January, 1913. 



American Vee Journal 



than some of the quietest colonies will 

 become veritable demons, and the 

 pleasure of taking off honey will be- 

 come the most strenuous job one can 

 undertake. 



Taking off honey when there is still 

 a substantial flow is relatively pleasant 

 work, as there are few cross bees and 

 little robbing going on. But in a 

 honey dearth, when one has to brush 

 and brush, when a hive has to be kept 

 open for fifteen, twenty, or even thirty 

 minutes at a time, that is when one 

 really earns the honey he is getting. 

 To my mind the bee-escape is one of 

 the most useful of modern bee-imple- 

 ments. With an apiary of 30 to 100 

 hives, yielding from one to five tons of 

 honey, we feel that we can make more 

 rapid headway, save time, trouble, loss 

 and temper by using the bee-escape 

 throughout. 



There is little doubt that more honey 

 is taken from the hives today without 

 the use of bee-escapes than with them. 

 Probably the most serious objection 

 offered to them by the practical api- 

 arist is that they are not handy for use 

 in out-apiaries. The fact that they 

 have to be put on the hives the day be- 

 fore extracting necessitates an extra 

 trip. When the apiary is at a great 

 distance this is certainly objectionable. 

 Many extensive bee-keepers, however, 

 are now using automobiles or motor 

 cycles, and with the help of these ma- 

 chines the time lost in going back and 

 forth is reduced to a minimum, and 

 can easily be made up in the time saved 

 by using the escapes. 



In putting on escapes we usually be- 

 gin about 2 or 3 o'clock in the after- 

 noon, depending upon just how warm 

 the weather is. Should the weather be 

 exceedingly hot, and the hives exposed 

 to the sun, there is danger of the sur- 

 plus combs melting down and being 

 destroyed. One must remember, of 

 course, that as soon as the escape-board 

 is put on, the circulation in the upper 

 part of the hive practically ceases. As 

 soon as the bees in the upper story 

 find themselves shut off from the en- 

 trance they seek a place of exit. 



By next morning they are down in 

 the brood chamber, and the supers are 

 free of bees and ready to be taken off. 

 We have found that on cool nights 

 bees go down better than on warm 

 nights, as they seek the cluster for 

 warmth. However, if it is very cool, 

 and the temperature hovers around 

 the freezing point, the bees will not go 

 down very well, and very often a small 

 bunch will cluster in the upper super 

 for warmth. 



That the supers should be bee-tight 

 is a very important item. Just as soon 

 as the escape-board is in place, and 

 the bees start down, the supers are left 

 practically without any defense, and 

 the robbers are not slow to discover 

 this and make merry with the stores 

 they find so easily. 



The time it requires to put on es- 

 capes is from one to two minutes per 

 hive, depending upon how tight the 

 super sticks to the hive, and just how 

 good a joint the super makes with the 

 escape. With us there is an over-abun- 

 dance of propolis, and the lower edge 

 of the super is well gummed. If the 

 weather is warm the propolis mashes 

 out of the wav, but if the weather is 



cool it sometimes forms lumps and 

 holds the super up from the board 

 high enough to allow a bee to pass 

 under. 



Before we used the bee-escapes in 

 our apiaries we were always sure to 

 have several bad cases of robbing at 

 extracting time. Since we have adopted 

 their use it is a very uncommon thing 

 to have a single colony in danger at 

 any time, and the honey-house is not so 

 heavily besieged by robbers. Nearly 

 every bee-keeper realizes what a bad 

 case of robbing means, and dozens of 

 anti-robbing devices have been in- 

 vented with more or less success. The 

 best safeguard is to nip it in the bud 

 and prevent any bee from securing 

 stolen sweets. 



When the escape is put under several 

 supers in one tier, the bees are a little 

 slower to vacate thern than when put 

 under but one super. Very often, how- 

 ever, we have put them under four and 

 five supers (shallow supers), and have 

 had the bees go down in 12 to 18 hours. 

 Usually the bee-escapes are put on all 

 of the hives at one time, and the single 

 supers removed first,leaving the higher 

 tiers for the last, so as to give ample 

 time for the bees to descend. Occa- 

 sionally a colony refuses to leave the 

 supers ; several things may be respon- 

 sible for this. Brood in the supers is 

 certain to keep the bees above, as they 

 always protect their brood and keep it 

 warm. The presence of a queen in the 

 super will always prevent their de- 

 scending. A hole in the bee-escape 

 board, allowing the bees to pass back 

 and forth, destroys the value of the es- 

 cape. This objection may seem un- 



necessary, but it is not uncommon for 

 the escape-board to either have a small 

 knot hole or a crack caused by the 

 shrinkage of the wood. A particle of 

 comb, a dead bee, a cobweb, or a straw 

 in the escape spring renders the escape 

 ineffective. 



