ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
New YorK STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS
AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS
BEEKEEPING LIBRARY
Cornell University Library
ee-keeping in Victoria
wu A I
mann
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
BULLE TIN No. 31
(Ne 7 Series).
BEE-KEEPING
~ VICTORIA
; By
Fe R.] BEUHNE,
Government Apiculturist.
Reprinted from the Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Victoria.
PRICE—ONE SHILLING.
By Authority:
A) Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer, Melbourne.
ee BETES ares ol
Cornell University
Library
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003053935
CONTENTS
Chapter
I.—Location
Il.—The Bees..
IL 1.—Races of Bees
[V.—Hives Fee
V.—How to make a Start
V1.—Transferring Bees ..
V1II.—Spring Management
VIII.—Swarming
IX.—Honey
X.—Uncapping
XI. —Treatment of ones ay
XL.—Comb-Honey
X111.—Rearing Queen Bees
X1IV.—Nuclei :
NV.—Introducing Queens
XV1.—-Robhber Bees
XVI1.—Feeding Bees
XVIIJ.—Wintering Bees
XIX.—Diseases of Bees
XX.—Enemies of Bees
XX JI.—Beeswax wd
XXI1.—Comb Foundation me
XXIU.—The Use of Comb Foundation
XXIV.—Water for Bees : i ie
XXV.—Bees and the Fertilization of Flowers
Index
114
119
12]
Blossom of Yellow Box Eucalypt.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Blossom of Yellow Box Eucalypt
Typical Victorian Apiary :
Bee Farm, East Gippsland ..
Worker Bee, Queen, and Drone
Sting of the Bee -
Langstroth Hive
Smoker ..
Bees, Building Comb
Queen excluding Honey Board
Temporary Hive .
Handling of Combs
Returned Swarm
Spring Examination of Hives
A Large Swarm
Honey Extractors
Reel of Four-frame Extractor
An Apiary in Ideal Country
Uncapping Combs into Melter
Uncapping Combs into Reducer
Uncapping Combs into Uncapping Can
Blue-flame Kerosene Stove ..
1-lb. Sections a :
Comb Cut for Queen Raising
Queen Cells in Comb
Nuclei Hives
Mailing Cage
Miller Tntroducing Cage
Bee-proof Honey House
Feeders oe
Apiary in Winter
Normal Healthy Brood
Diseased Brood
Nosema Apis
Bee Moths
Australian Bee Eater
Wood Swallow
Wooden Wax Press
Sections of Wooden Press
Metal Wax Press :
Metal Wax Press in Section
Wax Separating Tank
Comb Foundation
Dipping Board
Dipping and Peeling Off Wax Sheets
Rolling Wax Sheets :
Trimming Comb Foundation
Comb built from Starter
Comb built from full Sheet ..
Comb of Sealed Honey F
Shallow Comb of Sealed Honey
Drinking Troughs for Bees
Bees in the Orchard
Burnley Experimental Apiary
PREPAGE.
This Bulletin, into which are collected the articles on Bee-Keeping
which have appeared in the Journal of Agriculture from January, 1912, to
April, (915, is not intended to take the place of a text book of Bee Culture,
but as a guide that should enable the reader to employ profitably such of
the information as is contained in the standard works of other parts of the
world, and has been approved of as suitable by the practical experience of
Australian apiarists.
I am afraid that an immense amount of effort and time has been and is
still being wasted in attempts to follow the methods and practices of other
countries, which however successful where they criginated are often quite
unsuitable for our Australian seasons and flora.
Bearing this in mind, and aware that the searcher for knowledge is often
confused and bewildered by the mu'tiplicity of advice given and choice
offered, much of the matter not essential to the successful practice of Hee-
Culture usually found in Bee Books has been entirely omitted, and of
numerous methods only those best suited to Australian conditions are
given.
The illustrations are from original photographs, with the exception of
three, reproduced from Root’s A B C of Bee-Culture.
The honey flora of Victoria is not included in the present publication ;
it is being dealt with in a series of articles appearing in the Journal of
Agriculture, and when complete will also be published as a
separate
Bulletin.
Fr. R. BEUHNE.
Bee-Keeping in Victoria.
By FR. Beuhne, Government A pleulturist.
No other rural occupation will give a better return for the capital invested
and the labour applied than bee-keeping, if intelligently pursued.
_ In the State of Victoria, and in Australia generally, bee culture is still in
Its infancy. Large numbers of colonies are still kept in box-hives, and, there-
fore, the statistics of production do not convey a correct idea of the possible
scope of the industry. There are, however, a limited number of specialist
bee-keepers, working with the most modern appliances, and their returns for
a snes of years indicate the great possibilities of development of the
industry.
A Typical Victorian Apiary.
I.—Location.
Bee-keeping in Victoria is carried on under different sonditions to those
existing in other countries. In the Northern Hemisphere, and also in New
Zealand, the principal supply of nectar comes from ground flora on
meadows, roadsides, fields and woods. In Victoria, we depend almost
exclusively on our eucalypts and a few other native trees and shrubs.
Owing to our hot summers, which prevent the secretion of nectar in soft
herbaceous plants, except on irrigated land and in exceptionally cool
districts, the amount of honey obtained from other than native flora is
small in comparison with the quantity harvested from eucalypts.
Even where climatic conditions are favourable to the secretion of
nectar, the system of closely feeding down pastures. which is largely
8 Bee-keeping in Victoria.
practised in Australia, does not permit of the proper development of the
nectar-producing plants and the maximum production of nectar. — As
probably over 90 per cent. of the honey produced in Victoria is obtained
from eucalypts, this fact should be borne in mind when selecting a district
in which to commence bee-keeping.
With the opening up of country to settlement, the natural honey
resources are to a large extent destroyed. It is a natural and inevitable
result and no claim can be made on behalf of bee culture to have the whole
of the country kept in its natural state.
Every country, however, must have forests and timber reserves to
maintain the supply of timber, to protect the sources of water supply, and
to exercise a beneficial influence on the climate. As the forests of Victoria
are now permanently reserved and are being improved by thinning, pro-
tection against fires, and new plantations, they afford ample scope for
apicultural enterprise and a great expansion of the bee-keeping industry.
Moreover, the advent of irrigation settlement on a large scale, together
with the practice of cutting fodder crops instead of feeding them off, will
make bee-keeping profitable in many places where, under the old system
of continuous eating off, it could not be engaged in.
PROFITS OF BEE-KEEPING.
One of the first questions asked by people beconiing interested in bee
culture is—How much honey will each hive produce in a season? This
question is a very difficult one to answer, as the return per hive depends
upon three main factors. ‘The first is the flora and climate of the locality
where the bees are kept. The second, the ability and experience of the
bee-keeper, and, third, the race or strain of bees kept. A return of 20s.
per hive per annum for a number of years may be considered a fair general
average. For different apiaries, the return may vary all the way from
nothing up to 80s. per hive, according to the character of the season, the
flora of the locality, and the skill of the bee-keeper. Taking 20s. as a fair
general average per hive, it must not be assumed that the annual income
can be increased indefinitely by increasing the number of hives. The
number of hives kept is limited to what the owner can personally supervise,
and what the locality will carry without overstocking it, and thereby
reducing the yield. A skilled and experienced apiarist can manage 200
colonies without assistance if located in one or two apiaries not too far
apart.
Examples of what has actually been done by apiarists given hereunder
will indicate the possibilities of the industry.
Mr. —, a city dweller, commenced bee-farming in 1906. He
had no previous experience. At the end of that year he had 50 hives; at
the end of 1911 he had 270, and received £406 13s. 5d. for his products.
Mr. ——-— commenced operations in—
No. of Colonies. Honey Return. Wax. Value.
Ibs. Ibs. £ s. d.
1905-6 ns 84 ns 3,780 a 40 is 49 5 0
1908-9 Re 140 oe 49,200 s 410 .. 635 0 0
1912-13 = 150 ns 30,000 ea 280 -. 391 0 0
Mr. ——— commenced in 1900 with two hives; has now 200 hives,
obtaining £375 for honey only, and values his apiary at £4,000.
Mr. ———— commenced in 1899; for fourteen years he has averaged
£337 per annum.
Bee-keeping in Victoria. 9
Bee-keeping, if adopted as a calling by any one having an aptitude and
love for it, combined with good business methods, is a profitable and
fascinating occupation. If carried on in connexion with some other rural
industry, it is a valuable side issue; if pursued as a hobby, it is highly
interesting. Bee culture is, above all things, a healthy outdoor occupation
of a not too laborious kind, to which many more might turn with whom
city life and an indoor occupation do not agree, and who either do not
possess the physical strength or the inclination to engage in some other
more monotonous and laborious rural occupation.
