River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1925-03-19
HOW TO MANAGE BEES
IN THE SPRING


Did YOU ever stop to think that it
takes $4,000 to 100000 worker bees to
produce maximum crop of honey,
and in many locations the colony has
only eight to ten weeks to obtain that
large population?
During the spring tho bee hive IS
like a combined incubator and brood
er. The heat for this incubator is
furnished by the adult bees which
have lived through the winter. The
brooder heat and food is also provid-
ed by these bees until new genera
tons carry on the work.
Bees have to be assured of having
plenty of food for their baby sisters
developing in the cells all through
the spring. When their supply of
honey gets down to fifteen pounds
they start economizing and insist on
the queen bees laying less eggs.
That is Just one Of bee instincts that
means the loss of honey if prompt
action is not taken by the beekeeper.
Successful beekeepers provide against
shortage of food by saving supply
of combs of honey from the previous
season. That really pays bigger in
terest than to sell the honey and have
the money in the bank. Twenty-Five
pounds of honey for each hive saved
in addition to what there is in the
hive in the fall is not too much
An Easy Way to Feed
If this honey is not on hand the
surest way to succeed with bees is to
feed each colony sugar syrup when
the supply of honey in any hive gets
down to fifteen pounds. This syrup
should be made Of two parts sugar to
one part water.
Just food alone won't get the bees
UP to full numerical strength by the
honey flow. To take advantage of the
food each hive should have a good
queen and at least enough bees to
cover more than two combs in the
early spring. 1t is always profitable
to find weak colonies and unite them
with fairly strong queenright colonies
early in the spring to prevent rob
bing.
There are several things that
should be done in the spring to help
the bees keep warm. First place the
hives where they are sheltered from
the prevailing winds or protect them
by using a rough artificial wind
break. Second, the entrance should
be contracted down so that only few
bees can get in or out of the hive at
one time. If the bees are wintered
outdoors the packing should be left
on until the weather warns up.
Lots of Bees Produced
With sufficient food, good queen
and plenty of protection to keep them
warm the colonies viii increase IN
strength rapidly, and by the time
fruit trees bloom some colonies are
likely to have enough bees to nearly
cover all the combs in the hive. Then
they should have more room SO that
the queen does not have to let up in
egg laying. This is easily and most
conveniently done by simply putting
another hive body on top of the hive
This timely addition results in having
about twice as many bees in each hive
by the beginning Of the honey flow as
you would have if the bees are con-
fined to the one hive body. Further
more, plenty of room goes a long way
in preventing the bees from swarm
ing.
To sum up, successful spring man
agement of bees simply consists of
seeing that each colony has plenty of
food, vigorous queen, that it is
given protection against the cold and
the queen has additional egg laying
room when she wants it. They are
the big four that make beekeeping
more profitable.
For further information write H.
G. Seyforth, County Agent, Els
worth, Wis, or send to E. w. Atkins,
p. 0. Box SIT, WATERFOWL, Wisconsin,
for free booklet on "How to Manage
Bees in Spring
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