46 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



the temperature up to 80, and the honey 

 had warmed up; at least it was warm 

 enough; in cutting off the cappings 

 the wax was too soft; the cells would 

 bend, and I had to let it cool off. 



L. O. Dadant — We had an experience 

 three years ago at an out-apiary. Dur- 

 ing the night it turned cold. We took 

 a little oil stove along in the morning; 

 we fixed a box for the oil stove to set 

 in, and put a super over the oil 

 stove and let it stay on long enough to 

 warm the honey, and then took it off 

 f.nd extracted it. 



Question — Will putting extracting 

 frames back on the hive after they 

 have [ been extracted cause robbing? 

 Mr. Moore — It depends altogether on 

 circumstances they way they are put 

 on, and the time, and whether there 

 is a honey flow on. 



Mr. Vaughn — I think brother Dadant 

 can answer that. 



Presi. Dadant — It will cause robbing 

 if done at the wrong hour, when the 

 crop is over. 



Mr. France — My son in California 

 tried to follow some Wisconsin meth- 

 ods; but he found that climatic con- 

 ditions had all to do with it; in Cali- 

 fornia they don't want their combs 

 cleaned up: they say that combs that 

 are already tainted with a little honey, 

 the wax moths won't go in them. 



Mr. Kildow — They don't work that 

 way in Illinois. I have had quite a 

 number of combs destroyed that were 

 sticky with honey; the moth destroj'ed 

 a good many of those combs. 



Mr. Stone — The millers icould riot 

 get on them; it would stick their wings. 

 Mr. Kildow — This fall I set my ex- 

 tracted supers outside the honey house, 

 and let the bees have their own time — 

 and they cleaned them up in a short ' 

 time, but that it is not safe for every- 

 body to do. I have a neighbor that 

 used to do that way and he got in so 

 much trouble he had to quit; now he 

 has his colonies clean them up. By 

 keeping the supers closed tight after 

 they have been extracted, by spring they 

 smell pretty strong of honey; you put 

 them on the colonies and you have 

 trouble right away. 



Pres. Dadant — Is it not a fact also 

 that when the combs are sticky, the 

 honey having very strong hygrometric 

 properties, gathers moisture? This is 

 true here in Illinois. 



Mr. Kildow — It will get candied and 

 get strong and sour. 



Mr. t"rance — W'e always have them 

 cleaned up. In California, where every- 

 thing is entirely different — to keep the 

 wax moth out they put them away not 

 cleaned up. 



Mr. Baxter — I am very careful. 

 Things have to be just so, and I thought 

 I could not get along any way but 

 to have my com/bs cleaned up, but 

 as I grow older I do less work, and 

 the last three or four years I have put 

 combs away without cleaning up, and 

 I can't see a particle of difference. They 

 don't igive me a bit more trouble in 

 the spring. I see no moisture ac- 

 cumulated there. As far as honey that 

 has been left there becoming- candied, 

 I don't think it makes any difference, 

 althoug'h candied honey put in with 

 other honey will cause it to granulate 

 rapidly. 



Mr. Kildow — I had reference to hiv- 

 ing swarms on those combs. It is 

 different if you want to put an ex- 

 tracted super on. 



Mr. Stone — I had some- experience 

 with putting away extracting frames 

 that had not been cleaned up. I had 

 a few left and it got cool. When I 

 take my honey off this fall I shall take 

 it to the cellar. We 'have a hot water 

 furnace there, ancl I can extract any 

 day; it is just exactly right temper- 

 ature. Then all the frames I have ex- 

 tracted, I tier up and when the bees 

 can fly out I put them out and let 

 them clean up; it don't induce robbing 

 because they are not at work. I won't 

 let them go without cleaning up until 

 spring, or I would have the honey 

 candied. 



L. C. Dadant — To put those supers 

 away green and put them on in the 

 .spring, with us that would cause a lot 

 of robbing. If you can wait until your 

 honey flow is on, it does not make any 

 difference. 



Mr. Stone — I take advantage of a 

 warm day. 



Mr. Baxter — I put supers on when 

 there are apple blossoms. 



Mr. Vaughn — Where are the combs 

 kept that are put away green before 

 the bees clean them up — in the honey 

 house? 



Mr. Baxter!— Yes. 



Mr. Vaughn — There is no fire there 

 through the winter? 