SELECTION OF LocaLItTy.
For the purpose of becoming conversant with the habits of bees, to get
some practice in handling them, and to gain the knowledge and experience
not obtainable from literature, bee-keeping may be commenced almost
A Bee Farm in East Gippsland—An Ideal Situation for an Apiary.
anywhere. When, however, it is taken up as a business, a suitable district
is essential to success. In selecting a site, due consideration should be given
to the two main factors ; namely, the amount and variety of bee flora within
a radius of two or three miles of the site chosen. The permanency of the
bee flora is, however, the most important consideration, and the intending
bee-keeper should locate on, or close to, some permanent forest or other
reserve, so as to avoid the risk of having his honey resources destroyed by
the ring-barking of the trees.
In some of the best honey country in Victoria, consisting almost entirely
of yellow box and red gum for many miles in extent, there is a deficiency
of pollen-producing plants before and after the honey-flow. With a
scarcity of pollen, colonies cannot attain their maximum development, and
therefore the best results can only be obtained where the bees, prior to the
honey-flow, are kept elsewhere. Thus, a practice has sprung up amongst
LO Bee-heeping in Victoria.
o
bee-keepers of having two sites for an apiary—one for breeding up in spring
and wintering ; the “other for securing the honey crop. The moving of
the bees from the winter site to the honey country, and back again when
the honey-flow is over, entails a considerable amount of work, which can
be avoided if a site is secured on the border line of the two classes of
country.
LICENCES.
When locating on forest or other Crown lands, it is necessary to obtain
two licences—a bee-farm licence for one acre upon which to place the
apiary, and a bee-range licence which secures to the holder the exclusive
use of the bee flora for a radius of one mile. No other bee-farm licence
is allowed at a lesser distance than two miles. The payments to be made
are 1os. a year for a bee-farm site, and $d. per acre for the radius of the
bee range, or about £4 4s. a year.
SITE OF APIARY.
Having decided upon the locality, the spot upon which the hives are
to be set out should be selected, with due regard to its suitability for the
bees and convenience of working the apiary.
An even, gently sloping surface, of gravelly or sandy soil, will be found
most suitable. It should, if possible, be sheltered by a natural or artificial
breakwind on the south and west.
Horsham, Port Fairy, Portland, Sale, Maryborough, Stawell, Talbot and the Shires of Arapiles, Ararat
Avoca, Avon, Bairnsdale, Belfast, Bright, Colac, Dundas, Hampden, Kowree, Lexton, Mclvor, Maftra
AMinhamite, Mortlake, Mount Rouse, Portland, Stawell, Strathfieldsaye, Talbot, Wannon, Warrnambool
an immera.
Lee-heeping in Victoria. 27
not. If no increase is wanted, the bees remaining in the old box may,
after turning it open side upwards, be drummed up into an empty
box placed on top (as in robbing box hives), and the bees thrown down
in front of the frame hive containing the swarm.
The contents of the box hive may now be disposed of in the way
usual with box hives. The combs will contain a considerable amount
of brood (much more than when box hives are robbed at the usual
time), and the many thousands of young bees, which would in the
ordinary course have hatched within the following three weeks, may
be saved if, instead of drumming the remaining bees off at once, this
operation is deferred for twenty-two days, to allow all worker brood
to hatch out. By this time there will be a young fertile queen, and
the bees, after being drummed off, are hived on frames in the same
way as the swarm, if increase is desired, or, if not, the old queen which
went with the swarm may be removed from the frame hive and the
driven bees with the young queen united with the bees of the frame hive
by running them in towards evening after blowing a puff of smoke into
the hive.
When re-uniting, as described, is intended, it is best to hive the
swarm, in the first instance, on the spot occupied by the box hive from
whence it came and place the old box alongside, with the entrance facing
in a different direction from that of the frame hive. This will serve
two purposes—first, the old bees which remained in the box after the
swarm left it, when returning from their foraging flights, will go to
the spot they are used to and join the swarm, with the result that no
after swarm will come from the box hive; and, secondly, there will be
no bees flying back after uniting, as would be the case if the new and
the old hive were some distance apart.
TRANSFERRING AT RoBBING TIME.
All hives do not swarm every year, and there may be a number still
left in box hives when the swarming season is over. These may be
transferred at the time usually selected for robbing by box hive bee-
keepers. At this time, which varies in different localities and seasons,
there is generally a maximum of honey and a minimum of brood, so that
the saving of it is of no great consequence, and the transfer is best
effected by robbing the boxes in the usual way, but putting the bees
into frame hives instead of empty boxes. If any of the stocks are too
small, two may be put together into one frame hive. As far as possible,
adjoining boxes only should be united, otherwise the bees which had
their hive taken away altogether will enter the hive nearest their old
location. Hives which did not swarm during the season, and particu-
larly those which are weak in bees, may be suspected of disease. The
box should be raised on one side and a piece of brood comb broken out,
the box lowered again, the comb taken indoors and carefully examined
for foul-brood. This is done by removing the caps of some of the
brood cells, especially those which look darker than the surrounding
ones, and any that have sunken in instead of raised caps. This prick-
ing open of the cells should be done with a toothpick, a wooden match,
or straw. Healthy larve are of pearly whiteness and plump; diseased
28 Bee-heeping in Victoria.
ones are yellowish, grey, or brown, and flabby in appearance, and, later,
collapse into a shapeless brown mass, which, when touched with a match,
draws out stringy or ropy. This disease is often, but not always,
accompanied by an odour of stale glue.*
Any colony found diseased and with not sufficient bees left to form
a medium swarm should be at once destroyed by burning the box,
bees, combs, and all. The bees should be shut in when they have
stopped flying for the day, and the whole hive burned on a fire in a
hole dug for the purpose, which is to be filled up with earth when
everything is consumed.
If a diseased hive still contains sufficient bees to form a swarm, they
may be drummed off into an empty box, in which they should be left
for three or four days to cleanse themselves. The bees are then trans-
ferred to a frame hive like an ordinary swarm. The old box and
contents should be burned as soon as the bees are driven out, and the
intermediate hive cleaned by immersion in boiling water.
Robbing box hives for the purpose of transferring the bees to
frames should not be done too late in the season, so as to give them a
better chance to establish themselves before winter.
On no account should honey or comb, wax, or refuse from the box
hives be given to the bees, nor should they be allowed to have access
to it. The cutting out of combs, the straining of honey, and the
rendering of wax should all be done indoors, secure from bees, or when
that is net possible, it should be done at times when bees are not flying
and all honey, wax scraps, or daubed utensils should be removed, or
carefully and securely covered up, when the work is finished.
It may here be pointed out that the practice of many box hive bee-
keepers of leaving comb too dark for the straining bag lying about.
straining honey out of doors, or even purposely putting scraps of comb
and sticky refuse out for the bees to clean up, has, since foul-brooc
has been introduced to Australia, caused the loss of thousands of
colonies of bees and the wholesale dissemination of that disease. Even
the bees’ nests in trees first became infected in this way. The subsequent
felling and robbing of bee trees by bee hunters, who left the refuse
exposed to other wild bees, box hive, and frame hive bees, caused a still
wider distribution of foul-brood.
It is not natural for bees to find honey. They gather nectar from
the blossoms; this they transform into honey inside the hive. When
they find honey outside they become excited; when the supply is
exhausted they forage around for more; they find weak, usually dis-
eased colonies, or bee trees, somewhere within their range of flight;
they attack these and carry home their stores of honey, and with ther
the germs of foul-brood.
If feeding bees is necessary, as it may be in the case of late transfers,
sugar syrup i 2 sugar to 1 boiling water by weight) should be given in
a feeder inside the hive, not honey outside. Sugar syrup does not
excite bees so much as does honey, and can be relied upon as being free
from disease.
* For symptoms of Foul-brood and its treatment see Chapter XIX., page 79.
Bee-keemng in Victoria. 29
TRANSFERRING BrEs AND ComBs.
Any one who. understands bees well, and has sufficient experience
in disease to enable him to detect the very first trace of it, can transfer
box hive bees to frames at any time during the active season by cutting
out any of the combs of brood in the box hive which are straight
enough and fitting them into frames. The pieces of comb are held in
position either by means of string tied over the frame and comb, or
thin splints of wood tacked to the frame. These temporary supports
inay be removed as soon as the bees have fastened the combs to the
frame. It is seldom that more than two or three frames can be filled
with brood from a box hive; the rest of the frames are supplied with
starters or full sheets of foundation. As the bees become established
on newly-built combs the frames of transferred combs are gradually
worked to the outside of the cluster of bees, or put into the upper
story over a queen-excluding honey board, and when all the brood is
hatched out of them they are best withdrawn from the hive and
melted for wax.
