TIME AND MANNER OF
RENEWING OLD HIVES.
It is a common prejudice, that hives cannot be profitably preserved
beyond three, four, or six years at most, and that, beyond that
term, they become weak, give out no more swarms, and finish by being
pillaged, or becoming the prey of moths, which, if suffered to
establish themselves, soon make horrible devastation among them. A
great many experiments, however, have fully convinced me that such
is not the case, and that the duration of the hives may be greatly
prolonged by renewing them.
I have several from twelve to twenty years old, that are as
prosperous, and swarm as well, as the young ones. I have even one of
June 1789, consequently now in its twenty-fifth year, and it gave off
an excellent swarm on the 4th of June 1811, the same in 1813, then aged
twenty-four years, and again another this year 1814. Besides these
numerous swarms, I have taken from it 142 pounds of honey-comb, either
by pruning, or by means of capes. I have never united it with other
bees, because its neighbours had always enough to subsist on, and I
have renewed it only once.
The decay of old hives proceeds from three causes. The first is the
candying of the old honey, of which the bees have sometimes an ample
store, but which, from inability to eat it, becomes in that state very
troublesome, in place of being of use to them. When forced by hunger to
have recourse to it, they draw it out of the cells, and throw it down
on the board that serves as a floor to their habitation, in order to
profit by any of the sweet drops that happen to be in a liquid state.
In nibbling and scraping to empty the cells, it happens that many
of them become so daubed, that, being unable to get away from it,
they fall down, and soon perish, if the weather is cold. Thus the old
honey is lost as much to the proprietors as to the labourers that have
gathered it. Supposing, again, that they do not touch it, the place
it occupies is lost either for the purpose of depositing new honey or
brood, and hence the weak state the hives fall into, if not renewed.
A second cause of their decay is owing to the great quantity of the
pollen or dust of flowers that the bees gather and carry home on their
legs, especially in the spring and autumn, when large portions of the
combs will be found filled with it on both sides. It is an essential
ingredient in the pap with which they nourish the young brood, but good
for nothing else. Different authors have named it _bee-bread_; but
the bees never eat it: indeed it is a well attested fact, that they
will die of hunger on the combs that are filled with it. As it is very
heavy, it sometimes cheats those people who estimate the provision of a
hive by its weight. This is one of the reasons why I have recommended,
in Chap. IX. to allow eight or ten pounds more to old hives than to new
swarms.
The bee-bread being generally, when present, deposited in the centre
of the combs, where the brood thrives best, of course the place which
it takes up is so much lost. It is liable to mould in winter, and the
working bees have a great deal of trouble in tearing it from the cells,
and putting it out of their way. It spoils the honey, takes away its
whiteness, and gives it an unpleasant taste; it destroys the wax even
more, and forms that brown scum under the cakes, when great care is
not taken to separate it. Nevertheless, bees lay up useless hoards of
it, which they go on augmenting every year: and this is the only point
on which they can be accused of a want of that prudence and foresight
so admirable in every other respect. By renovating the hives, one
frees them of this superfluous substance, and the space it occupied is
directly replaced by beautiful white combs, and the whole hive becomes
as good as new.
A third cause of the weakness of an old hive is the blackness of the
combs in the centre and front of the hive. These old combs are mostly
pierced with holes large enough to hold two or three fingers, or even
a whole hand. They are not openings which the bees have cut out for
themselves, to pass from one comb to another; but are the result of
some violent measure to which they have had recourse, for the purpose
of defending themselves from the moths, one of which, establishing
itself in a comb, will soon destroy the whole hive, if they do not
speedily rid themselves of it. The young moth is not so easily got the
better of, being cased in a sort of strong silk, by means of which it
forms galleries, and slides from side to side of the hive; and the
bees are unable either to get within reach of the enemy, or to rend
this silken covering that defends it; but, perceiving their danger,
they join together in forming a plan of attack for their deliverance,
by gnawing the comb in which the moth is established, as far as the
galleries extend; throw down the piece, and finish by reducing it to
crumbs, and never rest until they kill the foe. They require to be in
great force for this operation. Weak hives need not attempt it; indeed
they generally finish by becoming the prey of the moths.
It is singular that bees, which know so well how to build combs, should
not be able to repair them. I have found as many as six of these holes
in one comb. Are they left standing thus, like so many monuments of
victories gained over a formidable enemy,--the most formidable and the
most difficult to conquer? All useless combs should be taken away, as
they tend to weaken the hive, and they will soon be replaced by entire
and healthy ones.