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THE AMERICAN BEE JOLHiMAL. 



July 28, 1904. 



[ Our Bee-Heepln$ Sisters] 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Ordering- Bee-Supplies— Forced Swarming. 



Dear Miss Wilson :— There is another side to that 

 taken by the Editor, in his comment on " Early Ordering- 

 of Bee-Supplies," on page 451. May I give my experience ? 



I got my bees late in 1902, all in box-hives. So last year 

 was my first of practical bee-keeping. 



First, I wanted to transfer them to new hives, and as I 

 was told that transferred bees would not swarm the first 

 year, 1 got a new dovetailed hive for each colony, and five 

 over for luck. The first one I tried on the " Heddon short 

 method," got the queen and bees in finely, and they all 

 absconded. Then I tried another plan, that of putting the 

 old hive over the top of a new one, the frames of the latter 

 filled with full sheets of foundation, and I was told that the 

 bees would fill it up, and the queen would go down. Would 

 they ? The whole lot of them were bent on swarming out. 

 Every one I tried ignored the bottom story entirely, and 

 most of them swarmed straight through twice, and one 

 three times. By this time last year I had hived 19 swarms, 

 and I, the novice, was " out of supplies." The dealer was 

 " out," so were the bees ! Though " trying," it is not quite 

 " heart-rending," for fortunately I had a number of extra 

 frames, so I made several temporary hives from old boxes 

 (the 10-gallon oil-can, turned on its side, is just the size), 

 nailed a strip of wood at each end to hang the frames on, 

 and when a month later a car-load of supplies came to the 

 relief of unhappy beedom, all I had to do was to lift the 

 frames and bees into permanent homes. 



Only one colony did not swarm, and that stored about 

 170 pounds of honey. 



But this year I was not going to be caught. 



After uniting several small colonies in the fall, and 

 losing 2 in the winter, I began this year with 25, 5 still in 

 box-hives, as I got my last supplies too late to transfer 

 them, but I had hives ready for them. But I did not wait 

 for spring count ; as early as February I ordered all I 

 thought I would need in the way of supplies, and they were 

 not delivered until the last week in May, just two days be- 

 fore a neighbor hived a fine swarm. 



I got the hives made up as quickly as possible, painted 

 them, wired the frames and put in foundation, set them up, 

 and sat down under the trees to wait for swarms. I am 

 waiting still ! So is a nice row of empty hives ! Only 

 one colony has swarmed from the box-hive colonies which 

 failed to do so last season. Of the remaining box-hive colo- 

 nies one was found queenless, so I united it early, and the 

 others I have transferred, making from them 2 extra colo- 

 nies, and that is all my increase. Now, how would the 

 Editor advise me to calculate for next year ? 



I have been most carefully over the remaining 20 within 

 the last few days, and in each there is unbroken continuity 

 of brood from eggs and tiny larv;c to young bees that 

 "hatch while you wait," which I think is proof that the 

 old queens never left the hives and got past me. I know 

 Dr. Miller would think this state of things ideal, but I 

 don't, as I wanted natural increase. 



However, if the bees won't I will, so on Monday I sent 

 away for an Italian queen, and set myself to study Dr. 

 Miller's methods of making artificial increase, in his 

 " Forty Years Among the Bees." 



After reading and calculating the time required, I am 



afraid that if I wait to rear all my own queens, it will be too 

 late in the season to build up good colonies, so to-day I have 

 sent away for 6 more queens. 



I shall take advantage of Dr. Miller's 40 years of experi- 

 ence in making my colonies, but I shall be much obliged if 

 you will kindly tell me, with queens that have been mailed, 

 how soon after introducing I ought to find brood ? 



May I say something about the plan of making forced 

 swarms through a bee-escape, which has been discussed in 

 the American Bee Journal this month ? I have tried it 

 twice myself, for the last drive in transferring from box- 

 hives, and for fear of sufi'ocation, I raised the hive on a 

 piece of an old wood separator. This gave a current of air 

 without making a bee-space, and this week, when I tried it 

 for the second time, I fixed up an old super with 4 escapes 

 in it, and left it on for three days. But with me, however 

 it is with " Maine," the plan is not satisfactory. 



The field-bees went down, but the queen did not, and 

 with her stayed all the young bees, and I had to drive and 

 brush them all out in the old way. This led me, for a be- 

 ginner, to have rather an exciting experience yesterday. 

 As I brushed the last comb I saw the queen, caught her and 

 put her on the alighting-board, but she ran up the side and 

 I lost sight of her. However, I thought she was pretty sure 

 to run in with the others, and so I left them to settle down. 

 When I came back, in about 20 minutes, most of the bees 

 were in, but right in the middle of the alighting-board was 

 a ball of bees. "A balled queen" — I had never seen one be- 

 fore, and I was afraid they would sutfocate her before I 

 could get them off. I seized " Forty Years," which was 

 lying on my chair, but the advice was only for balling in- 

 side the hive, so I ran up to the house with a vague idea I 

 had read of dropping them into water. I came back with a 

 pail of water in one hand and my " A B C of Bee-Culture" 

 in the other, and after consulting the latter I decided to try 

 the less heroic plan of smoking them first. A few gentle 

 puffs and the top bees flew off, but the last were harder to 

 move. They had the queen on her side, and were holding 

 her down by her feet and wings. However, the queen her- 

 self struggled then, and in another moment was free, and I 

 saw her enter the hive, where I hope she was safe. 



With thanks for the many good things I have learned 

 from your pages, I am. Yours sincerely, 



Delta County, July 8. Colorado. 



In the excceedingly interesting account of your experi- 

 ence there is nothing to conflict with the very good advice 

 given by the Editor, on page 451. You have learned by ex- 

 perience that nothing can be definitely known in advance 

 as to the amount needed for any one season's supplies. So 

 the only safe way to do is to order all that you think you 

 can possibly need for the most favorable season, and if 

 you do not need them they will keep until you do. In 

 that case you will only be out the use of your money, and 

 it is much better to have that empty row of hives waiting 

 for occupants than to have the occupants waiting for the 

 hives. 



But it is not best to have foundation shipped in cold 

 weather, on account of the danger of breakage. 



Now as to the time you may expect queens to lay after 

 introducing. There is a great variation. Sometimes a 

 queen will lay in less than 24 hours after she is freed in the 

 hive, and she may not lay in a week. 



In regard to forced swarms through a bee-escape : You 

 say the queen did not come down, ;ind with her stayed all 

 the young bees. To be sure, she did not come down, and 

 never would, but would goon layiiiij, and the bees would 

 keep on hatching out. But on page ^ ' 1 notice that " Maine " 

 says ; "Then after one day's flight so that all the old bees 

 were below, or later, as the case ight be, introduce the 