While this method saves most of the brood and transfers everything
in one operation, it is a very messy one. There is always a risk of
transferring disease to the new hive along with the brood or comb, and
the transference of brood and comb should, therefore, not be under-
taken by any one not possessed of the requisite knowledge and skill.
Norz.—Price list of hives, frames, appliances, &c., may be obtained from W. J.
and F. Barnes, 550 Swan-street, Burnley, or The Beekeepers Supply Company, 459
Swanston-street, Melbourne.
ViIl.—Spring Management of Bees.
During the first or second week of September, all hives should be ex-
amined for the purpose of seeing whether each one has sufficient food, a
laying queen, and enough bees to enable it to work up into a profitable
colony.
This examination should be made only on fine mild days, otherwise
harm will be done to weak stocks, by letting the warmth escape when
opening the hive and by causing the bees to fly and become chilled.
Having lighted the smoker, blow one or two whiffs of smoke in at the
entrance, lift the cover at one end, and blow a few puffs of smoke over
the top of the frames. When quilts are used between covers and frames,
hives can be opened with less disturbance, less smoke is needed, and it
is consequently easier to find the queens.
The amount of stores is the first consideration of this time of year,
but no hard and fast rule can be laid down as to the actual weight of
honey required to maintain and develop the colony. The quantity de-
pends upon the number of bees in the hive, the length of time which
may elapse before they can find sufficient new nectar in the blossoms
of the immediately surrounding country, and the weather conditions
prevailing during the following four or five weeks. In no case, how-
ever, even under the most favorable circumstances, should there be less
than 5 lbs. of honey (equal to one well filled Langstruth comb) in the
hive. Bees build up in spring on their winter stores, excepting in speci-
ally favoured localities with a mild climate and an early flowering flora.
30 Bee-heeping in Vietoria,
From 15 lbs. to 25 lbs. of honey is more like the quantity required in an
average locality to obtain the best results in brood-rearing till sufficient
new nectar is available from outside sources. As the consumption
ereatly increases as soon as brood-rearing commences, any shortne
should be made good by feeding sugar syrup. (See Chapter XVIL.,
page 72.)
If no feeders are on hand, a clean empty comb may be filled with
syrup by placing it flat in a milk or other suitable dish and pouring the
syrup into the cells from a height of about 15 inches. When one side is
filled, the comb is turned over and the other side filled. To get a fine
stream of syrup, a jug with a rather pointed lip is the most suitable
vessel. When the comb is filled, it should be held or suspended over the
dish for a short time, to allow the surplus syrup to run off. The latter
would otherwise fall on to the floor of the hive, and in all probability
attract robbers.
Every hive should have a fertile queen; and, as a minimum, bees on
at least two or three combs. It is not absolutely necessary to see the
queen, the presence of eggs and of brood in the several stages being
sufficient evidence that the queen is all right. When the eggs, however,
are at the side of the cell bottom, and not in the centre, laying workers
instead of a queen may be present.
A further indication of laying workers, an unfertile young queen,
or an exhausted old one, is that the cappings of the sealed brood, instead
of being only slightly oval, are hemispherical and project much beyond
the general surface of the comb. This is due to the fact that the eggs
of laying workers and unfertile or exhausted queens produce drones
only. The larve of the latter are larger than those of the workers, and
being in worker instead of in drone cells there is not sufficient depth
and the cell is therefore lengthened in capping it. If a hive in this
condition still contains sufficient bees, and is to be retained as a separate
stock, the laying workers or the drone-laying queen must be replaced
with a fertile queen. With Italian bees, which are quieter than blacks,
and the queen differently marked from the workers, she is usually
easily found. Black queens are often very hard to find on account of
their sombre colour and the habit of black bees of clumping or running
off the combs when disturbed.
Correct Way of Handling Combs.
In hunting for queens, or examining brood for disease, it is neces-
sary to see both sides of each comb. To do so, many bee-keepers turn
the comb in the wrong way, resulting in a fracture of the cells near the
top bar when the comb is not built right down to the bottom bar and it
is at all heavy with honey. It also causes spilling when the comb con-
tains new thin honey. A comb should never be turned on a horizontal,
but always on a vertical axis. Combs fractured or strained through
handling them the wrong way often mash up in the extractor. When
the combs are returned to the hive the bees repair them; but, as the
damaged cells, become elongated through the weight of the comb, they
are large enough for drone-brood, several rows of which will be found
across the comb where it was fractured when the comb is used in the
31
Bee-keeping in Victoria,
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32 Bee-keeping in Victoria.
brood-chamber. Combs so damaged are also very liable to come down
in hot weather or in moving bees by road or rail.
If combs are handled the right way, no harm will be done to them,
even when built from starters and not fastened to the bottom bar of the
frame. As bees generally, and queens in particular, run to the bottom
of the frame when it is lifted out of the hive, it often becomes necessary
to turn the frame upside down when looking for the queen. In Fig. 1
is shown the first position; to turn the frame upside down without
damaging the comb the top bar of the frame is brought into a vertical
position as shown in Fig. 2; and by swinging the frame half-way round
(like a door on its hinges), and then bringing the top bar into a hori-
zontal line, the frame is completely reversed as shown in Fig. 3. As
the bees again travel downwards, the queen, if she is on the particular
comb, will be noticed. To turn the comb to the hive, the same move-
ments are again gone through, but in the reverse order of 3, 2, 1.
Tf. in the course of the first examination, one or more colonies are
found with unfertile queens, the hives should be marked and left alone
till the overhaul of all of the colonies is completed. Amongst a num-
ber of stocks of bees there are generally, at this period of the season,
some which are weak in bees, though possessing a fertile queen. These
queens may with advantage be used to replace unfertile ones in colonies
with more bees. To transfer a queen, it is first of all necessary to find
and remove the one which is to be replaced. The following day, pre-
ferably towards evening, the small stock with the fertile queen is placed
alongside. Both lots are gently smoked, and the combs with brood and
hees from both put into one hive, so that each comb from one is between
two from the other hive. The outside combs of both are put into the
other hive body which is placed on top of the first, the bees brushed off
the combs, and the latter and the hive body removed. If uniting is
done later in the season, the second body and combs may be left on as
a super.
When no small stock with a laying queen is available, a colony with
an unfertile queen may be kept going by giving it a comb of eggs, or
young larve from a normal colony, once or twice a week, according to
the number of bees. At the same time, remove one of the combs of
drone larvee and substitute it for the comb removed from the normal
colony, which will usually throw out this useless brood. In this way a
colony may even be gradually built up; and, when young queens are
available from swarmed stocks, the valueless queen can be replaced.
It is often very difficult to get a colony with laying workers to
accept a queen, all the bees being old; but, if treated as described, there
will soon be a sufficient number of young bees, and the introduction of
a queen may then be safely accomplished. Colonies found queenless,
and without even laying workers, should be dealt with in the same way,
if still sufficiently strong enough to be worth saving.
A mistake, often made by beginners, and even by established bee-
keepers, is the spreading of brood with the idea of hurrying brood-
rearing. This practice of putting empty combs, or even partly filled
ones, between the brood combs, more often results in loss than in gain.
It is recommended in some of the text-books written for countries in
which the sudden changes of temperature experienced here do not
w
hee-keeping in Victoria. 3
occur. During September and October, colonies have all the brood
they can cover on a cold day, and spreading the combs by putting a
vacant one in the middle, results in the brood in some of the outside
combs perishing from chill. If it appears necessary to give room for
brood, the combs should be placed, one at a time, alongside, and not
between, the brood.
Under normal conditions, a colony of bees increases rapidly in
strength during September and October. As soon as all the combs of
the brood chamber are oceupied by bees, and before they are actually
crowded, the second or upper story should be put on and the bees in-
duced to commence work in it. This is done by taking a comb con-
taining honey from the brood chamber and putting it into the second
story and directly over the brood combs, while the frame from the
Swarm Returned after Losing the Queen.
upper story is placed into the brood chamber. When a colony of bees
has become crowded before the super is put on, it will quite likely be
inclined to swarm, and no amount of manipulation will cure it of that
tendency till the swarming season is over. When bees are worked for
extracted honey there is much less swarming than when comb-honey
is produced.
If a maximum profit from the number of colonies kept is aimed at,
the raising of comb-honey in 1 Ib. sections should not be attempted in
any locality which has not at least a fair honey flow. Many owners
of bees find it very difficult to induce bees to work in the section supers.
