Jan. 21, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



some odd objects about in the apiary another season that they may 

 the better mark the location, 



I use the regular S-frame hive, and like the Hoffman frame the 

 best. I have been keeping bees for eight years. The first year I pro- 

 cured some thick-top, loose-hanging frames, and have used them right 

 along with the HoSman, but I do not like them. I now use staples 

 to space the thick-top frames that I have. 



I sell all my honey in the home market, and have no trouble in 

 building up a good demand for it. 



I like the American Bee Journal. I have been taking it four 

 years, and am with it to stay as long as I live, I think. 



Bosque Co., Tex. H. M. Carr. 



THE COLORADO CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, Held in Den- 

 ver, Nov. 23, 24, and 25, 1903. 



BY H. C. MOREHOUSE, SEC. 



(Continued from page 25 1 

 BEST USE OF DXFINISHKD SECTIONS. 



Question. — Which is the more profitable, to sell un- 

 finished sections or extract the honey and use them for bait- 

 combs the following season ? 



Mr. -Vikin — I have pretty nearly decided to do away 

 with bait-combs, but conditions determine when they can 

 be used profitably. If one uses shallow frames bait-combs 

 are not much good. If you add to the depth and use of a 

 10-frame width you need bait-combs. Then it is profitable 

 to extract your unfinished sections and use them as bait- 

 combs. But if you do not need bait-combs, it is better to 

 sell them. 



Mr. Morehouse — I have had some experience that may 

 throw light upon this question. This season I sold all my 

 unfinished sections that weighed one-half pound or more at 

 the groceries in Boulder, receiving for them 7 cents per 

 pound by weight. I thought at the time that it paid better 

 than extracting them, but considering the higher price of 

 sections and foundation, together with their value as bait- 

 combs, I am now satisfied that I lost money. In the future, 

 unless conditions materially change, I will extract my un- 

 finished sections. 



H. Rauchfuss — The biggest crop I ever had was one 

 year when I used no bait-combs at all. In another season 

 the bait-combs were the only ones filled in the supers. So 

 it depends upon the conditions. 



Mr. Aikin — In Colorado, foundation alone fails to meet 

 the requirements once in 14 to 20 years. That is when the 

 flow jumps from nothing to a full flow in one to three days, 

 so that the bait-combs are filled almost before the bees can 

 get to work on foundation. But these conditions do not 

 occur often enough in Colorado to make it pay to provide 

 bait-combs on that account. When people offer me only 

 about half a cent more per pound for unfinished sections 

 than for extracted honey, the difference due to the value of 

 the wax makes it more profitable to melt up the sections. 



Mr. Gill — There is a great deal more wax in unfinished 

 sections than you think. This fall, in cleaning up sections, 

 I had a lot of broken combs, amounting to 80 pounds in 

 weight, which, when melted up, gave me 16 pounds of wax. 



Mr. Aikin — That would make about five pounds of wax 



to the superful of sections. How's that ?j __, _, ; i C j 



Mr. Gill — There were a great many sections,>hundreds 

 and hundreds of them, and many were so light as to contain 

 only about a tablespoonful of honey. They had been built 

 on full sheets of foundation. But I am quite a friend of 

 bait-combs, as will be seen when I tell you that I had 180 

 cases of honey that had been bait-combs. 



Mr. Spencer — A bait-section is about as clean when 

 taken off as when it was put on, if it was cleaned before it 

 was put on. 



H. Rauchfuss — That all depends upon the locality. If 

 the bees have access to much narrow-leafed Cottonwood, 

 they will paint it red all over, and if you case that section it 

 is not No. 1, while in other localities the bait-combs stay 



clean. Again, when the flow is heavy, the bees use only 

 wax when they would otherwise use propolis. 



GETTING RID OF MICE IN HIVES IN WINTER. 



Ques. — How can we get rid of mice in the hives in the 

 winter-time ? 



