CHAPTER XII. =enemies of the Bee and Bee-Keeper=

=Enemies of the Bee and Bee-keeper=

BEES, and with them the bee-keeper, are subject to annoyance and depredations from many enemies in the natural world. Some make direct attacks on the hive and their contents, and others, by destroying or interfering with the food supply of the bees, sadly deplenish the stores for which the bees work and on which the bee-keeper's hopes rest. Among the former are insect-eating birds, spiders, moths, and other insects. Prominent in the other class are bud-eating birds and the green fly. Thus it will be seen that in both classes the enemies of the bees are also those of the gardener, so that no scruples need be felt in combating them with all the forces at our command.

=The Earwig.=--Among the most tiresome of pests is the earwig. The bar-framed hive seems to suit its requirements in every particular, and an opportunity is apparently never lost by it to enter and take possession. Any empty combs that may lie within its purview are immediately commandeered for its own particular purposes--even when combs are kept for warmth in a super or section crate on the quilt inside the hive they are not safe from the ravages of this pest. Its eggs are deposited in the cells and the combs rendered useless.

One of the best traps for catching earwigs is the old-fashioned one of a plant-pot filled with moss and placed upside down on the end of a stake. The pot and its contents should be dropped into boiling water at regular intervals of a few days.

=Mice.=--Both house and field mice are included in the bee-keeper's black list. Their raids are seldom made in summer-time, especially if the hives are up to strength, but in winter it is no uncommon occurrence to find them in possession of a hive. It is probably the sweet scent and suggestion of warmth that first attract them to explore the hive, but once inside they begin the work of devastation. They are keen after the farinaceous pollen and demolish the combs to get to their stores.

The only effective way to prevent the entry of mice is to place a piece of zinc perforated with holes just large enough to admit the passage of a bee, along the entrance to the hive to a height of 3/16 of an inch.

=Moths.=--Moths of various kinds choose the hive as a suitable place in which to deposit their eggs, and the bee-keeper has need to keep a sharp lookout for the first evidence of their visitation, for, if not dealt with promptly, disaster is sure to follow. They generally deposit their eggs in loose bundles among the combs, and immediately the grubs are hatched they commence operations on the cells, which are rendered useless by their perforations. The sawgate of the frame is a favourite lodging of the moth, and the skep hive, of course, is a happy hunting ground for it.

The old-fashioned remedies--lavender flowers and camphor--are still esteemed the best for warding off moths, though naphthalene and chemical solutions are without doubt equally effective.

=Ants.=--The fondness of ants for sweet things is sufficient explanation of their raids on the hives. Where they are numerous it is advisable to stand the legs of the hive in tins containing paraffin oil: this is an effective means of preventing their climbing into the hives.

=The Blind Louse.=--This is a parasite fairly common in this country, and the bees, both hive and wild varieties, are favoured by it as hosts. Although it is said to be harmless, it must be treated with suspicion, and if its presence in a hive be detected steps should be taken to get rid of it. If tobacco smoke be blown into the hive, the parasite will loosen its tenacious grip and fall to the floorboard of the hive. Its destruction is then easy. Before the floor-board is replaced it should be washed with hot water into which a few drops of carbolic acid have been dropped.

=Pollen Mites.=--Amongst the smallest of the insects visible to the naked eye these little creatures work--as their name suggests--among the pollen stored by the bees. They are about the size of a grain of pollen and prefer the pollen when it is damp either with honey or water.

It is a commendable practice to keep combs that contain pollen by themselves when they are not in use.

=Spiders.=--In this country the spider is not to be so dreaded by the bee-keeper as it is in hotter climates. For cleanliness' sake, however, it is well to keep the hive clear of its webs.

=Green Fly.=--It is the bee-keeper rather than the bee that has cause to dislike the green fly. To the bee, indeed, the aphis ranks as great a friend as it does to the ant. To both it is the excretion with which the aphis surrounds itself that is the attraction. To the gardener and the bee-keeper, however, it is an abomination to be warred against by all means at command.

The excretion of the aphis, popularly known as "honeydew," is white when at first sprayed out by the little creature, but after it is stored by the bee in the comb its presence is marked by a dark patch in the honey, and the bee-keeper knows that the latter is spoiled. This dark colour is attributed to a fungus generated by the honeydew. Where large quantities of honeydew are contained in combs the most economical method of dealing with the latter is to give them to the bees for drawing-out combs, for it is practically impossible to separate the honey, and for commercial purposes the presence of honeydew is prejudicial.

