My location for surplus honey is not as good as some other
sections of the State, and from the middle of June to the
last of July, from 4 to 6 weeks, there appears to be no honey
flow, and the weather being hot and dry, scorches what bloom
is left, soon after June comes in. Our last rain is in April,
or sometimes late in May, and no more, generally, before
October or November. All kinds of stock depending on pasture,
especially in the hills, suffer at that time. When bees
can gather no honey, Italians especially go about visiting
for the purpose of plunder, and woe to the colony that is
not strong enough to defend its stores. I have reduced the
entrance, covered the entrance with cow-chips, wet hay,
brush, and, in fact, tried all remedies that ever I saw in
print or heard of, without success. While the robbers were
helping themselves, the colony robbed was not discouraged,
but appeared to be robbing some other, and the queen was
laying eggs, to be starved as they advanced to brood; no bees
appeared to be killed at the entrance, as no blacks were
about; they were all Italians, and they can rob when they get
started.
I exchanged the places of the hives without success, until I
thought of changing after dark; so while they were robbing I
went to all colonies that appeared to be quiet and minding
their own business and placed a single stone on the cover,
then on those that were getting robbed the worst, I placed
2 stones. Then when so dark that no bees were flying, I
exchanged places and put a strong colony on the stand of a
weak one. Sometimes I had to repeat this, but not always.
Some of those weak ones filled their hives with golden rod
honey and robbing was stopped for that season. It was amusing
to see the robbers when those strong colonies had fairly
awakened, to know that they had callers; they mustered out at
the entrance solid and were ready for business. The robber
seemed to think he had made a mistake. The strong colony had
not got discouraged; the robbers could not force the entrance
and the weak colony not in a fighting humor, received the
recruits from the strong one, which were a little too
surprised at the change to interfere with the queen and
inmates. Most of the old bees would go to their own stand but
in the confusion of things they would gradually be at home
in their own hive. I found the plan very successful, when
closing the entrance did not do. I extracted as late as June
10 to keep down swarming.
Last spring my Italians took the grafting wax from my peach
grafts. I also observed them gathering the worm dust from
decayed oak wood, and filling their pockets instead of
pollen, about Christmas. In the valley 2 miles from here,
frost was quite severe, but here the mercury got below 32°
only twice; the lowest was 28°. Natural bloom was 2 months
behind, owing to early frosts which appeared to drive the sap
down to the roots.
Napa, Cal.
For the American Bee Journal.
Bees Killed by Kindness.