THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 11

THE APIARY.

BEE KEEPING. The side line of beekeeping should receive more attention. There is a very ■profitable return from bees, and honey as a food for young and okl, for invalids and physically strong people, is unequalled. The capital required for bees, hives, and general equipment to make a start is very small. The labour and management expense is trifling. Honey is a most valuable food. It is absolutely free from germs. The finest honey in the world is produced in this country. The wonder is that the quantity consumed per head of population is not doubled and trebled. There is a growing demand for home-produced honey. People who keep bees do not need to have land. The bees will go considerable distances in order to find the raw material which is finally converted into delicious honey. KEEPING HIVES DRY. The most .essential part of the work should be to see that the hives have watertight roofs and that the contents are being kept thoroughly dry. Jti some cases it will be necessary to supply the hives with new winter mats, and a point worth considering is to reduce the hive space to a minimum. This means the removal of all surplus supers, the idea being that the bees, being kept confined, are in a warmer atmosphere, which is beneficial to the welfare of the hive. It should be remembered that a hive opens up in the spring according to the condition i n which the bees are wintered. The food in the hive is a most essential part, and it is necessary to see that the hives have sufficient winter stores to carry them through to October. The amount of honey required for the hive stores is in the vicinity of 301 b. CARE IN WINTER. Examine the apiary before the weather becomes too cold for effective work. See that each colony has a fertile queen, sufficient worker bees and enough honey to meet requirements until the arrival of spring weather. The quantity of honey 'required by each colony during the winter period varies according to the strength, of the bees, the nature of the weather during the cold months, and the timely appearance of nectar and pollen-producing flowers in spring. On the average, there should be 251 b to 301 b of sealed honey in each colony as a winter supply. If it is seen that the brood combs do not contain that quantity supplement the supply by substituting combs of sealed honey for the outer empty combs of the brood chamber, or insert honey or sugar syrup to make up the deficiency. Giving combs of sealed honey which have been kept for the purpose, states the secretary of the Victorian Apiarists’ Association (Mr F. R. Beuhne), is the easiest way of supplementing winter stores. It should not. he points out, be practised unless the apiary is. and has been for some time, entirely free from foul-brood. In this interchange of combs there is always a risk of spreading disease. When, owing to the absence of a stock of sealed honey, or on account of a suspicion of disease, it becomes necessary to feed, sugar syrup is much to be preferred to honey.

FOUL BROOD. The foul brood, the disease that is the bane of the beekeeper, is long lived. In the course of a discussion at the Beekeepers’ Conference at Christchurch, a question arose as to how long the spore of the disease remains active in the honeycomb. A suggestion was made that after three years it might be deemed to be dead. Mr R. Gibbs remarked that he did not know how long they remained active, but-.he understood that sorhe honey found in the Pyramids, and assumed to be 5000 years old, developed foul brood. The chief Government apiarist (Mr E. A. Earp) said that spores had been under observation for 15 years and were still active, and the investigation was being continued.