GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



May, 1918 



NUCLEI— NOT POUND PACKAGES 



Experience of this Beekeeper is all Against Pound- 

 Package Shipping 



After having had the experience of work- 

 ing with over a thousand one-pound pack- 

 ages of bees shipped from different breeders 

 of the South to a company operating in Og- 

 den, I have decided to tell you why I prefer 

 the nuclei to the pound packages of bees. 



I find that, owing to high express charges, 

 most Southern shippers try to ship in too 

 small packages. The result is a heavy loss 

 on their part and dissatisfaction on the part 

 of the receiver. One-third to one-half came 

 dead. Some were supplied with sweetened 

 water, some with candy, others with chunk 

 honey. The last had pounded aU around in 

 the cage until the larger part of the bees 

 were killed and the residue were so smeared 

 as to be worthless. What does an express 

 agent care whether they stand on end, up- 

 side down, or any old way? In the cases in 

 which water was used, the cans had sprung a 

 leak or become clogged, and the bees were 

 dead. 



Of all the methods emploj^ed, those shipped 

 with a can containing water sweetened with 

 honey came out best. But that is no guar- 

 antee that they will arrive in good condition. 

 Besides this loss of bees, it was found later 

 that the queens were more or less damaged, 

 as they were almost innnediately superseded. 



In my own yards I used the one-frame nu- 

 clei purchased from a distance of 800 miles. 

 Tliey were shipped in a redwood box 12 



inches wide, 18 long, 9 deep, with a partition 

 in the center, and one-frame nuclei in each 

 side. The express on each box was 50 cents; 

 b'lt there was no loss whatever. Bees, hon- 

 ov, and all, were on one Hoffman frame — no 

 leaking of combs, no suffocation. 



The oldest head of beedom will tell you 

 that bees in nucleus form with queen is the 

 only way to ship; and when a receiver would 

 tell us that pound packages are cheaper than 

 nuclei, we feel certain he has not had the 

 experience in handling both that I have had. 

 Tliis year I am sending to the same company 

 again. They are the only ones I have found 

 who advertise pound packages and then send 

 one-frame nuclei with a smile. Why. He 

 knows — satisfaction. N. T. Spangler. 



Tremonton, Utah. 



[There can be no question but that a 

 jiound of bees will travel better on a frame 

 of brood and honey than in a,ny combless 

 wire-cloth cage that was ever invented, 

 whether it has a water-bottle, bottle con- 

 taining syrujj, or a compartment for bee- 

 cage candy. Our experience is that a nu- 

 cleus will travel safely many hundreds of 

 miles with a loss of less than one per cent, 

 while bees in cages without combs will have 

 a mortality of from 33 to 50 per cent. 

 Why then should combless bees be the pre- 

 vailing method of shipping? For the reason 

 that bee disease is so prevalent that it is un- 

 safe to ship combs from one locality into an- 

 other. The consignee always takes a risk 

 when he takes bees in nucleus form. — Edi- 

 tor.! 



Altho blind, Chns. Kirk of Einbro, Ont., (at llic dc innnstrator's 

 colonies of bees and is making good in spite of bis liandicap. 



left) is running from fifty to sixty 



