Bee Keeping - Direction For General Manipulations

Bees should be handled so that they will be little disturbed in their work. As much as possible, stings should be avoided during manipulation. This is true, not so much because they are painful to the operator, but because the odor of poison which gets into the air irritates the other bees and makes them more difficult to manage. For this reason it is most advisable to wear a black veil (fig. 4) over a wide-brimmed hat and to have a good smoker (fig. 3). Gloves, however, are usually more an inconvenience than otherwise. Gauntlets or rubber bands around the cuffs keep the bees from crawling up the sleeve. It is best to avoid black clothing, since that color seems to excite bees; a black felt hat is especially to be avoided.

Superfluous quick movements tend to irritate the bees. The hive should not be jarred or disturbed any more than necessary. Rapid movements are objectionable, because with their peculiar eye structure bees probably perceive motion more readily than they do objects. Persons not accustomed to bees, on approaching a hive, often strike at bees which fly toward them or make some quick movement of the head or hand to avoid the sting which they fear is to follow. This should not be done, for the rapid movement, even if not toward the bee, is far more likely to be followed by a sting than remaining quiet.

The best time to handle bees is during the middle of warm days, particularly during a honey flow. Never handle bees at night or on cold, wet days unless absolutely necessary. The work of a beginner may be made much easier and more pleasant by keeping gentle bees. Caucasians, Carniolans, Banats, and some strains of Italians ordinarily do not sting much unless unusually provoked or except in bad weather. Common black bees or crosses of blacks with other races are more irritable. It may be well worth while for the beginner to procure gentle bees while gaining experience in manipulation. Later on, this is less important, for the bee keeper learns to handle bees with little inconvenience to himself or to the bees. Various remedies for bee stings have been advocated, but they are all useless. The puncture made by the sting is so small that it closes when the sting is removed and liquids can not be expected to enter. The best thing to do when stung is to remove the sting as soon as possible without squeezing the poison sac, which is usually attached. This can be done by scraping it out with a knife or finger nail. After this is done the injured spot should be let alone and not rubbed with any liniment. The intense itching will soon disappear; any irritation only serves to increase the afterswelling.

Before opening a hive the smoker should be lighted and the veil put on. A few puffs of smoke directed into the entrance will cause the bees to fill themselves with honey and will drive back the guards. The hive cover should be raised gently, if necessary being pried loose with a screwdriver or special hive tool. When slightly raised, a little more smoke should be blown in vigorously on the tops of the frames, or if a mat covering for the frames is used, the cover should be entirely removed and one corner of the mat lifted to admit smoke. It is not desirable to use any more smoke than just enough to subdue the bees and keep them down on the frames. If at any time during manipulation they become excited, more smoke may be necessary. Do not stand in front of the entrance, but at one side or the back.

After the frames are exposed they may be loosened by prying gently with the hive tool and crowded together a little so as to give room for the removal of one frame. In cool weather the propolis (bee glue) may be brittle. Care should be exercised not to loosen this propolis with a jar. The first frame removed can be leaned against the hive, so that there will be more room inside for handling the others. During all manipulations bees must not be mashed or crowded, for it irritates the colony greatly and may make it necessary to discontinue operations. Undue crowding may also crush the queen. If bees crawl on the hands, they may be gently brushed off or thrown off.

In examining a frame hold it over the hive if possible, so that any bees or queen which fall may drop into it. Freshly gathered honey also often drops from the frame, and if it falls in the hive the bees can quickly clean it up, whereas if it drops outside it is untidy and may cause robbing. If a frame is temporarily leaned against the hive, it should be placed in a nearly upright position to prevent breakage and leaking of honey. The frame on which the queen is located should not be placed on the ground, for fear she may crawl away and be lost. It is best to lean the frame on the side of the hive away from the operator, so that bees will not crawl up his legs.

In handling frames the comb should always be held in a vertical position, especially if it contains much honey. When a frame is lifted from the hive by the top bar, the comb is vertical with one side toward the operator. To examine the reverse side, raise one end of the top bar until it is perpendicular, turn the frame on the top bar as an axis until the reverse side is in view, and then lower to a horizontal position with the top bar below (fig. 16). In this way there is no extra strain on the comb and the bees are not irritated. This care is not so necessary with wired combs, but it is a good habit to form in handling frames.