There are various reasons for this disinclination of the bees to enter
sections. Bees at any time prefer to work together in large numbers
770.—B
Bee-hkeeping in Vietoria.
and without any break in the combs in a vertical direction, and are
inerefore disinclined to work at comb-building in such comparatively
small clusters as the 1 Ib. sections necessarily create. Further, the
sections are, in many instances, supplied with very small starters of
foundation, leaving a distance of 3 inches from the brood-combs to the
lowest point of the starter in the section. Bees invariably store their
honey just above the brood; and, instead of commencing comb-building
on the small starters in the section go far away from the brood and
separated from it by empty space and the woodwork of the section, they
frequently store the honey they gather into the cells from which young
bees emerge. This restricts brood-rearing and causes the crowding of
bees in the brood chamber, which is such a fruitful source of excessive
swarming.
This difficulty may be overcome by inducing the bees to enter the
section, or by compelling them. Bees may be induced to enter the
section super by putting on one or more sections already partly built
and containing some honey amongst the empty ones in the super. These
partly filled sections are known as bait sections. When none are avail-
able, the bees may be compelled by first putting a super of full-sized
frames of empty combs; or, failing this, of full sheets of foundation on
the brood-chamher. If there is sealed honey along the top bar of the
brood combs, the eappings of the honey may be lightly scratched with
a fork, which will induce the bees to remove it and the queen to deposit
eges therein, thus bringing the brood right up to the top bar. When
this stage has been reached, the bees may be brushed off the combs of
the upper story and a section super put in its place. As there is now
brood in the combs of the hive right up to the top bar of the frames,
and as the bees want to place honey above this brood, they will, as a
rule, at once commence work in the section, provided that honey is
coming in.
The upper story removed from the hive may be used on another
hive for a similar purpose, or as an extracting super. If it contained
brood at the time of removal, the largest sheets of it may be put into
the brood-chamber. Removing from the latter any combs containing
little or no brood, the object being to crowd into the lower story of the
section hive as much brood as possible so as to leave no room for honey.
Keep the colony strong, and compel the bees to build comb and store
honey in the sections. Any brood left over may be given to weaker
colonies, but only as much as can be taken care of by each.
As October is the principal swarming month, a watchful eye should
be kept on the hives from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on fine days, unless the
condition of the colonies in regard to the swarming tendency is known,
from a record of the ages of the queens and systematic periodical ex-
aminations to see whether swarming preparations are in progress.
While it prevents the absconding of prime or first swarms, the
clipping of queens often causes trouble through the queens getting
lost. The swarm returns to the hive, only to issue again, a week or
so later with a virgin queen and a greater number of bees. As a virgin
queen is light and has greater powers of flight, such swarms will
usually settle high up in inaccessible places or abscond without cluster-
ing. It is, therefore, not advisable to clip queens, unless the hives
bee-keeping in Victoria, 35
are near a dwelling from which a view of them can be obtained, or the
number of colonies is sufficient to keep a special watch on them during
swarming hours. The illustration shows a hive to which the swarm
has returned after losing the queen.
VIII.—Swarming.
Swarming is a natural impulse with bees, and the means of multiplying
the species. In Victoria it occurs from September till December, October
being the principal swarming month in most localities.
In abnormal seasons, when copious rains succeed a period of drought,
swarming may take place a second time in January or February.
To the beginner the issue of swarms is a source of delight, and the
most convenient way of increasing the number of his colonies. When,
however, stocks have increased to the number intended to be kept, or to
what the locality will carry with profit to the owner, then swarming be-
comes a trouble, involving a considerable amount of unprofitable work.
and unless it is counteracted by re-uniting of swarmed stocks may result in
the loss of all surplus honey. This is particularly so in districts having 4
plentiful supply ot pollen in spring and a honey flow in early summer only.
Taking as an illustration two colonies of equal strength, and assuming that
one swarms several times, and that the other does not swarm at all, the
worker force of the former is broken up into two, three, or more com-
munities, none of which is in a condition to store surplus honey for a
month or longer, because the parent colony is depleted of field bees by the
issue of one or more swarms. The young queen, hatched after the swarm
left, does not commence to lay for fourteen to twenty-one days, and this
interruption in the succession of bee generations seriously affects the storing
1 honey later on, while every swarm put down in a separate hive has first
to build sufficient comb to fill the frames of the lower story, establish a
brood-nest, and accumulate stores before it is in a condition to store surplus
honey. This point, at which productiveness commences, is in some locali-
ties, such as the country surrounding Melbourne, not reached till the main
honey flow is practically over, and for the remainder of the season the bees
are only able to gather sufficient to maintain themselves, and sometimes not
erough to last them through the winter. In the following season the
colonies which survived will again undergo division by swarming, little or
no honey will be obtained, and the owner will come to the conclusion that
bees are not profitable in his locality. It should be understood that in-
crease of colonies always takes place at the expense of honey production,
except in exceptionally good bee-country, with a late honey flow ; but in
passing it may be mentioned that in Spring bees are as much a saleable
commodity as honey, that apiarists in the best honey districts of the
State purchase swarms in large numbers, and that in localities better suited
to the breeding of bees than the production of honey better profits mav
be obtained by the sale of bees than of honey.
Taking now the case of a colony which does not swarm at all, although
ot the same strength as another one which does, it will be seen that as the
laying queen remains in the hive there is no interruption in the rearing of
bees, and as all the work which is done by swarms during the first three
B 2
36 Bee-heeping in Victoria.
or fours weeks is done by bees which come from the parent colony, it follows
that when the total worker-force remains in the parent hive whatever
would be needed in the establishment of the new colonies is available as
surplus ; in other words, the nectar available in the flora of the locality is,
it. One instances, turned into surplus honey for the benefit of the owner of
the bees, and in the other into more bees which cannot do more than exist
for the remainder of the season.
What has been said so far does not apply to the best honey districts of
this State where the honey flow is heavy, and more or less continuous for
the greater part of Spring, Summer, and "Autumn ; but even when the limit
to increase is one of labour and material rather than of sources of nectar
it is found more profitable to have the same total force of bees in a lesser
number of colonies. More surplus can be obtained from one colony contain-
ing 30,000 bees than from two containing 15,000 each, because the number
uecessary to attend to domestic work such as the rearing of brood, carry-
ing water, &c., is practically the same in the smaller as in the larger
colony, the latter has therefore a much larger number of bees available for
the gathering of nectar and is less influenced by changes of temperature.
The prevention or control of swarming is one of the most difficult
problems of bee culture. Systematic efforts to eliminate the swarming
impulse by breeding all queens from the mothers of non-swarming stocks
have so far only resulted in reducing the percentage of swarming, owing to
the inability of queen breeders to control the mating of the sexes as is
done in the case of animals and birds. Beekeepers are therefore compelled
ta confine their efforts to cope with the swarming problem to the removal of
contributing causes and to counteracting the effects which swarming has
on honey production. Apart from the natural impulse, which is much
stronger in some races, some strains, and even some individual colonies
of bees than in others, climate, season, and flora have great influence upon
the swarming propensity. These are factors beyond the control of the
beekeeper ; there are, however, others which may be controlled, more or
less, and excessive swarming prevented thereby. The principal inducements
for bees to swarm are—
1. A crowded condition of the bees.
2. The presence of large numbers of drones.
3. An old or failing queen.
1. Hives may become crowded with bees early in September if win-
tered in single stories ; as soon as the bees occupy all the combs, an upper
story, with drawn empty combs, should be put on to allow the bees to
spread out as their numbers increase and the weather becomes warmer.
The beginner is at a great disadvantage in not having another set of combs,
and the only thing he can do is to remove one or two combs from the
brood chamber to the super (upper story) and put two frames with full
sheets of foundation alongside the outside brood combs in the lower hive
body. The bees will soon draw the foundation into comb, and the combs
removed to the super will induce them to commence work there. Frames
with starters only should not be used before swarming time, as drone
comb is invariably built in them at this period. It must be pointed out
that the addition of a set of frames with starters, or a section super. does
not spread the bees out. because there is no connexion between the brood
combs and the starters in the super. In a wild bees’ nest, or when a set
of drawn combs are given, the comb is continuous. and therefore, in the
Bee-keeping in Victoria, 37
latter case, accepted by the bees as part of their home as soon as required
and the crowded condition relieved.
The presence of large numbers of drones is best avoided by the use
in the brood chamber of combs built from full sheets of foundation, or
combs which have been built by swarms during the first three weeks. The
cutting out of drone comb or the shaving off of the he: ads of drone brood
is of very little use, because drone comb is again built by the bees in the
same space, and the queen again lays drone eggs into the cells from which
the bees have removed the decapitated drones.
3. Old or failing queens may be discovered during the first or second
examination of hives in Spring (Fig. 1) by noting the irregular way eggs
are laid, as they are found scattered .about instead of in compact. circles.
