Part 8

Much of what has been said in the preceding section is equally applicable in practice to the later periods of the summer. The month of August is usually associated with the collection of harvest. Though this may often hold good as regards honey, yet the storified or doubled stocks of the spring are commonly ready for deprivation at an earlier period, occasionally in May, and so on throughout July; the spring-gathered honey being usually to be preferred in point of quality. I know of no better rule as to the fitness of a super, or side hive, for removal, than an observation of the state of the combs and cells, which ought to be completely filled and sealed over, to prevent a loss of honey by running out. In this stage the sooner it is appropriated the better, as a longer continuance only leads to discoloration. As respects a colony of the same year, Dr. Bevan remarks, "as a general rule, no honey should be taken from a colony the first season of its being planted, though there may be an extraordinary season now and then, which may justify a departure from this rule:" the produce in such a case is usually denominated _virgin honey_, though that term is often applied indiscriminately to any in combs free from brood. But in any event the stock-hive should be previously examined, for there is a disposition in bees to carry their stores into a super, though afterwards they sometimes remove it into the stock-hive. In cases where doubt exists as to a sufficiency of winter store, it is often well to allow them to do this; recollecting the further advice of Dr. Bevan, that, "it should be an invariable rule never to remove an upper box or hive till an under one be quite full; nor to diminish the weight of a stock-box below seventeen or eighteen pounds, exclusive of the box itself."

_To remove a full Box or Super._--The middle of a sunny day may be recommended as the best time to take away for deprivation a box or glass of honey. The mode usually adopted is at once to remove it from its position to a distance from the stock-hive, and there get rid of the bees. I have often found it well to reverse this proceeding. Whether the box to be taken is a collateral or storified one, let the communication from the parent hive be previously cut off, and without any jarring. Entire quietness is the main requisite. Gently lift up the super on one side, inserting under it a small wedge or two, so as just to allow an exit for the bees. The position of the queen bee will soon become apparent. If she is not in the super (and she seldom is there after it is filled), the silence that at first prevailed will be exchanged for a murmuring hum, attended by a commotion among the bees; and they shortly after begin to quit the super, without attempting any attack. Should the queen be present, however, a very different scene would ensue, and a hubbub would then commence in the stock-hive; though the loss of their queen is sometimes not discovered by the bees for a considerable time. In such a case, the box must be reinstated in its former position, and the communication reopened till some other day. The process might happen to be complicated by the presence of brood, for this the bees leave very reluctantly, and often not at all. In an emergency of this kind, it is best to restore matters to their previous state, and let the super remain till the brood is perfected. A little patience is sometimes necessary: but all attempts at ejection of the bees by tapping, smoking, or driving usually do more harm than good. So long as they continue to leave the super, it may remain where it is, for on these occasions young bees are sometimes numerous; and if the super is removed, though only to a short distance, these are in part lost, not having become sufficiently acquainted with the position of their home; or, if they enter a wrong hive, they pay the penalty with their lives. This freedom from disturbance has the further good effect of preventing in a great degree the intrusion of robber bees, readily distinguishable from the others by their hovering about the box, instead of flying from it. These are strangers from various quarters, immediately attracted by the scent attending the removal of a full box or glass. Should a few of these plunderers once obtain a taste or sample of the honey, they speedily convey the good news to their associates, when large reinforcements from every hive in the neighbourhood will be at once on the alert, and quickly leave nothing behind but empty combs. Let the separated super, therefore, not be left or lost sight of, but if scented out by robbers, be conveyed into some room or out-building to prevent a general battle; and which might extend itself to all the neighbouring hives. The remaining bees may here be brushed out, escaping by the window or door. Mr. Golding has sometimes found the advantage of using for the purpose a darkened room, with the exception of a very small aperture, to which the bees will fly and make their exit. Others like to remove a super at once to a short distance from the stock-hive, leaving it shut up in perfect darkness, for an hour or two. Its edge is then raised up, when the bees will evacuate it. In the case of a bar-hive super, after most of the bees have left it, it can be placed across a couple of rails or sticks, when the top cover may be unscrewed and detached. It is then readily cleared of bees by brushing them downwards between the bars, with a feather or a twig.