It is desirable to have combs composed entirely of worker cells in order to reduce the amount of drone brood. The use of full sheets of foundation will bring this about and is also of value in making the combs straight, so that bees are not mashed in removing the frame. It is extremely difficult to remove combs built crosswise in the hive, and this should never be allowed to occur. Such a hive is even worse than a plain box hive. Superfluous inside fixtures should be avoided, as they tend only to impede manipulation. The hive should also be placed so that the entrance is perfectly horizontal and a little lower than the back of the hive. The frames will then hang in a vertical position, and the outer ones will not be fastened by the bees to the hive body if properly spaced at the top.

In placing frames in the hive great care should be exercised that they are properly spaced. Some frames are self-spacing, having projections on the side, so that when placed as close as possible they are the correct distance apart. These are good for beginners or persons who do not judge distances well and are preferred by many professional bee keepers. If unspac ed frames are used, the brood frames should be 1 s inches from center to center. A little practice will usually enable anyone to space quickly and accurately. Careful spacing is necessary to prevent the building of combs of irregular thickness and to retard the building of pieces of comb from one frame to another.

A beginner in bee keeping should by all means, if possible, visit some experienced bee keeper to get suggestions in handling bees. More can be learned in a short visit than in a considerably longer time in reading directions, and numerous short cuts which are acquired by experience will well repay the trouble or expense of such a visit. Not all professional bee keepers manipulate in the very best way, but later personal experience will correct any erroneous information. Above all, personal experimentation and a study of bee activity are absolute necessities in the practical handling of bees.

TRANSFERRING

In increasing the apiary it is sometimes best to buy colonies in box hives on account of their smaller cost and to transfer them to hives with movable frames. This should be done as soon as possible, for box-hive colonies are of small value as producers. The best time to transfer is in the spring (during fruit bloom in the North) when the amount of honey and the population of the colony are at a minimum.

Transferring should not be delayed until spring merely because that season is best for the work. It may be done at any time during the active season, but, whenever possible, during a honey flow, to prevent robbing. If necessary, it may be done in a tent such as is often used in manipulating colonies. By choosing a time of the day when the largest number of bees are in the field the work will be lessened.

Plan 1.—The box hive should be moved a few feet from its stand and in its place should be put a hive with movable frames containing full sheets of foundation. The box hive should be turned upside down and a small, empty box inverted over it. By drumming continuously on the box hive with sticks for a considerable time the bees will be made to desert their combs and go to the upper box, and when most of them are clustered above, the bees may be dumped in front of the entrance of the hive which is to house them. The queen will usually be seen as the bees enter the hive, but, in case she has not left the old combs, more drumming will induce her to do so. It is necessary that the queen be in the hive before this manipulation is finished. The old box hive containing brood may now be placed right side up in a new location and in 21 days all of the worker brood will have emerged and probably some new queens will have been reared. These bees may then be drummed out and united with their former hive mates by vigorously smoking the colony and the drummed bees and allowing the latter to enter the hive through a perforated zinc to keep out the young queens. The comb in the box hive may then be melted up and any honey which it may contain used as the bee keeper sees fit. By this method good straight combs are obtained. If little honey is being gathered, the colony in the hive must be provided with food.

Plan 2.—If, on the other hand, the operator desires to save the combs of the box hive, the bees may be drummed into a box and the brood combs and other fairly good combs cut to fit frames and tied in place or held with rubber bands, strings, or strips of wood until the bees can repair the damage and fill up the breaks. These frames can then be hung in a hive on the old stand and the bees allowed to go in. The cutting of combs containing brood with more or less bees on them is a disagreeable job, and, since the combs so obtained are usually of little value in an apiary, the first method is recommended.

Plan 3.—Another good plan is to wait until the colony swarms and then move the box hive to one side. A movable frame hive is now placed in the former location of the box hive and the swarm is hived in it. In this way all returning field bees are forced to join the swarm. In 21 days all of the worker brood in the box hive will have emerged. These young bees may then be united with the bees in the frame hive and the box hive destroyed.

Colonies often take up their abode in walls of houses and it is often necessary to remove them to prevent damage from melting combs. If the cavity in which the combs are built can be reached, the method of procedure is like that of transferring, except that drumming is impractical and the bees must simply be subdued with smoke and the combs cut out with the bees on them.

Another method which is often better is to place a bee escape over the entrance to the cavity, so that the bees can come out, but can not return. A cone of wire cloth about 8 inches high with a hole at the apex just large enough for one bee to pass will serve as a bee escape, or regular bee escapes (fig. 8) such as are sold by dealers may be used. A hive which they can enter is then placed beside the entrance. The queen is not obtained in this way and, of course, goes right on laying eggs, but as the colony is rapidly reduced in size the amount of brood decreases. As brood emerges, the younger bees leave the cavity and join the bees in the hive, until finally the queen is left practically alone. A new queen should be given to the bees in the hive as soon as possible, and in a short time they are fully established in their new quarters. After about four weeks, when all or nearly all of the brood in the cavity has emerged, the bee escape should be removed and as large a hole made at the entrance of the cavity as possible. The bees will then go in and rob out the honey and carry it to the hive, leaving only empty combs. The empty combs will probably do no damage, as moths usually soon destroy them and they may be left in the cavity and the old entrance carefully closed to prevent another swarm from taking up quarters there.

