EXTRACTOE. 



190 



EXTRACTOR. 



create a little artificial honey -flow dnrinp: a 

 dearth of honey so tliat the bees, instead of 

 jxHincingc ni)on the hives and on the conil)S 

 that are being extracted, will be otherwise 

 enssiped, making extracting easy and pleas- 

 ant without a robber in sight. One can put 

 the whole apiary in good humor for such 

 work byi>;itting out two or three oiitdoor 



WALKERS PLAN OF USING AN rPPER EN- 

 TRANCE IN CONNEI^TION WITH AN 

 ALIGHTING BOARD. 



feeders a hundred yards from the apiary, 

 and suspending them in the air under trees 

 as exphdned under Feeding and Feeders. 

 These feeders should contain a good grade 

 of honey diluted with water to about the 

 consistency of raw nectar. When the feed- 

 ers are first set out it will take some time 

 before the bees will discover them, even 

 during the robbing season; but when they 



get to visiting them they begin carrying in 

 the feed. If one or two feeders thus set out 

 do not restore good humor on the part of 

 the bees, it may be necessary to put out 

 more until all the would-be robbers are kept 

 ousy. 



This outdoor feeding should be practiced 

 a couple of days before the time set for the 

 regular extracting, and then, of course, the 

 feeders on the morning or the afternoon 

 when the work is to be done should be well 

 filled and kept so during the entire time that 

 the hives are opened and combs exposed in 

 extracting. 



Once the bees get nicely started on the out- 

 door feedei s there will be no trouble from 

 robbers, provided that extracting combs 

 are not left lying around loose for any length 

 of time. The extracting should be done 

 inside of a screened building; and when 

 such precautions are taken in connection 

 with outdoor feeding there will not be a 

 robber in sight, no matter if the fields are 

 barren of nectar of any kind. 



One may have to feed in outdoor feeders 

 anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds of honey a 

 day while such extracting is going on; but 

 that amount of honey so given goes back 

 into the hives; and while some of it may be 

 lost, yet a good portion of it is saved to the 

 bee-keeper. The saving in labor, annoyance, 

 stings, and the general ujiroar in the apiary, 

 will pay for the cost of the honey so fed 

 many times over. 



In this outdoor feeding to divert the rob- 

 bers during extracting we would recommend 

 feeding nothing but honey. Sugar syrup 

 ought never be given during the extracting 

 season, for it would very probably go into 

 the combs and then be taken out again and 

 mixed with the honey; but when one is 

 attempting to do otherwork with bees, such 

 as queen-rearing, it is perfectly legitimate 

 In use sugar syrup instead. See Feeding 

 AND Feeders. 



MANAGING A SERIES OF EXTRACTING-YARD8 

 BY MAKING ONLY FOUR Vlt-ITS IN A YEAR. 



The general treatment of this subject of 

 extracting would hardly be complete were 

 we to omit mention of the remarkable suc- 

 cess attained by Mr. E. D. Townsend, of 

 Remus, Mich., in handling a series of out- 

 yards by making only four trips a year to 

 each yard. As he makes no secrets of his 

 methods, it may be well to describe them. 



He believes primarily in strong colonies, 

 and a brood-nest not smaller than ten Lang- 

 stroth frames. In the fall of the year he 

 makes one trip to feed up and pack in win- 