Colonies having three-year-old queens will be found most inclined te
swarm ; those with two-year-old queens less so, and the previous season’s
Fig. 1.—Spring Examination of Hives.
queens still less, while later on, when young queens of the same season’s
rearing are laying, their colonies will not swarm the same season. Defective
and old queens should be replaced as soon as ripe queen cells are available.
In weak colonies the queen may be destroyed and a queen cell given at
the same time, the interruption of brood rearing can be made good by
giving a comb of brood a few days after the young queen hatched. If
the colony contains sufficient bees it may be divided into two on the same
stand, the old queen being kept laying in one till the young queen is laying
in the other, when the former may be removed and the two stocks united
by alternating the brood combs after smoking both. Uniting is best done
at or after sunset.
Even when everything possible has been done to discourage swarming,
there will be a number of swarms, but they will be larger (Fig. 2) than
38 Bee-keeping in Vietoria.
they would have been had che colonies swarmed earlier. Examining the
hives once a week and destroying any queen cells that are found will, to
some extent, prevent
swarming or, at any
rate, delay it. How-
ever, unless the bees
are shaken off the
brood combs — every
time, a small queen
cell on the face of the
comb, or one well
covered with newly-
built comb, is very
likely to be over-
looked and, if condi-
} tions continue favor-
able, colonies which
have been thwarted
will often swarm with-
out having built cells.
Taking into account
the trouble involved
by a careful weekly
examination and_ the
= ; risk of failing to pre-
Fig. 2—A Large Swarm, 10 lbs., or about vent swarming, it will
Zo Beek be found best to allow
the swarm to come off and, if no increase but a yield of honey is desired, to
re-unite the swarm and the parent colony. This is done in the following
manner :—When the swarm has issued and clustered somewhere, hive it in
a new box on a set of wired frames with starters on the spot occupied by
the hive from which it came; remove the latter a little to one side, with
the entrance facing at right angles to its former position. All flying bees
remaining in the parent stock, on returning from the fields, will join the
swarm, because they will return to the spot they are used to. The swarmed
colony will thus be so depleted of flying bees that usually the first virgin
queen which hatches from one of the cells will be allowed by the bees to
destroy the remaining queen cells. To make sure, however, that no after-
swarms come off, it is best to examine the stocks within a day or two and
destroy all the queen cells except one, selecting for the purpose one of the
largest and most forward in development. In from fourteen to twenty-one
days the young queen will be laying and, under normal conditions, the
combs in the hive containing the swarm will have been built down to the
bottom bar of the frames. In the meantime the parent hive has been
gradually turned round till it stands close alongside to the swarm, with the
entrance facing the same way, and the two stocks may be united into one
hive, the old queen (that with the swarm) being removed, the young queen
taking her place on the new combs, with the old combs over a queen-excluder
in the super to be extracted when full, or replaced by frames with full
sheets of foundation, if unsuitable for further use.
As previously stated, uniting should be done towards evening, first
blowing smoke between the combs of both colonies, and then alternating
Bee-keeping in Victoria. 39
the frames of the two colonies, thus thoroughly mixing the bees. They will
have settled down by next morning, and will work peaceably together ; the
combs intended for the brood nest and the queen are then put in the lower
chamber, the other combs in the super above a queen-excluder.
The old queen may be removed the day before uniting, which should not
be attempted till the young queen has been laying for some days, as much
stinging and balling of the queen may take place if uniting is done before
or too soon after the young queen commenced laying.
The united stock is in the best condition for storing surplus honey, the
brood combs have been renewed, and the queen being of the same season’s
raising, there will be no further swarming.
1X.—Honey.
Honey is the nectar of flowers which has undergone chemical
changes during and after the gathering by the bees.
It is composed principally of two sugars, dextrose and levulose, and
water. Several other sugars are also usually present, as well as
formic acid, tannic acid, albumen, and the essential perfumes of the
blossoms from which the nectar was gathered. It is the presence of
these essential oils which produces such a great variation in the aroma
and flavour of different honeys. All honey is liable, sooner or later,
to candy, or granulate; it becomes first cloudy and gradually partially
or wholly. solid.
Of the two principal sugars composing honey, dextrose is a
erystallizing and levulose a relatively non-crystallizing sugar, and
the preponderance of the one or the other governs the rapidity and
degree of crystallization; while the variation of the greater quantity
of one or the other is due to the fiora from which the nectar was
gathered by the bees. There are, however, some other minor factors
which hasten or retard granulation. These are temperature, amount
of water, pollen grains, and air bubbles. Honey does not as a rule
granulate till the approach of cool weather, and that gathered during
cool weather granulates sooner and firmer than honey produced in
midsummer. Any honey, however, will granulate sooner under
frequent changes of temperature than when kept at a uniform degree,
high or low.
The amount of water present in honey varies according to the
source of the nectar, the humidity of the atmosphere at time of
gathering, and the length of time it remained in the hives. In
Victorian honey it ranges from 12 to 20 per cent., the average
density being 15 to 17 per cent. When exposed to the atmosphere, the
percentage of water will adjust itself to the humidity of the air;
thus honey from the dry districts of the State, unless kept hermeti-
cally sealed, absorbs water from the air in the city sale-rooms and
becomes quite thin on the surface during moist weather. As water
is necessary to crystallization, the thinner honeys naturally granulate
more readily than the dense honeys from dry districts. Some of the
latter remain liquid for one or two years. Particularly is this the
‘ease with yellow box and red box honey, which, if it could be
obtained entirely free from admixtures of other kinds, would probably
remain liquid indefinitely.
40 Bee-hee ping in Victoria.
Pollen grains, which are always present in honey, have no doubt
some influence in the granulation by acting as nuclei of erystalliza-
tion. At any rate, it is certain that the honey from plants producing
abundance of pollen for bees, such as the redgum, grey box, and
stringybark eucalypts, and white clover, cape weed, and native
dandelion, granulates very quickly; while that from yellow and red
box, producing little or no pollen for bees, remains liquid for a long
time. When the modern method of removing the honey from the
combs by centrifugal action was first adopted, it was soon found that
the air bubbles incorporated in the honey by this process caused it
to granulate sooner than when the old method of crushing the combs
and straining was practised. How to remove this incorporated air.
and to delay granulation generally, will be dealt with in a succeeding
chapter.
Fig. 1—Novice Extractor. Fig. 2—Cowan 2-Frame Extractor.
EXTRACTING Honey.
Extracting the honey from the combs is in itself a simple enough
operation, consisting in first slicing the wax cappings off the sealed
honey-comb by means of an uncapping knife, then placing the frames,
two, four, or more at a time, upright into the comb-baskets of one
or other of the various styles of honey extractors, when by turning
the crank handle the baskets are revolved round a central shaft
inside a tin can, and the honey is thrown out from one side of the
comb against the side of the can by the centrifugal force produced.
The combs are then reversed; in the smallest kind of extractor (The
Novice), as shown in Fig. 1, the combs have to be lifted out and
re-inserted with the opposite side facing out. In the Cowan two-
frame extractor (Fig. 2), each of the comb-baskets ig swung round
without removing the comb; while in machines of four or more comb
Bee-heeping in Vietoria. 41
capacity the baskets are connected by a sprocket chain (Fig. 3),
and the reversing of one will reverse all the combs. In the latest
type of extractor the reversing of the driving gear automatically
reverses the combs. In large apiaries in the best honey districts
petrol engines are used to drive the extractors, the reversing action
being obtained by means of the slip gear, which causes either the one
or the other of the bevelled cog wheels seen on top of the extractor in
the illustration (Fig. 4) to grip the horizontal cog of the centre shaft,
and thus drive the reel with the comb-baskets in either a right er
left hand direction, the comb-baskets being automatically reversed at
the same time. By using a power-driven extractor, cappings melter,
honey ripener, and a system of gravitation from the extractor to
the settling tank, three men can easily take 1 ton of honey in a day
of ordinary working hours. As it often happens during heavy honey
flows that there are days when, owing to strong wind, extreme heat
Fig. 3.—Reel of Four Comb Reversible Extractor.
or cold, no honey can be taken off the hives, and yet the bees continue
to bring it in notwithstanding these drawbacks, it becomes necessary
to get a maximum of extracting done while conditions are favorable
for this operation, so as to provide storage room for the bees and to
prevent them gluttoning the brood combs with honey. With several
hundred colonies in a good locality, the additional yield obtained will
more than cover the cost of engine, reducer, honey heater, &., in one
season.
