FURTHER DIRECTIONS.
When a stock has been removed, if the next stand contains a weak, instead of a strong one, it is best to take that in also; to be returned to the stand as soon as the robbers will allow it. If a second attack is made, put them in again, or if practicable, remove them a mile or two out of their knowledge of country; they would then lose no time from labor. Where but few stocks are kept, and not more than one or two stocks are engaged, sprinkle a little flour on them as they leave, to ascertain which the robbers are; then reverse the hives, putting the weak one in the place of the strong, and the strong one in the place of the weak one. The weak stock will generally become the strongest, and put a stop to their operations; but this method is often impracticable in a large apiary; because several stocks are usually engaged, very soon after one commences, and a dozen may be robbing one. Another method is, when you are sure a stock is being robbed, take a time when there are as many plunderers inside as you can get, and close the hive at once, (wire-cloth, or something to admit air, and at the same time confine the bees, is necessary;) carry in, as before directed, for two or three days, when they may be set out. The strange bees thus enclosed will join the weak family, and will be as eager to defend what is now their treasure, as they were before to carry it off. This principle of forgetting home and uniting with others, after a lapse of a few days, (writers say, twenty-four hours is sufficient for them to forget home) can be recommended in this case. It succeeds about four times in five, when a proper number is enclosed. Weak stocks are strengthened in this way very easily; and the bees being taken from a number of hives, are hardly missed. The difficulty is, to know when there are enough to be about equal, to what belongs to the weak stock; if too few are enclosed, they are surely destroyed.
COMMON CAUSE OF COMMENCING.
After all, bees being robbed is like being destroyed by worms; a kind of secondary matter; that is, not one strong stock in a hundred will ever be attacked and plundered on the first onset. Bees must be first tempted, and rendered furious by a weak hive; a dish of refuse honey set near them is sometimes sufficient to set them at work, also where they have been fed and not had a full supply. After they have once commenced, it takes an astonishing quantity to satiate their appetite. They seem to be perfectly intoxicated, and regardless of danger; they venture on to certain destruction! I have known a few instances where good stocks by this means were reduced, until they in turn fell a prey to others. I have for several years kept about one hundred stocks away from home, where I could not see them much, to prevent robbing. Yet I never lost a stock by this cause. I simply keep the entrance closed, except a passage for the bees at work during spring. It is true I have lost a few stocks, when the other bees took the honey, but they would have been lost any way.
SPRING THE WORST TIME.
As I before remarked in the commencement of this chapter, bees will plunder and fight at any time through the summer, when honey cannot be collected; but spring is the only time that such desperate and persevering efforts are made to obtain it. It is the only time the apiarian can be excused for having his hives plundered, or letting them stand in a situation for it. We then often have families reduced in winter and spring, from various causes, and when protected through this season, generally make good stocks. It is then we wish them to form steady, industrious habits, and not live by plunder. Prevention is better than cure; evil propensities should be checked in the beginning. The bee, like man, when this disposition has been indulged for a time, it is hard breaking the habit; a severe chastisement is the only cure; they too go on the principle of much wanting more.
NO NECESSITY TO HAVE THE BEES PLUNDERED IN THE FALL.
The apiarian having his bees plundered in the fall, is not fit to have charge of them; their efforts are seldom as strong as in spring, (unless there is a general scarcity,) the weak hives are usually better supplied with bees, and consequently a less number is exposed; but yet, when there are some very weak families, these should be taken away as soon as the flowers fail, or strengthened with bees from another hive. Particulars in fall management.
I have sometimes made my swarms equal, early in spring, by the following method, and I have also failed. Bees, when wintered together in a room, will seldom quarrel when first set out. When one stock has an over supply of bees, and another a very few, the next day or two after being out, I change the weak one to the stand of the strong one, (as mentioned a page or two back,) and all bees that have marked the location return to that place. The failure is, when too many leave the strong stock, making that the weak one, when nothing is gained. If it could be done when they had been out of the house just long enough for the proper number to have marked the location, success would be quite certain. But before an exchange of this kind is made, it would be well, if possible; to ascertain what is the cause of a stock being weak; if it is from the loss of a queen, (which is sometimes the case,) we only make the matter worse by the operation. To ascertain whether the queen be present, do not depend on the bees carrying in pollen; as most writers assert they will not, when the queen is gone; because I have known them do it so many times without, that I can assure the reader again, it is no test whatever. The test given in chapter III. page 73, is always certain.