Another objection to the escapes 

 raised by many bee-keepers is that in 

 cold weather the honey becomes stiff 

 as soon as the bees have left the supers, 

 making extracting a much harder job. 

 To my notion, handling heavy honey 

 is preferable to brushing bees that are 

 numb and fly just far enough to light 

 and crawl over the bee-keeper. 



These drawbacks are usually very 

 easily overcome. When queen-exclu- 

 ders are used there is never any fear 

 with either the queen or brood above. 

 With a little care the escape-board can 

 be made bee-tight, and the springs kept 

 free of obstructions. 



When the escape is used there is no 

 need of handling the frames in the api- 

 ary, as this is all done in the honey- 

 house. When the escapes are first put 

 on. the lower super is pried loose, and 

 if there is any dripping honey it drips 

 on the escape-board and is all licked 

 up clean by morning, or by the time 

 the supers are ready to be taken off. 



I am unable to give any information 

 in regard to using bee-escapes for the 

 production of comb honey, as our ex- 

 perience has been with extracted 

 honey exclusively. However, it seems 

 to me that they would be even more in- 

 dispensable to the comb-honey pro- 

 ducer than to the bee-keeper who runs 

 for extracted honey alone. 



Hamilton, III. 



Send Questions either to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



He does not answer bee-keepine Questions by mail. 



Feeding Bees in a Cellar 



Is there any possible way of feeding bees 

 in a cellar? I think some of my coioniesare 

 too sliort of stores for winter 



My cellar is rather warm this year on ac- 

 count of a new furnace. I have a separate 

 apartment for the bees with plenty of fresh 

 air. but it is still too warm at this date; the 

 temperature keeps up to 55 and 65 degrees. 

 The bees are very quiet yet. 



1 thought of giving each colony syrup sep- 

 arately in a sort of little tray so arranged 

 that the bees could not drown. Would the 

 bees come to get this syrup or could it be 

 given in some otiier way? How and when 

 could it be done so that half of the bees 

 would not rush out of the hives? My hives 

 are put in two rows, one on top of the other 

 and all the covers are off. Ste. Martine. 



Answer.— With a big lot of fresh air for 

 the bees you will likely find that they will 

 winter well at 55 or 60 degrees, although they 

 will consume more stores than at a lower 

 temperature. Still, as you say. the increas- 

 ing cold will bring down the temperature. 

 Better not let it go below j^; degrees. 



If I understand correctly, your hives are 

 raised in front by r-inch blocks, and that 

 makes a space of at least an inch under the 

 bottom-bars — possibly an inch and a half. 

 That allows you to put a shallow dish of 

 feed under the frames, and if your colonies 

 are reasonably strong they ought readily to 

 come down to the feed at 55 or 60 degrees. 

 If it is much colder than that, and the colo- 

 nies are rather weak, they will not be likely 



to come down to the feed. Instead of the 

 proposed wire-screen over the syrup you 

 may do better to cover the syrup with cork- 

 chips. You will get these from your grocer. 

 He gets them as packing for grapes in cold 

 weather, and generally throws them away. 



If feeding below does not prove a success, 

 you can feed above. Edwin Bevins re- 

 ports excellent success with lump sugar. 

 Wet the lumps by sprinkling water upon 

 them, but do not make them wet enough to 

 dissolve the sugar. Then lay the lumps 

 directly on the top-bars over the cluster of 

 bees. 



Wintering — Space Above the Frames 



Is the following plan good : I have a 'i-inch 

 board over the brood-frames. There is a ->8- 

 inch strip all around the outside of the 

 board, and at each end a 2x7 inch opening. 

 A piece of wool carpet is placed over the 

 whole board. Also a center opening in the 

 board 5 inches in diameter is closed by the 

 carpet. This hole is made just right to set a 

 feeder in, and can be used to give winter 

 feed without disturbing the cluster very 

 much. The whole top is then packed with 

 a 6-inch chaff cushion. 



I think the end openings in the board are 

 large enough to carry off all the condensed 

 moisture that may accumulate. Some bee- 

 keepers advocate putting !i-inch strips over 

 the frames, and the carpet immediately over 

 this. Which plan do you think best ? or is 

 one as good as the other ? My bees are 

 packed in winter-cases with 6 inches of 