For apiaries of up to 100 colonies in ordinary average localities, a
Cowan two or four frame extractor, driven by hand (Figs. 2 and 3),
will be sufficient. When only a few colonies are kept, without any
prospect of increase owing to the character of the locality, a Novice
extractor (Fig. 1) will answer all requirements. To any one, how-
ever, commencing bee-keeping anywhere with the intention of
gradually increasing the number of hives and moving to a suitable
42 Bee-heeping in Victoria.
locality I would recommend obtaining a two-frame Cowan reversible
at the start, as the difference between it and the Novice is not more
than 10s. to 12s. 6d.
Whatever kind of extractor is used, the same general rules will
apply; but it should be borne in mind that the smaller the diameter
of the extractor the faster it has to be turned to remove the honey
from the combs, and the more liable are the latter to fracture, because
the nearer the comb is to the centre shaft the more divergence there
is in the direction of the centrifugal force acting on the comb at
different points.
When inserting uncapped combs into the extractor-baskets or
withdrawing empty ones, it should be done without brushing against
the wire screen, otherwise the cells will become burred, preventing
Fig. 4.--Extracting Plant of Large Modern Apiary.
the honey coming clean out of the cells, and causing unnecessary
work to the bees. This bruising of the cells will also occur in
uncapping the combs when the combs are tough and the knife blunt.
The uncapping knife should be as sharp as a razor. Extracting combs
should be straight, and present an even surface after being uncapped,
so as to rest evenly against the wire screen of the extractor-baskets.
Before extracting is commenced the honey should be properly ripe.
Unripe honey is inferior in density and flavour, granulates sooner,
and, when too thin and containing tannic acid, will even become very
dark when it comes in contact with iron. Most Australian honeys
contain tannic acid in traces; but, when properly ripe, the acid does
not act on the iron of the tins. No general rule can be laid down
Bee-heeping in Victoria. 43
as to when honey is ripe; it depends upon the source from which
the bees gather the nectar and the degree of humidity of the atmo-
sphere at time of storing by the bees.
While honey from different plants varies considerably when fully
ripe in the percentage of water it contains, ripe honey from one and
the same source, but gathered in different localities, or even in the
same locality but under different atmospheric conditions, will contain
water in varying proportions.
During the summer months, in districts north of the Dividing
Range which have a rainfall not exceeding 30 inches, honey is con-
sidered ripe when the combs have one-half to two-thirds of their
surface capped over by the bees. In the country south of the Divide,
and in districts with a heavy rainfall, it is better to leave the combs
Fig. 5—An Apiary in Ideal Bee Country.
on the hives till nearly capped all over. This also applies to the
northern districts during early spring and late autumn.
On the other hand, during very dry weather honey may become
over-dense and difficult to extract, even when not sealed. This some-
times occurs when a cold change, without rain, follows hot weather
with a good honey flow. It is always best not to take off honey when
the weather is cold, unless it is unavoidable. The combs must then
be stored, and the extracting done in a warm room.
Beginners often have difficulties through damaging the combs
whilst in the extractor. This may result from several causes; the
honey in the combs may have been too cold, the extractor may have
been turned too fast at the start, the combs may have been too warm
and soft, or the frames may not fit evenly against the wires of the
extractor-baskets.
44 Bee-keeping in Victoria,
It must here be pointed out that there is at least one kind of honey
which cannot be removed from the combs by extracting; it is that
gathered from one of the tea-trees (Leptospermum scoparium) found
near the coast and in wet places elsewhere. In some localities it is
known as wild may. The honey from this plant is very dark, strong-
smelling, and rank in taste, and fit only for manufacturing purposes.
The class of country producing this kind of honey should be avoided
by bee-keepers. When, however, it occurs in belts in some of the
best redgum and box districts, it provides a valuable stand-by for
the bees during the ‘‘off’’ season. This honey, although it appears
very dense, really contains a high percentage of water, but after being
stored in the cells it sets like jelly, so that it can be removed with a
pin in one piece. The only way of getting it from the combs is to
eut them out, and melt and separate in a cappings reducer; better
use can, however, be made of it by reserving it for the bees as winter
tood, provided that it is not the only crop of the locality.
Honey from the red box eucalypt is very dense, and it is almost
impossible to extract it without damaging the combs once it has been
allowed to become cold in the combs. In a lesser degree this may
also be said of yellow box honey. ‘To extract dense honey without
damaging the combs the extractor should be turned slowly till about
half the honey of one side of the combs has left the cells; the combs
are then reversed and the speed increased till that side of the combs
has been emptied. Then the combs are again reversed, when the
honey left in the cells on the other side is thrown out.
X.—Uncapping Combs,
Before the honey can be extracted from the combs of the modern
frame hive, the wax caps with which the bees have covered the cells of
honey have to be removed. This is done by means of what is known as
an uncapping, or honey, knife—a stout knife 8 to 12 inches in length with
two cutting edges, bevelled from one side, and an off-set handle. To
uncap quickly and without damaging the combs, the honey knife should
be as sharp as a razor and must be kept in hot water so that it will easily
pass the comb surface on one side and the sheet of cappings on the other.
Two knives may be used with advantage, so that while the operator is
working with one, the other is getting hot for the next comb. There are
several different knife-heaters, one of which, seen in the illustration
(Fig. 3), is heated by a small lamp. When a cappings melter is used, a
separate knife-heater is not required, the knives being hung into the hot
water of the apparatus as shown on the left in Fig. 2.
The uncapping of the combs and the extracting of the honey should
be done as soon after the combs are taken from the hive as possible, if
the weather is at all cool, unless a warm room is available in which to
keep them. Combs uncap and extract best at the temperature they are
in a hive crowded with bees.
There are different ways of uncapping combs, cutting upwards or
downwards, crossways of the frame or lengthways; but in each instance
the bevelled edge of the knife is towards the comb, the severed cappings
passing over the broad face of the knife. The majority of operators use
Bee-hkeeping in Vietoria. 45
the upward stroke; the frame is placed on end over the cappings recep-
tacle, the knife is started at the lower side bar of the frame and with a
slightly sawing motion drawn upwards, the top and bottom bars of the
frame acting as a guide to the bevel of the knife, if a long one is used.
To prevent the severed cappings falling back against and sticking to the
surface of the comb, the frame should be tilted slightly forward, as in
Fig. 2. Before returning the knife to the hot water it should be ‘drawn
across the edge of the wooden frame support to free it of honey and wax.
The hand holding the frame should be kept back behind the wood of the
Fig. 1—Uncapping Combs into Simple Melter.
frame, as in Fig 1, to prevent cutting it should the knife slip at the end
of the cut. Uncapping, as in Fig. 3, is likely to result in damage to
one’s fingers. To keep the honey knife in good order, the edge used for
uncapping should not be utilized for trimming burr combs off top or bot-
tom bars where nail-heads are likely to be met. The knife should not be
left in the heating water during intervals in the work; and when being
sharpened should be ground from the bevelled side only, and brought to a
fine edge with an oil-stone.
46 Bee-hkeeping in Victoria.
A receptacle into which the cappings drop as they are shaved off the
combs is necessary. The simplest form consists of a vessel with a per-
forated bottom through which the honey drains into a lower receptacle.
For larger apiaries a trough, with a perforated false botton an inch above
Fig. 2.—Uncapping into Patent Cappings Reducer.
the real one, and a honey gate at one end, will be found more serviceable.
It should be large enough to hold the cappings of a day’s work, as they
drain very slowly; they should be broken up and worked about now and
again to hasten draining. In Fig. 3 an uncapping can is shown, the
Bee-heeping in Victoria, 47
honey from the cappings drains through a wire screen and is drawn off
through a honey gate at the bottom.
Even when allowed to drain for several days, a considerable amount
of honey remains in the drained cappings, and although this is recovered
Fig. 3.—Uncapping Can. Wrong way of holding Comb.
when the material is melted down for wax, it is dark in colour and of a
waxy flavour. The drained cappings are usually transferred to the solar
wax extractor, a tin-lined box covered with a pane of glass facing the
direct rays of the sun, and in which the wax melts and liberates the
18 Bee-heeping in Vieteria.
honey. Cappings are, however, awkward and slow to handle, and as the
solar extractor does not work on cloudy or hazy days, accumulations oecur
during the busy season. By means of cappings melters, all handling of
this sticky material is dispensed with, the cappings are melted as fast as
they are sliced off, and honey and wax separated.
Several different types of reducers, as cappings melters are called, are
on the market. The simplest form is that shown in Fig. 1, and consists
of two metal cans, one inside the other, with a space for water between
them. It is heated from the bottom by a kerosene stove placed under
the stand, a double wire screen prevents unmelted wax escaping by the
outlet gate, while the honey knife is kept hot in an opening between the
inner and outer can. Honey and wax flow out into the receiving vessel
together, and separate owing to their different specific gravity. The wax
Fig. 4.—New Perfection Oil Stove for Heating Capping Melters.
is allowed to set on top of the honey, and thereby imparts a flavour to the
latter. This apparatus is known as the “ Simple Cappings Melter.”
