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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



143 



nearly perfect comb. Any one an esti- 

 mate on its value? The value of a 

 colony of bees on such a comb? What 

 is one comb worth? 



A member — I should guess fifteen 

 cents. One and one-half cents for the 

 frame; seven and one -half cents for 

 foundation, and one cent for making 

 up frame, putting wire in; that makes 

 ten cents and allows nothing for the 

 work of the bees and drawing it out. 



President Miller — The bees use up 

 the honey in making that comb. 



Mr. Wheeler — I would say twenty 

 cents; I sort of lumped it; ten cents, 

 foundation; I should say ten cents 

 more for honey and work of bees. I 

 think there is as much wax after the 

 foundation is drawn as there was 

 foundation. In addition to the frame 

 that would be another cent. 



President Miller — And labor of 

 wiring. 



Mr. Wheeler — I should say, twenty- 

 five cents. 



President Miller — I -would like to 

 hear Mr. Bull discuss that point. 



Mr. Bull — Mr. President, Ladies and 

 Gentlemen: There is a way that 

 question can be answered to the frac- 

 tion of a penny. 



We will go to our bee yard, say of 

 10, 20, 30, or 50 colonies, divide that 

 yard into two equal parts; with one- 

 half we will use drone combs for ex- 

 tracted honey; on the other half we 

 will use full sheets of foundation for 

 extracted honey. 



At the end of the sea:son we will 

 figure up how many combs we had 

 drawn from foundation; how much- 

 honey they had; how much honey we 

 got from the other with full drawn 

 comb; figure selling price of that 

 honey, and you will know exactly what 

 those combs cost you. 



Mr. Wheeler — Have you ever done 

 it? 



Mr. Bull — I have not made any 

 definite experiment. 



Take two colonies, of equal strength ; 

 put on each one colony drone combs 

 in deep supers; while that colony is 

 filling up and capping over three 

 supers of honey, the one 'with founda- 

 tion will draw out in foundation filled 

 and capped and drawn out about two 

 supers in honey. 



Mr. Wheeler — Depends on honey 

 flow. 



Mr. Bull^Tou have got to take 

 everything in consideration. 



Mr. Bruner — Paint the foundations 

 before you put it on you will find out 

 they will draw out without anywhere 

 near that difference; Hassinger had 

 that figured out last winter. I put 

 painted foundation on and I could not 

 see very much difference between 

 drawn comb and painted foundation. 



Mr. Bull — ^What I was driving at was 

 extracting combs. 



I figured it out, 28 to 30 cents, fig- 

 uring the cost of . frame foundation 

 and putting it in and getting the bees 

 to draw it out under ordinary con- 

 ditions. 



Mr. Wilcox — I could allow two 

 cents for wire and foundation and then 

 make them for fifteen cents. 



Mr. Bruner — Labor is high in Chi- 

 cago, for man and bees. 



Mr. Wilcox — I have a ten year old 

 grandson who will put them in for 

 nothing. 



President Miller — We have to ac- 

 count for labor and the cost of wax — 

 the bees have to take honey or sugar 

 or something to make that wax. 



This was figured up in Michigan and 

 the consensus of opinion seemed to be 

 that drawn comb with frame would 

 be worth thirty cents. 



What is the hive worth? What is 

 the hive cover and body worth? 



Mr. Bull — Hive body, around, whole- 

 sale, fifty and fifty-five cents. 



Mr. Bruner — Hive body, double 

 cover, will run about $1.50 or $1.65 

 without frame; that would be in the 

 fiat. 



President Miller — You have to nail it 

 and paint it; if we allow $2.00 for hive 

 body, cover and bottom board, combs, 

 in tenframe hive, $3.00, that makes 

 $5.00; it takes about 3^ pounds of 

 honey to winter bees. What would 

 thirty pounds of honey be worth? 



Mr. Bull — ^About nine and one-half 

 cents. 



President Miller — That would be a-p- 

 proximately $3.00. 



Mr. Bruner — Now we have $8.00. 

 Now what, are the bees worth? Are 

 the bees worth $2.00 — that makes $10. 



(We see bees advertised and sold for 

 $4.00 a colony. I winder if it would 

 pay us to sell bees at $4.00 or $2.00?) 



Mr. Stewart — It depends on how 

 tired you are of them. 



Mr. Kindig — I never pay over $3.50. 



President Miller — According to this 



