Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-02-21
THE APlARY IN WINTER.
The Right Time to Let Fees Alone.
Early Spring Inspection.

The Right Time to Let Bees Alone.
Early Spring Inspection.
About the only attention that bees at
the north require now is to let them
strictly alone, as A. H. Duff advises in
Kansas Farmer: See that no stock gets
near the hives and that the apiary is in
perfect solitude. Do not now try to
accomplish any work that you may
have neglected to do in the fall unless
it be that you erect some kind of a
Windbreak far enough from the hives
that the bees do not have any knowl
edge of it.
Bees of course are active during a
warm day and il warm enough will
come out and take flight. This is a
good thing for them, as by frequent
fights during winter they keep in the
best of health. There is no cause for
alarm from bees not wintering well in
winter like the present one. We will
find when the proper times comes to
examine them, which is early in March,
If the weather is favorable that they
have not drawn heavily on their stores
and consequently have plenty Of honey
for spring use if they had a good sup
ply in autumn.
While it is safe to open hives and ex-
anime bees any day they are flying
freely, yet from the LIST of January I'M
til the list of March l would not open
the hives, for we cannot close them
again so well as they were before open
ing them, and bad effects may result.
March is the proper time to look after
the welfare of the bees, and in this lati-
tude we may do the work early in this
month if the weather is suitable, but
not otherwise. If fine spell of wealth
er does not present itself during March
so that the bees can take a good fly,
better wait until it comes, even if a
month later.
When the right time comes, do not
put it off until tomorrow, but do the
work that day. In earlier days the api-
artist, or person who keeps bees, was
usually termed a lazy person and
adopted beekeeping because the bees
work for him for nothing and board
themselves, and no effort was required
on his part. 1t would seem that there
may be some truth in this, when we
see beekeepes walk out among his
hives on fine day, just at this most
~riti~el1 n~liod, uaid, hlauiu5 bcvs a. iu5
nicely from every hive, decide in his
mind that the bees are all right and in
fine condition, and turn away and
leave them without touching a hive
No time in the whole year is it so i'm
portant to find the condition of every
hive as at this time. Nor does it re-
quire our attention at this time only,
but from this period on until entirely
out of the winter, with every colony in
first class condition and as strong as
we can get them In numbers, with
good supply of stores for both present
and future use until the honey harvest
opens.
On inspection in early spring thus
two important things to look after
are first to see if a queen is present
in the hive and in evidence of useful |
ness, and to look for brood in the
combs. Nearly every good queen will
now have considerable brood in the
combs if the colony is fairly strong,
and the presence of brood Is all the
evidence you require to know if the
queen is there. The second important |
thing is to see if they have stores
sufficient to at least carry them along
month or so later, or until warm
weather predominates, so they can be
fed sirup. Better not be hasty about |
feeding sirup thus early, but if a col
ony is nearly ashore for food, give
them candy to carry them on little |
later. When opening hives on this
occasion during March be very care
full to place every frame of comb back |
in the hive in just the same place end
in the same position it formerly occu-
pied. Close up the hives very care
fully and securely and leave no cracks |
or openings for the next severe cold |
spell to cause your labors to be q |
damage rather than benefit to the |
bees.
If a colony is found to have lost it's |
queen, it may be united with another |
at this time if the weather is very |
fine, but it is usually better to just |
close up the hive and let it remain |
so until nearer the opening of spring. |
But keep lookout for robbers, for |
they will surely find it sooner or later.