By J. F. Eckert

The purpose of this leaflet is to call attention to some facts that are fundamental to success in keeping bees, with the information designed primarily for the small beekeeper. At the same time the experienced apiarist is urged to reconsider all fundamentals of beekeeping in order to make his colonies more efficient.

Relation of Bees to Agricultural Production

The honeybee is an essential factor in the production of seeds for our increased pastures for livestock, and for victory gardens as well as commercial plantings of vegetables. Bees increase the actual production of most fruit and vegetable crops by effecting proper pollination of the blossoms. Beeswax is an essential material used in war industries, and honey production adds to our total supply of energy-producing foods. For these reasons an increase in the total number of colonies of bees as well as in the production therefrom is now being urged by governmental agencies.

First Considerations

The first requirement is for the prospective beekeeper to determine his reaction to bee stings. Those who are seriously affected by the poison of bees had better not engage in beekeeping. One can become immune to the swelling that follows the sting of a bee by gradually acquiring additional stings over a period of several weeks.

Bees may be kept any place where they can secure sufficient pollen and nectar for the colony's needs throughout the year, and produce a surplus of honey for their keeper. Hives should be located where they receive at least partial shade during the heat of summer, and where the flight of bees will not interfere with the neighbors.

They should not be located near highways, or where the passerby or gardener is likely to come into the flight of the bees, or near feed lots, horse corrals, or where animals are worked or watered.

Bees should be kept only in movable-frame equipment so that the combs can be examined at will for brood diseases that are an ever present danger to the life of the colony. The location of every colony should be registered with the county agricultural commissioner; this is re(1) Associate Professor of Entomology and Associate Apiculturist in the Experiment Station.

required by law in California. There is no charge for this registration, or for official inspection of colonies for brood diseases.

Suitable equipment should be secured in advance of the period of the honey flow. Every colony should have the equivalent of one hive body for the brood chamber and at least two supers for surplus honey. For the home apiary, the ideal equipment includes: two hive bodies as a brood chamber, a queen excluder, and from two to four shallow supers for surplus honey for each colony. A bee smoker, bee veil, hive tool, and bee brush are essential tools. Honey extractors are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain; but for the home apiary honey can be produced conveniently and economically in shallow frames, and used as comb honey. A queen excluder is needed when comb honey is produced in shallow frames.

Every beekeeper, whether he has one colony or a thousand, should have one or more textbooks on beekeeping and should subscribe to at least one bee journal. Textbooks and catalogues explain how to assemble equipment and how to care for bees at different seasons of the year.

Food Requirements of Bees

Bees need honey and pollen during the active season in order to rear brood, and a supply of honey for winter stores. For best results, a colony should have a surplus of at least 30 pounds of honey at all seasons when the bees are not actively gathering nectar. If they are short of honey and nectar is not available, they should be fed sugar sirup. Because of the importance of bees, sugar can be secured through the sugarrationing boards, to feed starving colonies. It is very poor policy, however, to rob a colony too closely of its honey and then feed sirup; bees thrive better on natural stores.

The Care of the Colony

Space will not permit detailed descriptions of colony manipulations, or of bee behavior, and the reader should consult the references listed at the end of this leaflet for further information.

Wintering

A colony should be wintered in a two-story hive, with one of the hive bodies filled with honey and pollen. In California valley locations, bees do not need any additional protection from cold. It is well to contract the entrance to about 6 inches to conserve the hive temperature, and to place the queen excluder between the bottom board and the lower hive to keep out mice. This should be done after the bees kill their drones in the fall. The bees should not be disturbed during the winter period. They generally fly on warm days.

Spring Care

During the first or second week of deciduous-fruit bloom, the brood in each colony should be carefully examined on a warm day for disease- indicated by the presence of dead larvae in the cells. (Symptoms of bee disease are given in textbooks. ) One also should note if the colony has sufficient honey and if its general condition is normal, as evidenced by the presence of eggs and worker brood in normal quantity for the time of year. If a colony is below average strength in number of bees, this may be attributed to an old or a poor queen, to the lack of sufficient stores, or to the presence of some brood disease. In all such cases, determine the cause and supply the remedy as soon as the condition is discovered.

Supering for Surplus Honey and Swarm Control

A normal colony will seldom need attention until the third or fourth week of deciduous-fruit-tree bloom, if it is wintered in a two-story hive with sufficient pollen and honey. By that time it should have from 10 to 15 frames of brood and may need additional super space to prevent swarming. If the bees are wintered in a one-story hive, the second hive body of combs should be given during the first week of bloom or when the bees have brood in six or seven combs. If colonies are kept for extracted honey, the third story of combs may be placed between the first and second as soon as the bees have filled the first two with brood, bees, and honey, and before they start building queen cells in preparation for swarming. If a colony persists in building swarm cells after the third story is added, the queen can be confined in the lower hive body 10 days or 2 weeks after the third hive body is given, and the frames of unsealed brood in the lower hive body exchanged for frames of emerging brood in the top story; this frequently forestalls further swarming preparations.