78 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



additional improvements. As to its 

 success, the past season is ample evi- 

 dence. Out of about 525 colonies, 

 spring count, we gathered less than 

 30 swarms, but harvested over 200 

 pounds of honey per colony, while a 

 neighbor of ours gathered 12 swarms 

 from 5 colonies, owing to his neglect of 

 proper attendance to their needs. The 

 requirements are as follows: 



1. An ample brood-chamber for the 

 needs of the colony. If the queen is 

 prolific and finds herself confined to a 

 scanty lower story by queen-excluders 

 or otherwise, she will make it known 

 to the bees or they will instantly no- 

 tice it and prepare queen-cells. 



As an outcome of this first proposi- 

 tion, there must be ample room for 

 stores. Some novices are astonished 

 to read of old practitioners like Dr. 

 Miller placing as many as 3 supers 

 at once over a strong colony. But if 

 the queen is very prolific, and has been 

 breeding plentifully as nature dictates, 

 her colony may be able to work in each 

 of two supers as strongly as they 

 would work in one. Dr. Miller uses 

 tW'O 8 -frame brood -chambers previous 

 to the honey crop, when the queen is 

 prolific. She can thus develop her fer- 

 tilitj- to the greatest extent. 



2. The use of coomb foundation in 

 full sheets in the supers when working 

 for comb honey, or of full combs in 

 extracting supers, has also a great 

 effect on the prevention of swarming. 

 True, swarming is much less likely to 

 occur when supers are given of fully 

 built combs, but comb foundation also 

 helps greatly. There are days when 

 the crop is so heavy that all the avail- 

 able cells are filled with fresh nectar. 

 If the bees have to build more comb, 

 and thus find themselves crowded for 

 room to deposit their loads, sW'arming 

 may ensue. But, with full sheets of 

 foundation in every section, the labor 

 of building additional comb and pro- 

 ducing sufficient wax for it is much 

 reduced. The supers must also be 

 placed upon the colonies before they 

 have become crowded for space, or 

 they would readily get the swarming 

 impulse which is next to impossible to 

 overcome by any manipulations when 

 once the bees have acquired it. 



3. It will be entirely useless to ex- 

 pect the bees to remain contented and 

 fill the supers, if the ventilation of the 

 hive is not adequate to the require- 



ments of the enlarged population. All 

 observers have noticed the great tax 

 imposed upon them by the simulta- 

 neous increase of heat brought about 

 by a summer temperature and a daily 

 addition of some 3,000 or 4,000 work- 

 ers hatching in populous colonies. 

 Thousands of colonies are compelled to 

 leave a part of their population idle, 

 hanging on the outside of the hive for 

 days and sometimes for weeks, because 

 they are unable to sufficiently venti- 

 late the inside of the brood-chamber 

 and supers. We raise our hives up 

 from the bottom-board from a half 

 inch to 2 inches, when there is a like- 

 lihood of the bees being unable to re- 

 main inside. We have even set the 

 supers back a half inch or so for a 

 short, time, so as to have a current of 

 air through the front of the brood- 

 chamber in very hot weather. This, 

 however, must not be continued too 

 long. But the bottom ventilation must 

 be ample, ample enough, in fact, to 

 allow all 'the bees to work, so that none 

 remain clustering on the outside dur- 

 ing the cohtinuation of the honey crop. 



4. As help to ventilation, by decreas- 

 ing the heat, a good roof is needed 

 when the hives are exposed to the sun. 

 We use coarse roofs on our hives at all 

 times. These are made of large dis- 

 carded dry goods boxes and are flat. 

 They are cleated with a 2 inch scant- 

 ling across the rear underside and a 

 1 inch scantling in front. This se- 

 cures a slope of an inch from rear to 

 front. These roofs are also useful in 

 sheltering the hive tops from the 

 effects of the weather and help to pre- 

 serve them in good condition. 



5. The queens must be young. Some 

 bee-keepers believe in re-queening 

 every season after the honey crop. I do 

 not believe in so radical a measure. I 

 believe a qeen in her second year is 

 fully as good as in her first season. But, 

 if she has proven inferior, she should 

 be superseded. Old queens w'hich are 

 losing their fertility during the busy 

 season are a frequent cause of swarm- 

 ing. The workers prepare to supersede 

 them by raising queen-cells, and the 

 old queen, in a pique, leaves with the 

 swarm. So w'e must see that our old* 

 queens are replaced in the fall, or late 

 summer. 



6. A large number of drones is an 

 incentive to swarming. Some of the old- 

 time bee-keepers thought the drones 



