BEE-KEEPING.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1919, Page 2

BEE-KEEPING.

(By "Honeysuckle"). The last few warm days have given the bees a good start. Thoy should now be getting strong, as they are collecting honey freely. I have examined over 60 hives during the last few days, over a wide range of country, from Junction road to Eahotu, and I find them all doing well and building up strongly. I found one lot on Junction road very good, the hive having four capped half frames in the top super. If you want honey you must stop swarming. I have tried the hand board system to stop them, but I find that they then swarm after a few weeks. The best way is to cut out all queen cells every ten days. If you want an increase, and have got plenty of time to watch them, let them swarm, and then go to the hive and cut out all queen cells but one, or they will swarm again in a few days. You must leave one queen cell, as the old queen leaves with the first swarm, and the new queen has not hatched when she leaves. If you want to increase and have not time to watch for swarms, you can do so by the following plan, which I find works well, providing you have a good strong colony to start with: Find the queen, and put her with two or three frames of brood and bees in a new hive; then shift the old hive from the stand, and put the new one in its place. All the old working bees will go back to the new hive at the old place, and the young bees in the old hive will soon make a queen, or, if you are able to get a ripe queen cell, you may put it into the old hive by cutting a hole in I the comb and pressing it in. It must |be done on a warm day and handled carefully. The weather for the last demonstration at Tikorangi was not very good for handling bees. Three hives were opened, and Mr. Jacobsen, the Government instructor, soon had the people interested in explaining the different roles played by the workers, drones, and the queen in the hive. He also explained how superior the Italian bees are to the blacks. Several questions were asked.