The same general directions apply when a full glass is to be removed. If it stands on a double adapter, a piece of tin or zinc can be inserted between them, and the upper part then lifted with the glass. Payne, however, says, "I have found the process much simplified by placing an empty box between the glass and the parent hive, and leaving it a few hours. The bees by that time have quitted the glass, and by this plan robbing is entirely prevented, whilst the bees are less irritated." It might occasionally happen that a piece of comb had been worked upwards, so as to be connected with the underneath hive, and thus causing a difficulty on attempting a separation. There is no better way of meeting such an emergency than by passing a bit of fine wire beneath the lower edge of the super, from side to side, and thus cutting through the obstruction. It may be well to observe that on removal, the box or glass ought to be kept in its original position, to prevent the honey, which at first is thin and fluid, from running out of the cells, and especially in hot weather.

_Honey Harvest._--As regards the quantity of honey to be taken from a hive in any one year, there can, in our uncertain climate, be no general rule, though now and then I have known a very large amount obtained by deprivation.

Payne says, as the result of his own experience with depriving hives, "It is usual to obtain from every good stock twenty or perhaps thirty pounds of honey annually." This would be thought too high an estimate, in many districts; as in my own, near London. It must be remembered that honey thus harvested sells at a higher rate than that procured by suffocating the bees, as in the common single hives; for then the brimstone not only imparts a disagreeable flavour, but there is no means of preventing the intermixture with the honey more or less of pollen and brood. After deprivation, the sooner the honey is drained from the comb the better, as it soon thickens, particularly if not kept warm. For the purpose of straining it off, a hair sieve is commonly used, within which the combs are inverted; the waxen seals on both sides being first sliced off. The honey will of course run off the sooner if placed before a fire, but exposure to heat is injurious to fine flavour. We may here resort to the advice of Payne, who says, "the honey should be put into jars, quite filled, and tied down with a bladder; for exposure to the air, even for a few hours, very much deteriorates its flavour. I may observe that honey in the combs keeps remarkably well, if folded in writing paper, sealed up to exclude the air, and kept dry."

_Comb-knives._--A difficulty sometimes arises in extracting the combs from common hives or boxes. A large spatula will separate them from the sides, but to detach them from the top, an instrument of a different kind is requisite. The one often preferred is simply a bar of steel about fourteen inches in total length, half an inch wide, and an eighth of an inch thick. At one end it is bent at a right angle with the handle, and at the other at an angle of 80° or 90°. The part thus turned up is in both cases an inch and a half long, rather less than half an inch wide, and made spear-pointed, or lancet-shaped; sharp on both sides, to cut either way. The one end is used when the top of the hive is flat; and the other is adapted to the common dome-formed roof. Another useful instrument is the one employed in detaching the combs from the bar-hives, made as recommended by Mr. Golding, with a double-edge blade, an inch and a half long, and three eighths of an inch wide; turned at right angles from the end of a rod, which may be of quarter-inch square iron. For occasional convenience, the other end may be turned the flat way, sharpened at both edges.

_Robbers._--Should an attack upon a hive from strange bees take place, which sometimes occurs at this season (the strong robbing the weak), no time ought to be lost in narrowing the entrance, for if allowed to continue a day or two the ruin of the family might be the consequence. Indeed, it is always well gradually to do this as the working season draws to a close. An assault from robber bees is often a much more formidable evil than one from wasps, although it is said that one of these is a match for three bees. Unless the colony is very weak, they are usually soon expelled, if the methods pointed out at page 117 are resorted to. Not so with bees, for if but one or two strangers gain admittance into a hive they will return again and again, always with an accession of force; and for a day or two it is often necessary entirely to close the entrance against them, opening it only at night. In such case the robber bees will sometimes collect in vast numbers at the mouth of the hive, when a shower from a watering-pot will send them away to dry themselves. The thieves are generally distinguishable; and they are often cunning enough to commence their marauding practices early in the morning and late at night. A supply of honey given on the top, or even sprinkled among the combs of contending hives, will often divert the attention of the combatants; or smoke is sometimes effectual, puffed into both hives. If fighting recommences on the succeeding day, the smoking should be repeated, followed by a feed of honey. Others have found it advantageous to remove for some days a plundered hive to a distance; or even to make the belligerent hives change places in the apiary; which, as a friend remarked to me, "gives a new turn to their ideas of meum and tuum." A German proprietor, after removing an attacked stock, put in its place a hive filled with wormwood leaves, so distasteful to the robbers that they forsook the spot, when the stock was brought back again.