Occasionally honey that contains honeydew will crystallise, sometimes to look like a sponge, and in such cases the honeydew can be run off. If not so treated it will ferment and permeate the candied honey.

=Wasps.=--When particularly numerous, wasps become a source of anxiety to the bee-keeper, and it is therefore to his interest to aid in keeping their numbers down as much as possible. The usual method is to destroy the nests before the queens are hatched out--which generally occurs about the middle of September.

=Snails and Slugs.=--Here again the bee-keeper and the gardener are at one in their efforts against common enemies. It is probably due to the trail of slime left by both slug and snail that the bees do not care to interfere with these intruders to the hive and leave them to roam about at their leisure.

The practice of using old honeycombs as bait or traps for these marauders is not to be commended, for their fermenting contents near the hives is in no way good, and may lead to ill, for the bees. Where snails and slugs are troublesome it is better to raise the hives at least a foot from the ground and clear away all grass and weeds in their immediate neighbourhood, sprinkling the ground with strong salt and water--or if the ground is to be fallowed, dry salt may be used.

=Birds.=--For the most part birds are indirect enemies of the bees, for they injure them by injuring the buds and flowers on which they draw for nectar. Finches and sparrows are the worst offenders in this respect.

A bird that often makes a direct attack on bees, however, is the blue-tit, an insect-eating bird. When the winter is severe, and insects rare, the blue-tit will venture to tackle bees. Its methods afford a curious instance of the adaptability of wild creatures to circumstances. The general proceeding is for the blue-tit to alight on the front of a hive and tap gently with its beak at the entrance. The tapping attracts the attention of the inmates, and one is usually curious enough to investigate its cause. The bird seizes it immediately, flies off with it to a convenient branch, and, holding it down with one claw, with a quick motion abstracts the sting organs. That source of danger removed, "little Billy Bluecap" proceeds to peck off the head--which he likewise discards--and to lay open the thorax, the contents of which are all that he requires. From this, it is evident that blue-tits have developed an epicurean taste with regard to bees, and, when one has acquired it, it is astonishing the number of bees it will demolish to satisfy its cravings.

When hives are liable to such raids, perforated zinc, or small strips of glass, fixed on edge across the entrance will often serve to frighten the birds off.

Another bird that raids directly on bees is the flycatcher, one of the migratory birds which come here for breeding purposes. Their usual swooping movement when catching insects on the wing is not practised when bees are their objective. It would seem that they avoid bees when flying. When raiding them, the bird alights at the back of the hive, and rushing under the alighting board, gathers up as many bees as he can from the ground in front of the hive.

It is quite possible that flycatchers could account for many a missing virgin queen.

=The Toad.=--Perhaps it is hardly right to class the toad as an enemy to the bee, seeing that the bulk of its food consists of insects that are injurious--either directly or through their larvae--to vegetable or plant life. But, inasmuch as it varies its diet with bees when they can be obtained, we have included it in this list.

INDEX

AIR-ORGANS of bee, 9, 14 Alighting board, 26, 81 Ammonia as remedy for bee-sting, 19 Antennæ of bee, uses of, 15 Ants in hives, 114 Aphis and bees, 116 Artificial pollen, 85 Autumn feeding, 87-8

BAR frame, advantages of, 28; how to handle, in hive, 60, 74 Bar-framed hive, working for profit and, 4; comb formation and, 35; how to transport, 81; essential to profit-making, 93; how to work, 92 et seq. "Bee-bread," 56 Bee escapes, 32 Bees, as heat producers in hive, 5; and swarming, 8, 44, 68; metamorphosis of, 13; anatomy of, 13-9; sting of, 18; and fowls, 19; stingless, 19; scent of, 46-7; and comb-making, 50; and varnish, 51; and cross fertilisation of flowers, 53; and honey gathering, 54-5; and pollen, 56-7; treatment of chilled, 58; manipulation of, 58-9; how to stimulate, 65; and reserve food, 72, 81; how to drive, 79; how to transport, 81; when food is declined by, 89; diseases of, 106 et seq.; enemies of, 112 et seq. Bees-wax, how formed, 49-50, 92; value of, 104; how to melt and sort, 104-5 Birds and the bee-keeper, 117 Blind louse and bees, 115 Blue-bag as remedy for bee sting, 9 Blue-tit and bees, 118 Brood-chamber, 26; when to expand, 61; standard frames from, as super, 73 Brood-nest, choked, treatment of, 67 Brood-rearing, artificial feeding, and, 66; time of commencement of, 66; use of old honey stores in, 90-1 Brushes, best form of, 41

