BEE-KEEPING.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 December 1920, Page 3

BEE-KEEPING.

I (To tlie Editor). I sit-,—Mr Ei. A. Karp gave a demonstraion in Mr John Murdoch’s Apiary : recently to which the 4th., sth., and 6th. Standards of the Ross State and Convent Schools were invited. Fully ' sixty adults and children were present I during the afternoon which proved I to be gloriously fine. I A pot of honey was promised for the ■ best “composition” on Mr Earp’s demonstration in handling 'bees. This was won by Master Arthur Parker. Below is his effort and although not all, according to tlie book—he has made a very good beginning for one afternoon’s work. Some of the other papers are very interesting and some highly amusing. For instance, one boy said that tlie Extractor was plaoe’d inside the hive, land the honey was thrown out!—Yours etC ' 5 JOHN MURDOCH.

On the first of December, Mr E. A. Earp visited Ross to give a demonstration on bees at Mr Murdoch’s Apiary. Tlie things he said to us were, first—To give the bees plenty of nir and sunlight and to keep the top of tho hives, waterproof.

When procuring bees, -all care must be taken not to put a white sheet over them, as they are apt ,to live, they must ho shaken gently into an unprepared box, then the mouth turned down and a bag thrown over' it. It must lie left there for four days so as to get rid of the foul brood which may he in a hive of bees. On the evening of tlie fourth day the brood chamber is to he ready and placed in position, and a hag put in front leading to the entrance. The swarm should he shaken on the hag and given their time to go into the hive. On careful examination of the box in which they were kept for four days the bee-keeper will notice whether the Queen of th e hive is a good laying Queen ; or not ns there will be eggs in the box. On procuring Supers, Ivee-kfcepers should notice not to have their supers ; too heavy ; because whop icxttafcting j the weight of the supers along with i the honey is excessive, Tlie foundation I should he fastened .into the frames j either by molten wax or wedges, mol- ' ten wax is most prefererable as the wedges are apt ■to slip and the sheets of foundations slip from their places with the excessive weight of honey. Drones should be, kept out of the liive as much as possible. The best way to trap them is to use full sheets of foundation, so that the bees will draw out worker comb. If already in a lii'e an Alley Drone trap. If it is a very large hive, two supers have to be used as th# large swarm in one super is liable to break down ! the foundation. When nutting the frames together' care should he taken to tighten the wires to hold tlfe foundation in its place. The difference between the Black and the Italian qiteen Ibeo, ijs that the Black queen I tee is like the worker, gets very excited if the frames are interfered with; but the Italian queen bee does not take the least notice of the disturbance; hut quietly walks aljout-the broad chamber lookimg for a cell in which to deposit her eggs and by careful observation, the eggs may he seen after being deposited. There are some days on which bees are to he handled with eomfort, and fractically without the use of a smoker or a veil. There are other days when the bees cannot be handled at all, generally after cold and rainy weitlier, because of their viciousness. Tho best plan on which to work when making our own supers is to use tlie lightest timber procurable, the reason already indicated.