long as they are at liberty; when they are warm enough and have plenty of food. All their pretended diseases are the result of cold, hunger, or the infection produced by a too close and long confinement during the winter.”
Those who commence an apiary by the purchase of established stock-hives, and who did not secure such in the autumn, can, with the opening of February, and for the five or six weeks ensuing, make a selection of those that have the characteristics of health and strength, which may generally be ascertained on a fine day, by observing the quantity of farina carried into a hive. “The best time,” says Payne, “to establish an apiary is from the middle of February to the middle of March. The stocks will have passed through the winter, and the removal is safe and easy. There are few commodities in which a person can be so easily deceived as in a hive of bees. I would, therefore, recommend the young apiarian to take the opinion of some experienced person before he makes his purchase. If the hive is not of the preceding year, its weight is no criterion of its value; for an old stock contains a large quantity of pollen.” An examination of the combs, as to discoloration, will often be a useful criterion of age. The selected stocks should be removed to their new quarters by hand, at dusk, to be no more disturbed.
Cleaning or changing Floor-boards.—All who have been accustomed to the care of bees must have perceived the saving of labour to them, in the early spring, in the cleaning of their floor-boards, by scraping away all filth, removing dead bees, refuse wax, &c., and thoroughly drying them. In many cases the best and quickest plan is to change the board, and particularly when it shows signs of decay, which always leads to mischief.
Comb-pruning.—In conjunction with an examination of the floor-boards, opportunity can be taken of observing the state of the hives, as respects their combs. Where these are seen to be old, mouldy, mildewed, or infected by moths, they should be cut away; as also when they have become filled with a mass of stale pollen and useless honey; at the same time taking care not to disturb any brood there may be. Hives sometimes contain too large a proportion of drone-combs, which can now be removed with advantage. Some persons use a little smoke, but at this season it must be resorted to sparingly, as the bees are weak. They will speedily fill up the vacancies thus made, and a stock in this way partially renewed may be continued in health several years, provided the hive itself is in good state. Nevertheless, it may be well to recur to an opinion we have already expressed, that it is often more to the interest of the proprietor to allow a stock to swarm rather than to persevere for several succeeding seasons in preventing it, in a hive constantly becoming worse for occupation.
General directions.—As soon as vegetation begins to appear, with genial weather, all obstructions to the free access to the hives must be removed; and by degrees extended space given at the mouth. The critical time for the bees is now approaching; for in February brood often rapidly increases, requiring greater attention to a uniform warmth. The tops of the hives, therefore, should be closed in, to prevent currents of cold air, often at this time fatal both to the eggs and larvæ, as may be seen by the ejectment of dead grubs. Even much later on in the season the recurrence of cold days will leave certain proofs of mischief; and at such times the mouths of the hives ought again to be contracted and screened; carefully retaining till all danger is past the outer coverings to the hives.
The bees will now, in fine weather, go forth in search of pollen, which they bring into the hive in large or apparently in useless quantity, so as sometimes to render it necessary afterwards to remove it, at a great expense of labour. “This,” says Gelieu, “is the only point on which they can be accused of a want of that prudence and foresight, so admirable in every other respect.” A supply of pollen, together with water, are the first requirements of the spring, both essential to the brood, and the eagerness of the bees to seek them is a certain indication of health and strength in the hive.[Y] At [page 102], a list is given of early flowering plants, which it is desirable to have in the immediate vicinity of the hives. At present the bees are weak, and incapable of a long flight: the weather, too, is often unfavorable for it.
[Y] It is worthy of attention that a distinguished German apiculturist has recently introduced a substitute for pollen in the early year, when the bees have no means of procuring it. Observing that his bees frequented a neighbouring mill, he found them engaged in conveying from thence a quantity of rye meal. Deriving a hint from this discovery, he placed a trough of the meal in front of his apiary, which was eagerly carried to the hives, the bees preferring it to old pollen; and this continued till the opening blossoms supplied the natural article. Some hives consumed as much as two pounds. Subsequent experimentalists, at home, have used the flour of wheat, or other grain, with success. The knowledge that the collection of pollen and the need of water by the bees are simultaneous, led these observers a step further, by giving a supply of both these essentials at the same time. As this assistance has been afforded as early as January, it would seem necessary, in our climate, to place both articles in some accessible part within the hive. In the absence of any better provision, wet sponge or moss has been found to answer; or old combs will suffice as receptacles either of water or flour. Stocks thus treated are said to be greatly forwarded both in breeding and swarming.