For apiaries of fifty colonies and over it is best to have the “ Patent
Cappings Reducer,” illustrated in Figure 2. It is composed of an
outer and an inner metal casing forming a jacketed space for
water between the two. Two opposite sides are connected
transversely by square tubes set $¢ inch apart forming a
grid. This apparatus is made of copper, which is tinned
where it comes in contact with honey or wax, while it is encased in
wood to conserve heat. It rests on an iron stand, and is heated by a
kerosene stove. The cappings, as they leave the honey knife, fall on to
the grid of tubes, on which they quickly melt in contact with the hot
metal, the resulting liquid passing through between the tubes into the
Bee-keeping in Vietoria. 4S
receiving tray in the lower part of the machine. This receiver is made
of stout tin, in the shape of a drawer, with a board front. At its lowest
point it connects with an elbow swivel tube on the outside, which is set to
the correct elevation to keep the level of the liquids in the tray slightly
below the wax outlet tube on the upper part of the receiver. Before
commencing work sufficient honey is put into the receiver tc cover the
end of the honey tube inside the tray. As liquid wax and honey accu-
mulate, and the level of the upper and outside end of the tube is reached,
honey will commence to flow from the elbow tube, while the liquid wax,
owing to its lesser specific gravity, floats on top of the honey, and
gradually rising overflows into a mould placed underneath the wax outlet
tube in front of the machine.
The elevation of the honey tube should be such that while a con-
tinuous overflow of honey and wax is maintained during uncapping of
combs, both liquids should run from the machine free from impurities,
the dross, of which there is a considerable quantity when old black combs
are uncapped, should remain in the tray. Before uncapping the
last super of combs the honey-tube may be slightly raised to force as
much wax out of the wax tube as can be got out clean; when all the cap-
pings have disappeared through the grid the honey tube is gradually
lowered, and the honey allowed to run till the first indications of impuri-
ties appear, when it is turned up. The cake of dross, which still con-
tains a little wax, is removed from the tray when cold, sufficient honey
generally remains to cover the end of the honey tube ready for further
work. From what has been said, it will be seen that the well-known
U_ tube principle is employed to effect continuous automatic separation
of liquids of different specific gravity; the receiver representing one arm
of the tube and the elbow tube the other.
A stove is needed to keep the water in the machine at boiling point.
A Primus stove may be used, but, while it will work quickly, it will give
rather too much heat when used in full blast, and requires occasional
pumping up and pricking. The New Perfection Blue Flame Oil Stove,
illustrated in Figure 4, will be found the most satisfactory means of
heating cappings melters. It takes somewhat longer than the Primus
stove to bring water to the boiling point, but the heating power can be
adjusted to a nicety, and, if handled according to the instructions sup-
plied with it, requires no attention whatever. Under the Patent Cap-
pings Reducer it is used without the iron stand supplied with it, so that
the funnel may project through the circular opening in the top of the
Reducer stand. Under this Reducer the stove rests on a support, as
shown on the left of the illustration (Figure 4). For other purposes
it is used in the stand shown in the centre.
XI.—Treatment of Honey After Extracting.
Clear honey realizes a better price than cloudy or congealed
samples; the latter is the trade term applied to candied honey. Pro-
ducers should, therefore, aim at having their honey remain clear and
liquid for as long a time as possible. This can be accomplished by
the removal of the factors which hasten granulation, namely, excess
of moisture, pollen grains and air bubbles.
50 Bee-heeping in Victoria.
The percentage of water in honey depends upon the degree of
humidity of the atmosphere at the time the nectar is gathered and
converted into honey by the bees, and, to a lesser degree, the flora
from which the nectar was obtained. Honey the produce of ground
flora such as clovers, dandelion, cape weed, &e., is generally not so
dense as honey from eucalypts, and as a rule candies quickly.
When granulation takes place, the crystallizing sugar will some-
times settle to the bottom of the vessel, while the non-crystallizing
portion remains on top. This peculiarity of some honeys is often
noticed when it is put up in glassware, and has given rise to the
erroneous idea that sugar has been added.
In a moist district, or in any locality late in the season, honey
should not be extracted until the combs are well sealed over by the
bees. Not only does the percentage of water in honey stand in a
certain ratio to the humidity of the atmosphere at the time of gather-
ing, but even after being extracted it will give off or absorb water from
the atmosphere, acting in this respect much in the same way as salt.
In the combs of the bee-hive, honey is to a large extent protected
against the varying influence of atmospheric moisture by the wax cap
with which each cell is closed by the bees, when the honey has reached
a certain degree of density. The honey producer should adopt the
same means of excluding moisture by hermetically closing the vessels
containing honey. Further, it should be noted in connexion with the
wintering of bees, that the winter stores should consist of sealed
honey. Honey gathered late in the season, stored into combs pre-
viously extracted, cannot be properly ripened and sealed over by the
bees owing to the low temperature and high humidity of the atmo-
sphere, and when consumed by the bees will react detrimentally on
their health and vitality. When bees are in a state of nature, little
or no honey will be stored so late in the season, all available comb hav-
ing been filled earlier. The building of new comb is possible only
at a comparatively high temperature.
Heatrine Honey to Prevent GRANULATION.
During or after extracting all honey should be heated to 160
degrees (Fahr.). At this temperature, honey is as thin as water,
readily clears itself of air bubbles, pollen grains, and particles of wax,
all of which rise to the surface, while at the same time a certain per-
centage of water evaporates and some of the crystallizing sugar is in-
verted, or changed into a non-crystallizing kind.
At ordinary temperature honey is an exceedingly sluggish liquid,
and it is impossible to strain it through anything fine enough to re-
remove impurities. With the application of heat, the necessity for
straining disappears, all impurities rising to the surface, where they
can be skimmed off when the honey is cooled down again. As stated,
honey is a sluggish liquid, but it is also a poor conductor of heat: it
is very important not to lose sight of these two factors when heating
honey, otherwise it may be badly injured in colour and flavour.
When heat is applied to a vessel containing water, circulation at
once commences, and the temperature of the whole body rises simul-
taneously; not so with honey; it is quite possible to burn portion of a
Bee-keeping in Victoria, 5]
tin of honey while the remainder is still quite cold, or in a candied
state. Thus, it will be seen that the methods employed in heating
other liquids cannot be used for honey. Heat should never be applied
direct. | Vessels containing the honey to be heated should be put into
another vessel containing water. The heat is applied to the outer
vessel either direct, by means of hot water circulation or by steam con-
ducted into the water. The temperature of the water surrounding: the
tins should never exceed 170 degrees Fahr., unless the honey is kept in
motion by continuous stirring.
If honey is heated at time of extracting it will not only be much
clearer and brighter, but the candying will be, to a great extent, pre-
vented, or considerably delayed. Moreover, honey so heated, if
eventually it does candy, while still in the hands of the producer, will
not throw up a layer of scum when being reliquified, as is the case with
honey not previously heated.
It is, therefore, desirable that all honey should be heated before
being packed for market; but as at extracting no time is available to
heat honey in the laborious way of immersing tins in hot water before
emptying them into the settling tank, an apparatus which will auto-
matically heat the honey on its way from the extractor to the honey
tank, is a great labour-saving device in the production of honey on a
large scale. This apparatus, known as the honey-heater, consists of
an inclined plane, divided off into a number of narrow races, down
which the honey from the gate of the extractor passes in a thin
stream over a hot metal surface. Quick heating to the required tem-
perature is obtained by the spreading out of the stream of honey over
a comparatively large surface. The apparatus is constructed of tinned
copper and filled with water, which is heated by means of a blue flame
stove placed underneath. The correct temperature of the heated
honey is ascertained by means of a thermometer, over the bulb of which
the honey runs before entering the tank, and regulated by the raising
or lowering of the flame of the stove.
Liquiryine Canpiep Honey.
When honey has candied solidly, it cannot be liquified hurriedly ;
from eight to ten hours will be required at a temperature of 165
degrees in a hot water bath for honey set hard in 60-lb. tins.
