1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



75 



MIGRATORY BEE-KEEPING ON A LARGE 

 SCALE. 



A Brief Mention of Some of the Difficulties 

 Encountered when Moving Four Wagon- 

 Loads of Bees with a Traction Engine. 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



Migratory bee-keeping, moving bees to va- 

 rious pastures, is, in Europe, a much more 

 common practice than in America. In Eu- 

 rope, so far as I know, the main object in 

 moving bees — aside from moving as a result 

 of changing owners — is to give the bees the 

 advantage of the heather and buckwheat 

 bloom. In the United States, in addition to 

 the objects given above, some have in view 

 moves north and south, for considerable dis- 

 tances, to prolong the honey season. 



My first move to bee pastures was some 

 thirteen years ago; and since that, almost 

 every season I have moved sometimes to clo- 

 ver, sometimes to basswood, and sometimes 

 to buckwheat. During these years I have 

 moved many and many a wagonload of bees, 

 many a carload, and also boatloads including 

 a tug and scow, boats propelled by gasoline- 

 engine power and by the wind. This season 

 there has been added to my experience, as 

 seen by the illustration in connection with 

 this article, moving by means of a traction 

 engine. 



The most anxious moments of my bee-keep- 

 ing experience have been spent in moving 

 bees, and I have no doubt whatever that 

 these have resulted in many a gray hair be- 

 ing added to my head. And let me say here, 

 that, unless undertaken in a very small way 

 so that the responsibility and labor are great- 

 ly lessened, the chief point to consider is 

 whether the bee-keeper is rightly constitut- 

 ed to bring this work to a successful issue. 

 If he is to surmount the obstacles which lie 

 inevitably in the path from time to time, he 

 must be willing to throw into the work the 

 best his body and mind can produce for the 

 time being. Unless on a small scale this 

 work must, of necessity, be laid out consider- 

 ably ahead of time, and must, therefore, be 

 carried out regardless of weather and other 

 conditions, at the time set. For instance, if 

 four or five teams are ordered for a certain 

 night (we always try in summer to move at 

 night) , farmers often have to make special 

 preparations such as putting hay-racks with 

 straw on their wagon, greasing wagons, shoe- 

 ing the farm horses in preparation for a long 

 and unaccustomed road trip, etc. These 

 farmers and the bee-keeper perhaps can not 

 readily communicate with one another. This 

 makes it imperative that a// go, rain or shine, 

 hot or cold. If the trip is made by train or 

 boat the same holds good with the added re- 

 sponsibility of having teams ordered at the 

 other end of the trip. If by boat, owing to 

 the danger of storms, the risk is even great- 

 er; and with the danger of having a sail boat, 

 by reason of contrary winds or a calm, left 

 on the water during the heat of the day with 

 the sun to beat down into the boat, the risk 



is incalculable. Although I have come safe- 

 ly through every experience, the sail boat 

 for transporting bees is a thing of the past 

 with me. I have seen enough to feel its 

 danger. 



In the first carload of bees I shipped I lost 

 forty colonies out of 340; since that, so far as 

 I can recollect, I have lost none by this meth- 

 od of shipping. Thirty-six-foot cattle cars are 

 used. To give the bees air I have used my 

 own invention, a portico to the hive with the 

 sides slightly projecting, and in these projec- 

 tions on the inner side a groove is cut into 

 which a screen can be quickly slipped pre- 

 venting egress on the part of the bees. The 

 hive entrance is the full width of the hive 

 with a depth of 1 '4 inches, and the portico 

 leaves 2>^ inches between the screen and 

 the front of the hive. All the ventilation the 

 bees get during a move i s through this screen. 

 My experience would lead me to urge that 

 the bees be frequently sprinkled with water 

 when in transit — the colder the water the 

 better. To spray water all over the hives 

 and the car is also an advantage. The evap- 

 oration which follows Ijwers the tempera- 

 ture. We watch the bees, and when they 

 run about in the portico like a drove of sheep, 

 manifesting excitement, and with their 

 tongues protruding through the screen, we 

 know that there is danger. 



In moving bees I avoid using hives where 

 the brood-chambers consist of combs newly 

 built, preference being given to combs wired 

 and toughened by cocoons. If the brood- 

 combs are not heavy with honey and brood, 

 so much the better; but to this latter I pay 

 no attention, simply taking conditions as 

 they are. 



During the past summer, having to move 

 bees some forty miles I consulted with the 

 owner of a traction engine, explaining to 

 him that we should have both clay and sand 

 road; and after his assertion that he could 

 draw the load I decided to give the plan a 

 trial. 



Some 110 twelve-frame hives with one or 

 two supers on each were loaded on four wag- 

 ons with racks filled with straw. The engine 

 had also a water-tank, and upon this tank a 

 platform with 1500 lbs. of coal. The bees 

 were loaded, after being interrupted by a 

 thunderstorm which promised much, but let 

 us off with only a slight shower. 



About 10 P.M. we moved off at a pace of 

 about ^Yz miles an hour. Every one felt that 

 matters were working very smoothly. The 

 party consisted of Mr. Shurr, the engineer 

 and owner, standing on the engine step at 

 the right hand of the engraving— a man who 

 showed himself a master hand at his work, 

 as we did not have to uncouple our long train 

 even once to turn corners. By his side is 

 Mr. Shurr's assistant. With the bees were 

 Walter Ebert, with whose father I had the 

 bees; next, Louis Held; and on the last wag- 

 on, Charles Hatton, of Ohio, whom I had 

 met at the National convention in Detroit, 

 and who spent some time with me to gain 

 greater experience in the production of ex- 

 tracted honey. He said he shone in a long 



