From page 13 to mishandling of the bees by the beekeepers . The third question , “ Does the fault lie with the beekeeper ?” beggars the answer that there are some instances that the beekeeper can be at fault . He catches a feral swarm in a tree that has found a desirable place to set up home , places the swarm in a beehive brood chamber , confines the queen so that she is not able to fly out and places the unit in a nice warm sunny position . These bees are stressed , the box is too small and too hot and the ventilation very poor . The queen starts egg laying and once there is brood the beekeeper removes the restriction of the queen . This swarm will not develop to any sizable producing swarm and will recede in numbers . The next beekeeper has a beautiful strong swarm loaded with 20 kg of honey . To his
Colony Collapse Disorder ... deserted hive with unfinished comb
absolute delight , he crops off all the honey and the swarm dies of starvation because he has not left enough honey for the bees to continue . Then there is the ignorant fellow who overstocks his apiary with 20 swarms when the carrying capacity of the areas is only sufficient for eight swarms . The swarms die of starvation or swarm off to find better hunting grounds . There is that greedy beekeeper who continually moves his swarms and follows the next flowering crop . He does not rest his queens , who eventually stop laying and the swarms recede and die out . The wax moth takes over and
BEEKEEPING
he blames the wax moth invasion and not his total ignorance that queens need at least 14 weeks rest per year . Then there is the beekeeper who moves his hives at night without closing down the entrances . During the travel to the new site , the confused swarms , shaken up on the thumping truck , move out of the hive brood chamber . He off loads , thumps the hives down in the new and strange locations . When daylight sets in the queens are lost to absolute confusion and they move away leaving most of the swarm behind to die . The newcomer to beekeeping , a keen and enthusiastic nature lover , too often opens his hives to see how things are getting on . He breaks the seals the bees have made to control the inner temperatures of the hive, perhaps exposing the
Continued on page 17
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