_Autumnal Feeding._--All labour is now usually suspended for the year, and it remains to see that ample provision is laid up for the coming winter and spring. There ought not to be less than seventeen to twenty pounds of honey in a hive of the same year; but in the case of an old one, eight or ten pounds more must be allowed in estimating the weight; for old combs are much heavier than new ones; besides that they are a good deal filled with stale pollen, and sometimes contain candied honey, of no use to the bees.[T] In a healthy stock there should be no scarcity of food, if the season has been tolerable. The worst, however, must be provided for; and if, from any cause, it should be necessary, recourse must be had to supplying the deficiencies of nature. "A stock of bees," observes Dr. Bevan, "generally consumes from a pound to a pound and a half of honey per month, betwixt the first of October and the first of March. From this time to the end of May, they will consume double that quantity."

[T] In reference to this part of our subject, it may be useful to quote the following estimate, as given by Dr. Dunbar:--"A common straw hive weighs, when empty, from five to six pounds; an ordinary swarm about four pounds; the wax of a full hive of the current year, nearly two pounds; of the preceding year, at least three pounds; and the farina in the cells, not less than one pound; making in all about fifteen pounds. A stock, therefore, to be secure, ought to be double that weight in the gross; that is, should contain not less than fifteen pounds of honey."--_Naturalists' Library._

The requisite feeding to make up the winter store ought not to be delayed later than the beginning of October, and the weather should be fine. Food must never be placed in the open air, but under a cover; otherwise the smell would attract wasps or, what is worse, strange bees; in the latter case a battle generally following.

_Feeding-troughs._--The feeding of bees, though apparently a simple matter, is often a troublesome process, and without due precaution sometimes leads to a good deal of commotion. The common swarming hives present much difficulty, from their construction. Having no opening at the crown, the clumsy and dangerous mode must be resorted to of bottom-feeding, in any way possible; either by tearing up the hive for every supply of food, or by means of an eke, pushed for the purpose beneath it. An improved hive gives facilities for presenting food on the top, obviating these inconveniences; and where it may be supplied in any quantity, without disturbance; at the same time that it is inaccessible to all enemies.

When there is a hole in the centre of the top of the hive, a trough may be used, made of tin or zinc, seven or eight inches square, and one inch and a quarter deep; having a circular two-inch hole in the middle of the bottom, with a rim round it, standing up half an inch, through which the bees enter the pan from below. Another circular rim or partition, as large in diameter as the square of the pan will admit, is soldered down within it at the four points where it touches the sides. It must not go down to the bottom, but a space should there be left of nearly an eighth of an inch, as a passage for the food, which is poured in at the four angles. A perforated thin wooden bottom or float is fitted loosely into the pan, between the circles, removing an objection sometimes made against the chilling effects of metal upon bees. The float should be a little raised by means of two thin strips of wood, appended below, to allow the liquid to flow beneath. A cover is made by a piece of glass, resting on the larger circle, but cut nearly octagonal in form, so as to leave the corners open. The circle on which the glass rests should be an eighth of an inch lower than the outer rim. In making a trough of this kind, it is sometimes customary to append beneath it a central descending rim or tube, fitting down into the hole on the top of the hive. This is worse than useless, and it is in the way on the removal of the pan; on which occasion it is expedient to push beneath it a piece of sheet tin or zinc, to stop the communication from below.

Such a pan is perhaps made more readily without the inner circle; in which case, all that is needed for pouring in the food is a partition going nearly down to the bottom, so as to cut off a portion at one corner. The glass pane can rest on angle-pieces, sunk an eighth of an inch, at three of the corners, and upon the partition at the fourth one, this part being left open.

A charge is sometimes brought against zinc feeding-pans, as tending to create acidity in the food. There is perhaps some truth in this, where it is suffered to remain too long; together with another cause of mischief,--a very general neglect of cleanliness. Those, however, who prefer wood altogether may have troughs made of that material, either square or round in form, as that given in our illustration, which is turned from hard wood in a lathe; a piece being divided off on one side by a partition, under which the food passes, beneath a wood float. A pane of glass rests upon a circular rabbet turned out to receive it, leaving uncovered the part beyond the partition.

For the purpose of feeding the bees in my bar-hive, a zinc or tin trough is provided, of a form adapted to the position of the openings cut through the crown-board to the stock-box. The extreme length is ten inches and a half, four inches wide, and an inch and a half deep. At one end is a partition an inch and a quarter wide, going down nearly to the bottom. Into this the honey or other food is poured, running under a wooden perforated float, and fitted loosely within the bottom. A pane of glass rests on two angle pieces, at one end, and on the cross division at the other, all sunk a quarter of an inch, and covering the pan as far as the partition. The latter is strengthened in the centre by a cross-stay, against which the glass rests. At the bottom is an opening seven inches long and half an inch wide, with a rim around it, about half an inch high. This opening is placed so as to correspond with that communicating through the bars beneath. Draw out the slides, and the bees will have access to the pan. This proceeding is of course reversed on its removal.