In transferring bees from a hollow tree the method will depend on the accessibility of the cavity. Usually it is difficult to drum out the bees and the combs can be cut out after subduing the colony with smoke.

UNITING

Frequently colonies become queenless when it is not practicable to give them a new queen, and the best practice under such conditions is to unite the queenless bees to a normal colony. If any colonies are weak in the fall, even if they have a queen, safe wintering is better insured if two or more weak colonies are united, keeping the best queen. Under various other conditions which may arise the bee keeper may find it desirable to unite bees from different colonies. Some fundamental facts in bee behavior must be thoroughly understood to make this a success.

Every colony of bees has a distinctive colony odor and by this means bees recognize the entering of their hive by bees from other colonies and usually resent it. If, however, a bee comes heavily laden from the field and flies directly into the wrong hive without hesitation it is rarely molested. In uniting colonies, the separate colony odors must be hidden, and this is done by smoking each colony vigorously. It may at times be desirable to use tobacco smoke, which not only covers the colony odor but stupefies the bees somewhat. Care should be taken not to use too much tobacco, as it will completely overcome the bees. The queen to be saved should be caged for a day or two to prevent the strange bees from killing her in the first excitement.

Another fact which must be considered is that the bees of a colony carefully mark the location of their own hive and remember that location for some time after they are removed. If, therefore, two colonies in the apiary which are not close together are to be united, they should be moved gradually nearer, not more than a foot at a time, until they are side by side, so that the bees will not return to their original locations and be lost. As the hives are moved gradually the slight changes are noted and no such loss occurs. As a further precaution, a board should be placed in front of the entrance in a slanting position, or brush and weeds may be thrown down so that when the bees fly out they recognize the fact that there has been a change and accustom themselves to the new place. If uniting can be done during a honey flow, there is less danger of loss of bees by fighting, or if done in cool weather, when the bees are not actively rearing brood, the colony odors are diminished and the danger is reduced.

It is an easy matter to unite two or more weak swarms to make one strong one, for during swarming the bees have lost their memory of the old location, are full of honey, and are easily placed wherever the bee keeper wishes. They may simply be thrown together in front of a hive. Swarms may also be given to a newly established colony with little difficulty.

PREVENTING ROBBING IN THE APIARY

When there is no honey flow bees are inclined to rob other colonies, and every precaution must be taken to prevent this. Feeding often attracts other bees, and, if there are indications of robbing, the sirup or honey should be given late in the day. As soon as robbing begins, manipulation of colonies should be discontinued, the hives closed, and, if necessary, the entrances contracted as far as the weather will permit. If brush is thrown in front of the entrance, robbers are less likely to attempt entering. At all times honey which has been removed from the hives should be kept where no bees can get at it, so as not to incite robbing.

FEEDING

During spring manipulations, in preparing bees for winter, and at other times it may be necessary to feed bees for stimulation or to provide stores. Honey from an unknown source should never be used, for fear of introducing disease, and sirup made of granulated sugar is cheapest and best for this purpose. The cheaper grades of sugar or molasses should never be used for winter stores. The proportion of sugar to water depends on the season and the purpose of the feeding. For stimulation a proportion of one-fourth to one-third sugar by volume is enough, and for fall feeding, especially if rather late, a solution containing as much sugar as it will hold when cold is best. There seems to be little advantage in boiling the sirup. Tartaric acid in small quantity may be added for the purpose of changing part of the cane sugar to invert sugar, thus retarding granulation. The medication of sirup as a preventive or cure of brood disease is often practiced, but it has not been shown that such a procedure is of any value. If honey is fed, it should be diluted somewhat, the amount of dilution depending on the season. If robbing is likely to occur, feeding should be done in the evening.

Numerous feeders are on the market, adapted for different purposes and methods of manipulation (figs. 17, 18, 19). A simple feeder can be made of a tin pan filled with excelsior or shavings (fig. 20). This is filled with sirup and placed on top of the frames in a super or hive body. It is advisable to lean pieces of wood on the pan as runways for the bees, and to attract them first to the sirup, either by mixing in a little honey or by spilling a little sirup over the frames and sticks.