ILiLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



121 



by the lime the bees learn who we 

 are, and' where the honey is, we are at 

 the next yard; the proposition of 

 robbing is due largely to the way you 

 handle the bees; by our system we can 

 remove honey in a dearth (I would 

 almost as soon extract then) ; es- 

 pecially after the honey flow is, over 

 and the brood rearing over also; we 

 are not afraid of distributing foul 

 brood if there should be any. The way 

 we manage when we are taking our 

 last honey off — is to break . the supers 

 up, pry the combs over, and brush the 

 bees off. The bees are sluggish, so 

 instead of working but one hive, we 

 smokp and stir up eight or ten hives 

 to get the bees awake. "We let them 

 know that we are around and work 

 them ahead all the time as fast as we 

 can get ready to use a super of honey; 

 after those bees warm up Ave brush 

 and smoke them down into the brood- 

 nest, take the super off and push it 

 into the extracting house on the motor 

 truck. As fast as those combs are ex- 

 tracted we take them outside from the 

 road a few yards and pile them up 

 criss-cross. Soon the robbers learn 

 that it is easier going in that pile of 

 .supers than to bother around us; so 

 we don't have any difficulty with rob- 

 bers; we fill our cans out of doors, 

 alawys. Sometimes we have to use 

 smoke if through our own carelessness 

 robber.- hv.ve started. 



Mr. Kanncnberg — I don't use any 

 smolie at all; I never irritate my bees 

 that much that they have to be smoked. 

 I take off the super — mj- bees are as 

 calm as if I never touched them; if 

 I would stir them up — a man in the 

 city or a little village, would have the 

 ordinance right on him, and he would 

 not be able to keep bees. 



Mr. Cavanagh — If Mr. Kannenberg 

 will pardon me; I think he has a mis- 

 taken idea. We had 50 hives in our 

 back yard in town this summer, and 

 never had any one stung; Ave extracted 

 in that yard in the same way. I can 

 take honey off practically all day and 

 not ha\'e my bees cross in the .yard. 

 The idea of ha\-ing cross bees is be- 

 ca,use you irritate the bees and do not 

 conquer them. If you brush the bees 

 outside of the hive and they haA^e not 

 been conquered, you irritate them; we 

 brush the bees down through the hive 

 so that every bee that goes down into 

 the hive gets over being angry before 

 he sees the light. 



In the out apiary we don't take any 

 pains to prevent making the bees a 

 little angry now and then. 



The bees can be handled in town by 

 smoking an<^ brushing if you keep the 

 cross bees under cover; not throw 

 them outside the hive where they can 

 fly up and be angry. 



Mr. Pyles — ^''hen there is honey 

 coming in, and Mr. Cavanagh is taking 

 off his honey, there is practically no 

 danger at any time; most bees are 

 pretty well filled up with honey. I 

 am a comb honey producer; extracting 

 is a side line with me. I have some 

 deep frames, Avhere we must look for 

 the queen cells, which is a tedious job;, 

 at that time I like the shallow frame 

 the better. I can in this case pry the 

 hive apart and if any queen cells are 

 started thej' will always be along the 

 dividing line, but in the • deep frames 

 it is almost impossible to find the cells 

 without handling each frame separate- 

 ly, which takes entirely too much time. 



Sometimes the combs are so covered 

 Avith bees that you must get rid of 

 them; then I shake them off. I calcu- 

 late to be master of the situation under 

 all conditions. You must put up a 

 fight as Avell as the bees; you must 

 alAvays have them under control; you 

 must be the boss; handle them as 

 though you knew that yoivcould; keep 

 them under coA'er and they AA'ill be 

 good. 



Mr. Bull — When I am looking for 

 queen cells, T do not eA-en take the 

 coA^er off. I slide the hiA-e forward on 

 the bottom board V2 inch, then tip the 

 liiA-e back and smoke the bees up and 

 if any queen cells are present they AAill 

 readily be seen. You can take care of 

 100 hiA'es in tw"o hours. 



Mr. CaA^anagh— Some people seem to 

 think there is no Avay to look at queen 

 cells but to pull off the co\'er and pry 

 up the honey; you don't have to tear 

 the roof off of the bees' house to do 

 it; just pry up the second story and 

 avoid taking off that cover. When the 

 coA-er is first remoA^ed and bees smoked 

 from above the bees are in the AA-ay 

 if Ave again look beloAV^ for queen cells, 

 whereas, if they break the hive and 

 pry it up and look under they will 

 avoid chasing those bees doAvn to a 

 point of the hive where you do not 

 want them at all. 



I prefer a deep frame for extracting 

 because we do not Avant to run to the 

 extractor Avith 4 pounds of honey in 