_Bee Food._--Nothing that can be presented to bees is so acceptable as their natural food--pure honey. At this season, as it is chiefly stored for future consumption, it is best unmixed with water. Fill the pan every evening till the requisite quantity is given, for it will speedily be emptied. Refuse honey may be given to the bees in the combs, piled in a pan, a little separated, and covered by a box or hive. The sooner the feeding is ended the better, the bees, if in health, being on these occasions much excited and often irascible. Let enough be given when you are about it. Gelieu says, "Let there be no higgling with bees; better that they have too much than too little." Recollect that little of your bounty is now eaten, but is conveyed and stored for the day of need; the bees sometimes extending the combs purposely to receive it, and often of pollen as well; for it is observable that feeding at any time stimulates them to foraging abroad. Nothing is wasted, and whatever there is to spare will be repaid with interest in the spring. It must also be borne in mind, that what food is likely to be wanted must be supplied _now_, for very rarely should any further attempts at feeding be made till the returning spring restores animation to the family. A reference to _Spring Feeding_ will supply information as to various substitutes for honey.

_Winter Store._--Under the head of _Autumnal Feeding_ we have mentioned the usual estimate as to the requisite supply of honey for the winter. Anomalous as it may seem, it has been remarked, that the quantity apparently required is not dependent on the population of the hive. The number of mouths make little sensible difference, even when two or three stocks have been united. This fact was first noticed by Gelieu, and has been corroborated by other observers.

"In doubling the population," says Gelieu, "I naturally conceived that we must also double the quantity of food; for I had always seen that two or three families, living together, used more meat than each would have done singly, however rigid their economy. The more mouths the more meat, thought I; and, in consequence, I augmented greatly the amount of provision the first time that I doubled a hive; but to my astonishment, when I weighed it again in the spring, I found that the united swarm had not consumed more than each would have done singly. I could not believe my eyes, but thought there must be some mistake; nor could I be convinced until I had repeated the experiment a hundred times over, and had always the same result."

This seeming anomaly, Gelieu and others have attempted to account for on the principle that the increased heat of an augmented population is in some measure a substitute for food; but this is opposed to all experience, which proves that warmth is a stimulus to consumption. A more satisfactory way of disposing of the question seems to be, in the first place, that the bees in a well-peopled hive feel in a lower degree the evils consequent on frequent changes of temperature occurring in winter, than is observable in a less populous one; for alternations of cold and warmth have an injurious effect, generally leading to an increased consumption of stores. The next consideration is that the junction of stocks, alluded to by Gelieu, ensures a larger supply of labourers in the early spring. It is not in the cold weather that much consumption of food takes place, but after the month of February, when the great hatching comes on; and then not so much by the _bees_, as by the _brood_. In a thinly-populated hive, almost the whole family is required within-doors at this time, to warm the eggs and feed the young; and consequently little is added to the continually diminishing stock of honey and farina. Nothing is more common than to see a hive, apparently well stored in February, on the point of perishing in the month of April. This is not the case where a large number of bees can be spared to go abroad and bring in fresh supplies, to keep pace with, or even to exceed, the demands of the craving brood.

_Autumnal Unions, Fuming, and Transferring Bees._[U]--The subject of autumnal unions of bee stocks is strongly advocated by Gelieu; and in this country has not always received the attention it demands. Perhaps this is in part owing to ignorance as to a ready mode of accomplishing the object; and in some degree from the supposed doubt about maintaining the bees, when collected in a large body, through the winter. The latter difficulty is removed by a reference to what has been said on the subject of winter store, in the last section. I hope I shall be able to show that, by a safe and simple expedient, the bees of two or three weak or worn-out families may be joined together, to form one vigorous stock; at the same time saving thousands of valuable lives. The late Apiarian Society of Oxford is entitled to credit for the care it bestowed on this branch of bee economy; and the method of procedure now to be explained was there successfully practised. It should be done about September, and in warm weather.

[U] It may be well in this place to call attention to the distinction between the system of _Transferring Bees_, in _Autumn_, in the way now pointed out, and what has sometimes been confounded with it; namely, the practice of _Transferring Bees and Combs together_, from one hive to another. This I never advocated, except in bar-hives, when it is sometimes practicable, provided the combs are built in straight lines.