To compensate for the slowness of this process, the heating of the
water bath should be so arranged that the correct temperature is main-
tained automatically. This is best accomplished by using the blue
flame stove illustrated in the previous chapter. When large quanti-
ties of candied honey have to be liquified, provision should be made for
heating a number of tins simultaneously in a bath holding from twelve
to sixteen 60-Ib. tins. If such a bath is constructed specially for the
purpose, the dimensions should be such that there is a space of
1 to 1 inch between the tins. These should rest on strips of wood at
least 4 inch thick, so as to prevent contact between the bottom of the
tins and the bottom of the bath, and to allow the water to circulate all
round the tins. The bottom half of a square 400-gallon water tank
which has been cut in two horizontally is used by some bee-keepers for
heating honey. Battens are laid across the bottom for the honey tins
52 Bee-hkeeping in Victoria.
to rest upon. The tank is placed over a small excavation, or on a few
bricks, so that a small fire can be lighted under it. It is filled with
water to near the top of the honey tins, of which it holds sixteen.
When a specially made bath is used, it is best to use hot water
circulation instead of a fire underneath. The bath may consist of a
stout wooden case of the desired dimensions, lined with galvanized iron
and connected by means of two pipes with a boiler made of an oil drum
or a copper closed with a dome. The boiler or copper is set in the fire-
place, while the bath may be some little distance away on the floor of
the honey room, and thus the heating of the honey may be done indoors
at any time, and with a minimum of shifting about of the heavy honey
tins.
In liquifying candied honey, it should be remembered that every
particle must be dissolved, otherwise granulation will soon recom-
mence, the remaining undissolved crystals, however small, acting as
nuclei for fresh crystallization.
XII.—Comb-honey.
In Vietoria, and in Australia generally, the amount of honey
marketed in the comb is only a small fraction of the total production.
In England. the United States, and Canada, a considerable portion,
perhaps nearly one-half, of the honey used for table purposes is in the
comb. ;
In North America, the production of comb-honey in 1 lb. sections
has attained to large dimensions, and many large apiaries are run ex-
clusively for the raising of high grade section-honey, high prices being
obtainable for what is graded as ‘‘ faney.’’ In the profitable produc-
tion of comb-honey, considerable skill, and favorable conditions of
climate and flora, are essential.
That a larger amount of honey in the comb is not consumed in
Australia is often attributed to lack of enterprise of the apiarists, or
to the absence of consumers willing to pay the extra price for honey
in the comb, as compared with extracted.
Well filled sections of comb-honey with perfectly clean white
cappings can only be obtained in localities which have a heavy honey
flow lasting sufficiently long to insure uninterrupted work in the
sections from start to finish. The profitable production of comb-
honey is only possible under a combination of favorable conditions not
present in every locality, and not every season. Comb-honey may,
as a matter of fact, be produced whenever bees store more than is
needed for their own immediate requirements, but very few bee-
keepers are aware at what cost, through loss in yield, this is done when
attempted under unfavorable conditions. There are seasons when
bees will produce a fair amount of honey when given ready-built
combs for extracted honey, but if compelled to work in sections, a
very small yield of inferior comb-honey will result.
The true causes of the small production are, however, the climatic
conditions of our country and the vagaries of blossoming and nectar
secretion of our native flora. The yields of honey are equal to those
obtained in any part of the world, when taken on an average for
Bee-keeping in Victoria, 53
several years, but our high average is made up of a glut one season
and a comparative dearth in the following. We have “‘ on ’’ and
‘* off ’? years; and, while it is comparatively easy to produce good
sections in the ‘‘ on ’’ year, it would be quite unprofitable to attempt
it in the ‘‘ off ’’ year.
In the case of extracted honey, much of it is held over from one
season to another without any deterioration in quality. Comb-honey,
however, cannot be kept in perfect condition for any length of time,
except with a considerable amount of trouble in providing dry warm
storage. Thus, 1 lb. sections may be rather plentiful one season and
almost unobtainable the following, and the prices proportionately
high. Under these conditions, neither production nor consumption
can be expected to increase.
Some ten to fifteen years ago, several apiarists produced comb-
honey on a large scale, but abandoned its production for that of ex-
tracted honey. Much of the section honey which finds its way on to
the market now is produced by bee-keepers in a small way; and in
appearance leaves much room for improvement.
As already stated, skill is required to produce comb-honey profit-
ably. The conditions necessary to make comb-honey production
profitable are—l. A sufficient amount of the right kind of honey-
producing flora within reach of the bees. 2. Atmospheric conditions
favorable to the secretion of nectar and the flight of bees. 3. Strong
colonies in which the maximum number of the workers are field bees.
The factors 1 and 2 depend upon the locality, while the third is one
depending upon the skill and energy of the bee-keeper; this should
from the very commencement of the season be directed towards secur-
ing the greatest possible number of field bees in each hive at the
beginning of the main honey flow, and to maintain the strength of
the colonies while the honey flow lasts. Under Australian conditions,
such as the irregular blooming of some of the honey-producing trees
and the periodical scarcity of pollen, it is in some localities practically
impossible to bring colonies to that condition which is necessary to
the profitable production of first-class 1 lb. sections of comb-honey.
In districts where the main honey flow begins shortly after the bloom-
ing of that valuable pollen plant, Cape Weed, there is little difficulty
in having colonies in the right condition for comb-honey, provided
that they had wintered well, and that each colony has a vigorous
queen, Cape Weed is now so widely distributed over Victoria that
there are few localities where it is not plentiful on any open spaces,
for it does not thrive in close forest or scrub country, and is, therefore,
absent in the vicinity of some of the best apiary sites in the State. In
such localities the hives are often not in a condition to produce comb-
honey at a profit, and the colonies had better be kept in a locality with
a plentiful early pollen supply and shifted on to the honey site when
the flow begins.
There are many other localities where Cape Weed and other pollen
producers are plentiful, but too long an interval occurs before the
honey flow commences, and the bees are then often in a backward con-
dition, more so when, as is usually the case in such districts, there has
been much swarming. Swarming is a factor that has to be reckoned
54 Bee-keeping in Victoria.
with in the production of comb-honey. It is a well known fact that
when extracted honey is produced there is much less swarming and no
difficulty in keeping the colonies strong, particularly when the queen
is given free access to the upper story or stories up to the time of the
first extracting, or where the honey flow is very heavy throughout the
season. When sections are placed on the hives, instead of extracting
combs, the bees will be much slower going up into the super, and will
beeome so crowded in the brood chamber that swarming results. Thus
the worker-foree is divided, neither the swarm nor the parent colony
is in a condition to store surplus honey for two to four weeks, or longer,
if the stock was only of medium strength before it swarmed.
Often before either of the two colonies is ready for storing in sec-
tions the best of the honey flow is over, and what usually occurs,
particularly in the districts near Melbourne, is that the number of
colonies is doubled, a few highly coloured and stained sections are
produced, a number of swarms abscond, and some of the later casts
die of starvation before spring.
To deal successfully with the swarming problem in connexion with
comb-honey it should, first of all, be understood that destroying the
queen cells which are raised by a colony preparing to swarm does not
prevent swarming, it only delays it, except when conditions unfavor-
able to the bees, snch as bad weather or a stoppage of the honey flow.
follow immediately after the destruction of the queen cells.
Although the preduection of comb-honey in 1-lb. sections encourages
the swarming impulse, vet there will usually be found in an apiary of
any size a few colonies wiiich. while eaual to the best in population and
yield of honey, go through one or two entire seasons without swarming.
Such stocks give a maximum return for a minimum of labour and
attention, and their number should be increased by rearing the young
queens required from the queens of these non-swarmers.
To obtain the best results, the manipulation of the colonies should
come under two different headings: 1. Preventive measures. 2.
Control of the swarming impulse.
1. Preventive measures should commence long before there are
indications of swarming. The brood chamber should never be allowed
to become too crowded with bees, nor should it have any great quantity
of honey in combs not occupied by brood; further, the less honey there
is between the brood and the top bars of the frames, the sooner will
the bees work in sections when the latter are put on. There are
different ways of getting a colony into the right condition for work in
sections, such as uncapping combs of sealed honey and inserting them,
one at a time, between the brood at intervals of four or five days, or
doing the same with extracted combs if honey is plentiful in the hive
or coming in freely. | Operations such as these, however, require an
amount of time and labour which few Australian bee-keepers are pre-
pared to give, neither is the artificial stimulation thus produced always
an advantage. We cannot predict to a week or so when a particular
honey flow will start, and it is therefore better to let the development
of the colonies proceed on natural lines. The simplest way of getting
a colony in the right condition will be found to be to allow an expan-
sion of the brood nest upwards into a set of drawn combs, and then at
Bee-heeping in Victoria. 55
the right time for putting the sections on, to put the combs containing
the most brood, especially the sealed, into the lower body, shaking the
bees off the surplus combs in with the others and using the combs to
help on weaker stocks. When a two-story colony has thus been reduced
to one set of brood combs and one or two section supers, the bees are
forced to enter the sections at once.