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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1918 



unfortunately is not always the case when 

 the needs are supplied as the emergency 

 presents itself. 



Thus far we have been agreeably surpris- 

 ed each year when making the first visit to 

 the yards in June to find that the bees have 

 prospered during our absence ieven better 

 than formerly when they had attention thru- 

 out the year. The plan has now been in 

 operation long enough to convince us that 

 it is entirely practical. It has enabled us to 

 reduce to a system the work of the eleven 

 months. We wish this could be said of the 

 remaining one month. 



The Honey Flow. 



We try to arrive on the scene at the be- 

 ginning of the honey flow. By correspond- 

 ing with beekeepers in_the same locality we 

 usually are able to time our arrival fairly 

 well. But the uncertainties of a fickle 

 climate sometimes badly upset our plans. 



The first work in each yard is devoted 

 to reducing each colony to a single story, 

 clipping the queens and putting on comb- 

 honey supers. We put most of the brood in 

 a single hive body to be left with the colo- 

 ny and the combs of honey with smaller 

 patches of brood and empty combs in the 

 other hive body. The bees are shaken from 

 these extra combs that are taken away, and 

 the hive bodies containing them are piled 

 up on top of the weaker colonies. They are 

 piled up eight high, the piles being propped 

 with fence rails to prevent their being 

 blown over. These "piles" soon become 

 exceedingly strong colonies because there 

 is more or less emerging brood scattered 

 thruout the various hive bodies. Later, 

 after considerable of this brood has emerg- 

 ed, some of the hive bodies are slipped for- 

 ward or back to allow additional entrances. 

 The colonies in these "piles" do not at- 

 tempt to swarm, and most of the combs are 

 usually filled with honey, which gives us 

 the extra story of honey to put back on the 

 other colonies after the comb-honey supers 

 have all been removed. This preliminary 

 work is a hard and disagreeable job and usu- 

 ally makes us wish we were equipped for 

 extracted-honey production, which would 

 save all this shaking and sorting of combs. 



Sometimes the colonies are so strong ait 

 this time that two comb-honey supers are 

 needed at once. Some colonies are extreme- 

 ly touchy just at this time, responding to 

 this reduction to one story by immediately 

 preparing to swarm. This has led to a modi- 

 fied treatment of certain suspicious-looking 

 colonies some seasons by which most of their 

 brood is temporarily removed when they 

 are reduced to a single story. 

 Swarming. 



The remainder of the work during the 

 honey flow is devoted primarily to a fight 

 against swarming, which in some seasons is 

 a battle of such proportions that honey 

 production .seems only incidental to the 

 main issue of the fight. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, not all seasons are like this, and we 

 sometimes have time to enjoy a cer/tain 



amount of freedom from the burdens that 

 these ruthless taskmasters are able to im- 

 pose upon us. 



All colonies that are at all liable to swarm 

 are examined each week, and, if the honey 

 flow is rapid, the supers are examined and 

 rearranged every three or four days, for 

 we want each colony drawing foundation 

 far in advance of its needs during the first 

 half of the honey flow. For this reason we 

 have never been able to handle our apiaries 

 by visiting them only every ten days, as 

 some beekeepers do. 



We have no set rule for the treatment of 

 colonies that are preparing to swarm. Like 

 the physician we want to see the patient 

 before writing a prescription. In general, 

 when conditions of the colony and the 

 character and advancement of the season 

 are such that it seems bes(t to do so, we re- 

 move the brood from the colony that is pre- 

 paring to swarm. When another set of symp- 

 toms are present and the character and ad- 

 vancement of the season are such that a 

 different treatment is indicated, the queen 

 is removed. The subsequent treatment in 

 either case is modified by existing condi- 

 tions, but usually, when the brood has been 

 removed, most of the emerging bees result- 

 ing from the removed brood are later re- 

 turned to the colony. The colonies that 

 have had the queen removed are requeened 

 with a young queen just as soon as they 

 will tolerate this without swarming again. 

 As the years go by, we note a growing ten 

 dency to remove queens more often than in 

 former years. 



Other Work. 



The sections are folded and foundation 

 put into them as needed, the writer being 

 boss and chief operator in this departmenjt. 

 For this work, advantage is taken of rainy 

 days, when both can help, even tho the 

 sections may not be needed this year, for 

 we want at least one super per colony ready 

 to put on the bees when we arrive the fol- 

 lowing June. During poor seasons we are 

 sometimes able to make repairs on the 

 equipment and repaint some of the hive 

 covers. A certain amount of requeening is 

 attempted every year, largely in connecftion 

 with swarm control. 



Toward the close of the honey flow we 

 begin a concentration of super work, first 

 reducing the super room of each colony to 

 one super. Later these last supers are re- 

 moved and the unfinished sections assem- 

 bled into a smaller number of supers which 

 are returned to certain selected coloniee. 

 At this time each of the other colonies is 

 given an extra hive body well supplied witli 

 honey. These are taken from the "pile" 

 mentioned above. Thus, by a single opera- 

 tion, these colonies are supplied with all 

 the items of attention they should need 

 until next June, except packing for winter 

 and unpacking the next spring. When all 

 colonies have had their comb-honey supers 

 removed and have been given the second 

 hive body containing their stores, we say 



