THE HONEY BEE.

Shannon News, 6 June 1928, Page 3

THE HONEY BEE.

EXPERT’S INTERESTING LEC-

TUBE. ,

APIAEIBTS FORM ASSOCIATION

Recently a number of local bee-keep-ers formed the Horowhcnua branch of the National Bee-keepers’ Association of New Zealand, with a viwv of including ail the apiarists on this coast and generally promoting the interests of tlie honey producing industry. As one of its earliest activities the branch has arranged for a series of lectures by Mr D. S. Robinson, Apiary Instructor under the Department of Agriculture, and the first of these w'as given in the Presbyterian Hall on AVednesdey evening to a deeply interested audience of about twenty-five people. THE LOCAL BRANCH. • Mr A. Hinde presided, and in introducing Mr Robinson, referred to the advantages ot' membership of the branch, in the wav of promoting mutual knowledge of bees and bee-keep-ing, co-operative buying of supplies and concessions in show entrance fees. Tlie membership fee was small ranging from 5s to 25s according to tlie number of hives the member possessed. The branch was making arrangements for a display at the Manawatu Show and entries would be received at Mr Phillips’ office until Saturday, while exhibits could be left there until June 15th, the branch undertaking to pack and forward them to Palmerston. A SERIES OF LECTURES.

Mr Robinson then spoke at some length upon the handling of bees from the taking of the swarm onward. His address was full of interesting detail and thoroughly practical, while it was illustrated by an excellent senes ot lantern slides. He said future lectures would deal with the anatomy of the bee and queen-rearing, one of the most important and fascinating branches of the industry, but one generally neglected. This year, at the show at Palmerston North, there would be one of the best displays of honey ever seen there, entries coming from as fai away as Dunedin and Christchurch. -He uiged lpcal apiarists to make as many entries as possible. QUEENS, AVORKERS- AND. DRONES Coming' to the subject of his lecture, Mr Robinson explained the. difference between the three classes ot bees —the queen, which was really an egg-producing machine, laying as many as 3000 eggs per day in the height of the season, and did. 1101 even feed herself; the worker, aii imperfect. female, who did all the work of the hive, her first duty being to dean out the cell in which she had been incubating for three weeks, then to clean the hive of rubbish, attend to its sanitation,, act as sentinel against, intruders, and *as water-carrier (she carried water from the nearest supply and as the bees in the hive required a drink they went to the earner, who squirted a few drops into their mouths) ; the worker also collected pollen and gathered nectar. The worker had a life of six weeks during the height of the season, but lived longer during the winter, when she only .came out about twice a week. She might live until the spring, and would then go out and get a load of nectar, but would very likelv perish because her wings were frayed and she was incapable ot getting back to the hive, literally dying in harness. The third inmate of the hive was the drone —the male, whose sole object of existence was the fertilisation of the queen. Modern practice was directed to keeping the number ot drones down. It was therefore wise to discard combs with many drone cel s simply because they were drones. It took about four to five workers to keep one drone going, so that if a lave had 500 or 600 drones, over 2000 ivorkers would be engaged in feeding them. SWARMING. The lecturer then proceeded to deal with the care of the bees. In the spring or early summer the swarming took place, the queen being followed by two-thirds of the hive. When it was desired to take the swarm, the bees should be sharply shaken into a benzine box and left there for three days to work out any infection they may have carried from the old hive. He detailed how the new hive should. be prepared and the process of shaking the bees on to a paper or cloth in front of then new quarters. The bees would seem to become worked into a frenzy, streams going in and out of the new home, if the observer watched closely he would see the queen go in, the more easily in the case of the Italian species, because she had an escort of four or five bees attending her. The lecturer gave a wealth of detail about the handling of the swarm.

