1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



123 



the desired drones, no inbreeding 

 would be done that need worry the 

 practical apiarist whose ideal is honey 

 production. Then when we realize 

 that drones, for miles around, congre- 

 gate in certain places in the air, and 

 that our most carefully reared queens 

 are almost sure to go to these congre- 

 gating places, any danger, for the prac- 

 tical apiarist, of inbreeding need not 

 even disturb his dreams. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



A Queen Clipping Story 



IT was many years ago, on Easter 

 day, during one of those radiant 

 spring days that one appreciates 

 the more because one has missed them 

 so long. The bells of the churches 

 had already announced the solemnity of 

 the day, and my wife had said to me : 

 " I hope you will not fail to come to 

 church today." I had replied hurriedly: 

 "Yes, yes, certainly." But — how it hap- 

 pened I do not know — when the bells 

 were rung for the third time, I was in 

 the apiary opening a hive of bees. 



I had six hives of bees in the remot- 

 est rear of my garden, and we had a 

 neighbor whose principle it was never 

 to let anything get lost. So whenever 

 a swarm would settle in his lot, he 



to handle a queen, they are just as much 

 so for holding scissors. I was holding 

 the frame in one hand and the scissors 

 in the other, following the queen who 

 was passing from one side of the comb 

 to the other, or hiding under the work- 

 ers. A clip of the scissors is quickly 

 done, but you must do it properly and 

 not clip a leg or the end of the abdo- 

 men with the wing. I believe the man 

 who advised that method is a theorist 

 who has never tried it himself, unless 

 he be a legerdemain performer. 



I had been following the queen with 

 my scissors for perhaps five minutes 

 when she reached the top of the comb, 

 and probably becoming convinced that 

 I was after her, she took flight just like 

 a hen that you are trying to catch. It 

 was the first time I had ever seen a 

 queen leave the comb; she passed near 

 my face; I looked up to follow her, 

 but the sun blinded me and she disap- 

 peared. I hunted for her for a quarter 

 of an hour on a little tree which was 

 near to me ; I investigated one leaf 

 after another uselessly. She was lost. 



Was it because of Easter day ? I had 

 no sooner closed the hive when I heard 

 a voice saying, " Serves you right, you 

 pagan! You imagine that you can ex- 

 amine your bees, unpunished, on Eas- 

 ter! Serves you right! A queen lost, 

 a crop lost, 40 pounds of honey! At 20 



'^^jJlB, *#fr"***'^* 



APIARY OF OSCAR DINES. OF SYRACUSE. N. Y. 

 The largest number of colonies I have seen in one apiary, nearly 300. Mr. Dines enjoys 



beek eecing hugely 



would run and get a straw skep, hive 

 the swarm without saying a word and 

 take it away. There is nothing so vex- 

 ing as to lose a swarm in the spring, 

 but when you know it has been taken 

 on the sly, it is still worse. 



I had read in a foreign bee journal 

 that one could avoid the loss of swarms 

 by clipping the wings of the queens, 

 and this was what I was aiming to do, 

 on that Sunday. At first everything 

 went well, but when a man has handled 

 a spade or a hoe all the week, it is 

 somewhat difficult to hold a queen. 

 They are so frail that one never knows 

 whether one is holding them right or 

 crushing them. Several times it has 

 happened to me to say, in releasing a 

 queen: "There, I killed her!" As I 

 had noticed in that same journal that 

 one could clip the wing of a queen 

 without seizing her, I decided that I 

 would try that method on the second 

 queen. But when the fingers are stiff 



cents that makes $8.00! A well deserved 

 fine, not too much !" 



But this made me peevish. " Do you 

 think that I have no right to look at 

 my bees when I feel like it ? I'll show 

 you." So I opened the four remaining 

 colonies and clipped the wings of the 

 queens by catching them across the 

 corslet. But the thought, "Serves you 

 right," kept ringing in my ears, in spite 

 of myself. The sun did not seem so 

 bright, and things looked gloomy. I 

 put everything in order and walked 

 towards the house, thinking : " Don't 

 tell any one about this at dinner, for 

 the " Serves you right" would be likely 

 to keep alive until next Easter. 



I walked into the house. But when 

 I lifted my hat off, I heard a "frr frr," 

 the beating of wings. Oh my, my queen, 

 my queen, there she was, on my hat! ! 

 I caught her, ran to the hive and let 

 her run in. I was in such a hurry that 

 I even forgot to clip her wing. The sun 



had become radiant again and the day 

 lovely. I was so happy, not so much 

 for my crop returned in perspective, but 

 to be able to answer that voice which 

 said, "Serves you right." It seemed to 

 me that I was entitled to reply: "Ha, 

 not so big a sin after all." But just the 

 same, since that day, I have never 

 opened my hives on Easter. 



—Bulletin de la Soci<-t<5 Romande. 



Moving Bees 



BY L. L. ANDREWS. 



THE moving of bees has become so 

 common over most parts of the 

 United States that I will give 

 only my personal experience, hoping 

 that it may be of benefit. 



If the apiary is to be used with the 

 intention of immediate honey-gather- 

 ing, large colonies must be used. If 

 the apiary is to be built up to honey- 

 gathering strength after moving, other 

 methods can be used. 



To move short distances, say up to 

 50 or 60 miles, tight hives and good 

 ventilation are the prime requisites. I 

 use a screen made of ordinary window 

 screen on a frame made of J^-inch 

 lumber to tack over the hive after the 

 cover is removed. Close the entrance 

 with a strip of burlap soaking wet. 



I will go more into detail in my 

 description of moving long distances 

 in order to get the later crop. In Utah 

 the honey flow is looked for about July 

 15, while here most of our honey is 

 made by July 1. By crowding a little 

 each way, we get most of the crop here 

 ,and get up there in time to get a crop 

 also. 



In preparation, a good way is to 

 figure on about one frame of honey, 

 one dry comb, three of brood and 

 honey, a good supply of young bees, 

 and above all a young queen. Nothing 

 is so provoking as to have a queen break 

 down and the bees try to supersede 

 her in the midst of a honey flow that 

 at best is of only a few weeks duration. 



Move all colonies some distance a 

 day before you expect to ship, to 

 screen out all old bees. Place some 

 hives with combs and a frame of brood 

 — about one hive for each 20 colonies 

 moved — on the old location to catch 

 the go-backs. 



With the hives to be moved, fix all 

 frames secure. If self-spacing, crowd 

 to one side of the hive and drive a six- 

 penny nail in the end of the hive to 

 hold the frames secure. Place the 

 screen over and tack lath on to hold 

 secure. I close entrances by tacking 

 on pieces of lath, leaving a space be- 

 tween the width of a lath. This space 

 a small piece of lath will fill quickly 

 when the hive is ready to close. 



Have plenty of help, and when you 

 expect to ship get everything ready and 

 load quickly. Place hives crosswise of 

 the wagon and lengthwise of the rail- 

 road cars. Place the hives about three 

 inches apart in the cars, and many 

 leave an aisle so that you can go the 

 full length of the car to water during 

 hot weather. It is yet a disputed ques- 

 tion whether it pays to water during 

 shipment, but we have always done so. 

 We used a squirt gun much like we 

 made out of elder when boys. 



The best results are obtained by 

 shipping nothing but sealed brood, as 

 the bees will suck the uncapped brood 



