Bee-keeping for profit

by W. S. Morley

Examination or other work in connection with the hive should be completed as quickly as possible so that the combs may not be unduly exposed.

Spring and Autumn Cleaning.—In the springtime—generally speaking about the middle of April—it is necessary that the hive should be cleaned, and, to secure "a thorough spring clean," the bees should be transferred to another hive that has been already cleaned. If this is not done, the hive must be thoroughly overhauled, and should any of the combs be found to be in a bad condition and without any bees on them they should be removed. If the combs are full of brood and honey it is necessary to expand the brood chamber as described on [page 67]. In the autumn the hive must be examined and cleaned again. All empty combs, or those not used by the bees, should be removed and the space thus rendered vacant closed by a dummy. Should the hive contain only a small quantity of food the bees will have to be fed artificially. (See [page 82].)

Weak Hives.—It is at the spring and autumn examinations that the real state of the hive community is discovered, and in the former the "weak." hive is a common occurrence. It is then that much depends upon the bee-keeper whether his work is to be successful or not. It is then that weak stocks must be brought up and strengthened either by doubling or uniting the stocks, or by feeding.

The bees from strong hives soon find out those that are weak, and apparently act on the principle that "to him that hath shall be given," for they proceed to help themselves to the depleted stores of the weak hive. They even go to the length of forcing its occupants to help in the removal of their stores and grant them the privilege of joining their community for so doing. Those that remain faithful to the queen of the weak hive are thus reduced to starvation. When a bee-keeper finds that a weak hive is being raided in this manner he should close it up entirely for a day or two. This will often quicken the spirit of its inhabitants and cause them to retaliate on the raiders.

Doubling Stocks.—For this purpose an empty hive is necessary, and it should be one in which the frames range from the front to the back. Placing the two weak hives on either side of the empty one, the frame with the bees from the right hand hive are transferred to the right side of the new hive. A dummy is then placed and all holes through which a bee might crawl carefully blocked up. The frames from the other hive are then placed in the remaining space and the hive closed up. Care should be taken to fasten the quilt down firmly so that the bees cannot obtain access to each other, for if they do they will surely fight. For the same reason the entrances to the two parts of the hive should be placed as far apart as possible and a piece of wood placed along the centre of the floorboard.

After a few weeks the bees in the two divisions will acquire the same scent and can be united. Should a spare queen be required one can be removed, if not the older one should be killed, for the bees should not be left to adjust the matter for themselves. A hole may be made in the dummy so that the bees can pass from one division to the other, and a few days after the dummy may be removed altogether.

This procedure may be followed also in the autumn, especially if young queens are numerous and it is desired to save some.

Feeding Weak Stocks.—If facilities are not to hand for thus dealing with weak stocks, the frames not required by the bees should be removed from the hive, the space contracted by a dummy, and the bees fed inside the hive. In the autumn it is advisable to give weak hives frames of food that have been stored and sealed by a strong hive that is kept especially for such a purpose.

Whenever inside feeding is adopted, the entrance aperture to the hive should be reduced so as to keep out bodies of raiders. The most efficient means of securing this is to place along the entrance a piece of perforated zinc with holes just large enough for one bee to pass through at a time. This prevents a rush of marauders and allows ample ventilation in the hive.

Uniting Stocks.—This procedure is not so common among English bee-keepers as it is with those in other parts of the world where the conditions are more favourable to a successful result. The reasons are chiefly because we can very seldom secure that the bees all work on the same flowers, and because most of our English bees are cross-breeds and therefore more addicted to fighting. It is not to be expected that a broken breed of bees will unite peacefully with a pure breed.