CALICO, unbleached, for quilt, 33 Camphor, use of, in hives, 42, 96, 114 Canadian feeders, 37 Candy, for winter feeding, 88 Carbolic acid, use of, as disinfectant, 42 Carbolic cloths, how to use, 40-1 Carr, W. B., and "self spacers," 28, 29 Cells, queen, 6, 8, 74; drone, cappings of, 12, 13; shapes of, 49 Cheese-cloth as strainer, 100 Chilled brood, 110 Chyle food, 7, 9, 50-1 Cleanliness, necessity for, 38, 61, 71, 107 Comb-foundation, and drone rearing, 12; varieties of, and how to use, 35; how to use old, 36; and wax-making, 50; how to use, 92-3; handling of hives containing, 94 Confidence, necessity for, 58

DISINFECTANTS, 42 Doubling stocks, method of, 62 Driven bees, taking old queen from, 65 Driving, method of, 79 Drone, the, and mating, 7, 11; life history of, 11; how to keep down number of, 12; period of incubation of, 13; comb-foundation and breeding of, 35; cells of, 49; means of escape from super for, 74 Dummy, how used, 32, 61 Dysentery, symptoms of, and remedy for, 108

EARWIG and bees, 112 Embedder, a simple, 94 Enemies of bees, 112 Excessive swarming, remedy for, 73 Excluder, zinc, 36, 74, 76 Extractor, necessity for, 38; how to work, 98-9 Eyes of bee, 16

FANNING as a sign of trouble in hive, 17, 107 Feeders, varieties of, and how to use, 37 Feeding, circumstances in which it is useless, 5; varieties of feeders, 37; use of propolis in, 52; when necessary, 61, 81; weak stocks, 63; inside, 64; to encourage brood rearing, 66; after supering from brood-chamber, 75; necessity of, in spring, 82; method of, in spring, 83; syrup food, 84; artificial pollen food, 85; water in, 85; when to stop, in spring, 86; in autumn, 86; in winter, 88; injurious, 107; in cases of suspected disease, 109 Fermentation in hive, 18, 90 Float-feeders, 37 Flowers and bees, 53 Flycatcher and bees, 119 Formic acid, in bee sting, 19 Fold brood, 18; symptoms of, 107 Fuel for smoker, 40

GLOVES, use of, 43, 59 Green-fly and bees, 115

HEATHER honey, shallow frames and, 30; colour and flavour of, 55; extraction of, 56 Hive, bees as heat producers in, 5; bees and ventilation of, 17; hints on selection of, 21; the skep, 22; disadvantages of wooden, 24; size of, 25; floorboard of, 26; brood-chamber, 26; queen-rearing, 33, 75; observation, 34; scent of, 46; position of, 58; how and when to clean, 61; weak, 61; for swarm, 71; re-queening of, 75, 77; transport of, 81; heating when bees are starved in, 90; dangers of fermenting food in, 90; use of old honey-stores in, 90-1; mice in, 18, 113 Honey, what it is, 48; flowers and nectar for, 54; influence of source of on colour, 55; flavour of, 55; formation and sealing of, 96; extraction of, 97-9; ripening, 99; straining, 100-2; storing and bottling, 103; marketing, 103 Honeycomb, composition and purpose of, 48-9; care of, 95,96; removal from hive of, 96-7 Honey dew, 116 Honey press, 39

"IMPS" for skep hive, 23 Incubation, period of, 13 Isle of Wight disease, 108

JAWS of bee, how used, 17

Lime honey, colour of, 55

METAMORPHOSIS of bees, 13 Methylated spirit, as remedy for bee sting, 19; bees' objection to, 19, 51 Mice and hives, 18, 113 Mildew, in honeycombs, 96; in quilts, 107 Modern methods, necessity for, 3 Montbretia leaves, brushes of, 41 Moths in hives, 114

