At the Hive Entrance.pdf - BioBees

E. The drawing in of winter.
1. August.
Observation
Explanation
Stimulative feeding was already By feeding (1 : 1) the colony, we are cheating it by proprovided
for 10 to 12 days in viding it with a nectar flow. As experience has shown
July. Compare the flight acti- the addition of a little honey gives even better results.
vity and quantity of pollen The numerous larvae demand extra care from the old
returned by the colonies that foragers. The numerous flights involved in effect puriwere
fed with the much redu- fy the colony by eliminating those bees that could
ced activity of colonies, which, otherwise have fallen ill and littered the bottom
as an experiment, had not been board. It is in this way that one creates a strong strain
fed.
of bees ready to overwinter.
At what time of the year
should the colonies no longer
have any brood?
The majority of beekeepers do not realize to what a
great extent the value of a colony or of a particular
race or breed can be increased in our regions by the
timely termination of egg laying. Observations made
and compared, over a period of years enable one to
draw conclusions confirming this. Why does the
native bee survive the winter so well? Why does it
consume so little of its stores and have such a low
mortality rate? Why does it greet the spring in such a
fit condition with stores that are hardly touched?
Because the latter are not used to feed useless late
brood and because, well adapted to our climatic conditions,
the native bee ceases to lay eggs as soon as the
sources of nectar and pollen in the fields dry up. I
have raised these bees in the area of the Sudetenland.
As early as the end of August there were no longer
any eggs in the majority of the colonies.
Nowadays the native bee is often replaced by the
gentle Carniolan types "Peschets", "Troiseck", or
"Sklemar" which originate from the eastern Alps.
Sometimes beekeepers complain that this bee
abruptly ceases to lay eggs in August and does not
even let itself be influenced by stimulative feeding. If
the queen continues to lay, the bees remove the eggs
from the cells. They behave in this respect, exactly
like those bees that formerly used to inhabit the hol-
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