THE lIIYE. He showed now frame hives could he made from a benzine box, which was •permissible under the Apiaries Act. The hive should be six inches from the ground and have a slight cant to the front to allow any rain to run out. He showed views of the base, brood chamber, super, and lid, which should be weighted down and furnished with a mat° over the super. At this time of the year, it was very advisable to inspect the mat frequently to see that it was drv; otherwise there was a danger of mildew, which while not harmful itself, would give the bees a lot of unnecessary work removing it. He then showed how the foundation for the cells ' should be inserted and affixed to wires in the frames, explaining that the wires were necessary to support the wax foundation, which, in their absence, might become distorted by the warmth and weight of the bees, with the result that the cells became enlarged, and the queen laid drone eggs in them. "Worker cells went five to the inch and drones four to the inch. The founda-

tion was .secured to the frame by pouring a little 'melted wax . or paraffin wax 1 (which was cheaper) into the groove, and by embedding the wires in the foundation. It was false economy to put just a strip of foundation as a stnvtcr in the frames as ' ame apia-

rista did, because the bee consumed 12 to 15 lbs of honey for every pound of wax produced. Thus it took 6s worth of honey to produce one pound of comb foundation, which could be bought for 2s Od or 3s, and the bees also lost the time taken to complete the comb. It was far better to put full sheets of foundation in the frames. Good quality foundation was being made in New Zealand and the process was described and illustrated. There was no danger of getting infected foundation because, though wax was received from many bee-keepers, it was boiled at high temperature before being moulded and any bacilli were killed. LIFE OF THE BEE.

The life cycle of the bee was next dealt with from the egg, through the white grub stage, to the nymph or pupa, and finally to the mature bee. The old queen laid eggs in certain big cells, which hatched and were developed bv special feeding into queens. ' COMPOSITION OF WAX.

Wax was a secretion of the bees’ bodies. They engorged themselves with honey and by raising the temperature induced a change into wax, which was secreted through eight pores on the bee’s abdomen in the form of minute scales. These . scales were passed to other bees engaged in building the cells and were by them chewed up, pressed into place and rubbed with the head to give a polish, while other workers, came along and gave the wax a pat to put it in shape, . TAKING THE HONEY.

Practical hints in the use of smoke were given, the best thing to burn i* the smoker being an old sack, dipped in saltpetre and water and rolled into lengths. It should be used in moderation as excessive smoking irritated the bees. The use of the queen excluder was explained and illustrated, and the process of uncapping the cells to enable the honey to be extracted from the comb, which was done by centrifugal force while the frames were revolved in an extractor. Then followed a period in the honey tanks, which brought any .wax and pollen to the surface and enabled it ,to be skimmed off. The honey should be kept covered while in the • settling tanks - as it; was liable to take up moisture, ' which might cause fermentation. FOUL BROOD AND WAX MOTH. The lecturer next dealt with the principal scourges of the bee community—foul brood and wax moth. Foul brood, he said, was caused by bacilli which attacked the bees in the larval stage. Views were shown of the sunken cells which were the first indication that foul brood was present. If a small piece of wood or a wooden match were inserted in these cells, and a _ ropy sticky mass was withdrawn clinging to it, immediate steps should be taken to combat the disease. Every bee-keeper should make a special effort to become conversant with the appearance of foul brood. If it was found, it was well not to open a lot of cells because the diseased matter was very liable to spread the infection, and the stick used/ should (mot be thrown", on the ground. The offensive odour w r as another sure sign* of foul brood, but it should not be confused with a soui smell, the mark of sour brood, which the bees would clear out themselves., The lecturer then gave precise details for the treatment of diseased hives by removing the bees and keeping them shut up for three days until they had ( . got rid of any honey and infection brought from the diseased hive, the frames and appliances being boiled in a caustic solution in the meantime, and the hive being searched inside. The formalin process, which is being used with great success, was also minutely 'described, the lecturer stating , that in 10116 case where foul broqd got a hold in a Taranaki apiary of 20C colonies, 97 per cent, of the hives were infected, but after being treated with formalin, only six or seven hives wert found to be diseased and it whs expected these would be free after anothei treatment. The lecture concluded with some typical views of large apiaries in Taranaki, Wairarapa and Horowhenua ADVICE PROFFERED. On Mr Hind’s motion a hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Robinson, the mover specially commenting on the practical nature of the address and the economies suggested by the lecturer. In replying Mr Robinson asked that any bee-keepers having problems oi difficulties should refer them to hm: in the form of written questions at next lecture, when he would do hir best' to advise them.