NAPHTHALENE as disinfectant and insecticide, 42, 96, 114 "Nucleus" hives, 33

OBSERVATION hives, 34 Onion as remedy for bee-sting, 19 Outside feeding, advantages of, 83; method of, 83-4; in cases of suspected disease, 109-10

POLLEN, and worker bees, 10; bees as transferrers of, 53; how used by bees, 56; artificial, 85 Pollen-baskets of bee, 16, 56 Pollen mites, 115 Porter escape, 32 Prevention of swarming, 72 Profit, necessities to secure, 3, 36, 38 Propolis, on old quilts, 33, 52; what it is, 51; excess of, 51-2; use of, in artificial feeding, 52, 85

QUEEN bee, life history of, 5-7; chyle food and, 7; mating of, 7; egg-laying capacity of, 7; virgin, and unfertile eggs, 7, 12; and swarming, 8, 44, 68, 70; size of, 8; how to prevent rearing of, 8; period of incubation of, 13; susceptibility to cold of, 14; hives for rearing, 33; excluder, 36; scent of, 48; shape of cell of, 49; wing-clipping of, 72; exclusion of, from super, 74; rearing of, 75 Queen-cage, 78 Queen excluders, 36; use of, in driving, 65; use of, in supering, 74, 76 Queen-rearing hives, 33, 65, 75 Queen-rearing, methods of, 75 Quilt, its use and material, 32-3

"RINGING the swarm," 68 Ripening honey, method of, 99 Rot in wood hives, 24 "Rot preventers," 25 Rust, and frame "ends," 29; and frame wires, 93

SCENT of bees, 46 et seq. Sections, shallow frames and, 31; how made, 31; how to work, 94; how to market, 104 "Self-spacers" for bar frames, 28 Shaking, a swarm, 70; frames, 74 Shallow frames, 30 Skep hive, development of, 22; uselessness of, in modern practice, 22; how "taken," 23; "imp" and super for, 23; its immunity from fungus and rot, 24; how to pack for transport, 81 Slow feeders, 37 Slugs and the bee-keeper, 117 Smoker, object and use of, 39-40; how to use, 59, 80 Snails and the bee-keeper, 117 Soda as remedy for bee sting, 19 Spiders in hives, 115 Spring feeding, 83-6 Standard frames, sizes of, 28; "ends" for, 28-9, 60; how to hang, 29; "wide-shouldered," 29; as super, 29, 75; comb foundation and, 92; wiring, 91 Starvation, symptoms of, 89 Stimulating, process of, 65 Sting of bee, as weapon of defence, 18; remedy for, 19; scent of, 47; safeguards against, 59 Stingless bees, 19 Straining honey, 100-2 Super, and queenless stock, or weak hive, 5; for skep, 23; standard frames as, 29; shallow frames as, 30; what it is, 31; for use with choked brood-nest, 67; of standard frames from brood-chamber as, 73; removal of, for winter feeding, 87; in section working, 95 Swarm, how to handle the, 45, 69; virgin, 45; "ringing" the, 68; shaking the, 70; first, 71 Swarming, cause of, 8, 44; signs of, 44-5; times of, 45; scent in, 46; excessive, 72; prevention of, 72 Syrup food, recipes for, 84, 87

TONGUE of bee, uses of, 15 Tracheæ, 9, 14 Transporting bees, methods of, 81

UNCAPPING, 98 Uncapping knives, how to use, 38 Uniting stocks, method of, 64

VARNISH, and bees, 51 Veil, how to use, 42-3, 59 Ventilation of hive, 17, 81 Virgin queen, and unfertile eggs, 7; swarm, 45, 70

Wasps and the bee-keeper, 116 Water, necessity for providing, 85; in autumn feeding, 87 Weak hive, 61; "robbery" from, 62; treatment of, 62-5 White clover honey, colour of, 55 Wings of bee, arrangement and uses of, 17 Wiring of frames, methods of, 93 Worker bee, description of, 8; occasional fertility of, 8, 12; life history of, 8, 10; and pollen, 10; as honey-gatherer, 10; period of incubation of, 13, 85; sensibility to cold of, 14; cells of, 49; and pollen, 56-7

PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.

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Transcriber Note

Minor typos corrected. Text moved to prevent splitting of paragraphs by image placement. Hyphenation or lack thereof, were left as in the original.