H. Rauchfuss — Don't let them in. 



Mr. Porter — It is not so easy in practice to have hives 

 that are mouse-proof, and only one of my honey-houses is. 

 Last winter I wet some wheat in honey-sweetened water in 

 which strychnine was dissolved, dried it, and set it around 

 in dishes. There was no damage done in the two honey- 

 houses thus treated, and I found a number of dead mice 

 lying around. The hives outside, in those yards, were not 

 entered by mice, because all had access to the honey-houses. 

 I should think I used two or three grains of strychnine to a 

 quart of wheat. 



PREVENTING SWARMING BY TIERING-UP. 



QuES. — Has any one been successful in preventing 

 swarming by tiering-up hives, thus giving more room to 

 the bees ? 



Mr. Morehouse — This season I managed part of a yard 

 for extracted honey, and tiered-up full-depth bodies as fast 

 as the bees needed more room for storing. None of the col- 

 onies thus treated swarmed in a yard that went crazy with 

 swarming. 



Mr. Porter — I have been successful with this plan in 

 running for extracted honey. But if any have been suc- 

 cessful with it in producing comb honey I should like to 

 hear from them. 



POSITION OF EMPTY SUPER ON HIVES. 



QuES. — Can more honey be obtained in a good honey- 

 flow by placing the empty super under the one partly filled, 

 or on top of it 7 



Mr. Aikin — You will get more honey by placing the 

 fresh super under the full one, but I will not guarantee that 

 you will get any more money. The finish will not be so 

 good. If the one already is about three-fourths full put the 

 fresh one on top, because the bees will finish the one already 

 started more rapidly by so doing ; but when it is nearly 

 finished change places. If the next time you look a third 

 super should be necessary — because both of them are almost 

 finished, but neither one entirely — then put them both above 

 the added super ; but if one is almost finished, and the 

 other not so much, put the new super between them, with 

 the one almost finished on top. Keep the one that is being 

 finished next to the brood-chamber. It makes better finish 

 and better weight. 



Mr. Porter — I agree exactly, especially in changing 

 the places of the supers when one is almost finished. It is 

 then ready for taking off in a few days. 



Mr. Gill — I am trying to get the most out of the busi- 

 ness. I don't contend I can get a better finish, but I can 

 sell more cases by putting my added supers under the old 

 ones at any time in a good honey-flow. 



Mr. Porter — If you have a good flow how do you know 

 that it is going to last ? 



Mr. Gill— It is in the air. It seems as if one could know 

 by feeling it. If the bees come up to condition in a rush, 

 and the alfalfa and sweet clover begin to yield at the 

 proper time, the honey is pretty sure to come. Have you 

 ever noticed a " honey-day ?" This last season there was 

 nothing sticky in the atmosphere. •-"<8 .) CI^j 



Mr. Aikin — How many got a yield this season from 

 sweet clover ? [Six.] This year the sweet clover did almost 

 nothing for me, and out of 100 acres of cleome I got only 

 the first taste of cleome honey. But the alfalfa yielded the 

 whole season through, the first, second, and third crops. 

 There was a fine bloom of sweet clover. 



Pres. Harris— A man in Mesa County has three or four 

 acres of yellow sweet clover. The bees go wild over it. 

 He says it does twice as much as the white to build up his 

 bees. 



Mr. Gill — I never saw the time when sweet clover did 

 not yield something. 



J. B. Adams — I never did. 



Mr. Gill— Yellow sweet clover would be a boon to bee- 

 keepers. It commences to yield May 28th to the first of 

 June. Last year it yielded splendidly. I shook the apiary 

 within reach of it. The best swarms pretty nearly filled 

 their hives with comb in a week. 



SEPARATORS OR NO SEPARATORS. 



QuES.— Can more honey be obtained in a good honey- 

 flow by using separators in the supers or without them ? 

 Mr. Aikin— Rather more without, but no more profit. 

 (Continued next week. ) 



