1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



195 



We tried using a piece of queen-ex- 

 cluder zinc over the entrance, and still 

 they frequently would abscond leaving 

 the queen and a few drones inside the 

 screen. It seemed that the first shake 

 would throw the bees into great con- 

 sternation from which they would have 

 just about recovered, when on the third 

 day they were again shaken from their 

 pretty drawn combs, leaving them in a 

 condition so discouraged and hopeless 

 that they were slow to begin work 

 again if they did so at all. 



We lost so many colonies in this 

 way that sometimes when crowded to 

 the limit with work, it was a question 

 whether it would not pay to destroy 

 the diseased colonies, entirely and at 

 once, and be done with it. Some bee- 

 keepers of our acquaintance began the 

 method of shaking diseased colonies 

 directly on full sheets of foundation, 

 without the second shake, but this did 

 not always effect a cure, and to be 

 obliged to treat them again that season 

 made extra work besides reducing the 

 colony to a nucleus. 



About this time we heard of the star- 

 vation method and tried it at once, 

 shaking the bees into an empty hive 

 and screening them in and setting in 

 the cellar for three days. This was a 

 sure cure, for the bees always starved 

 to death in less than three days, the 

 most of them dying inside of two days, 

 but after some experiments we found 

 that starving for 24 hours always 

 effected a cure, and we could also save 

 the bees as they would hang quietly in 

 a cluster like a swarm, and when given 

 frames of foundation would go to woik 

 with great energy. 



The method of treatment finally 

 evolved always gave good results, and 

 we now use it entirely, and when serv- 

 ing in the capacity of County Bee In- 

 spector, the writer always uses and 

 recommends this plan, as it is simple 

 and easy and reasonably sure. 



We have discontinued putting the 

 bees into the cellar as it is not neces- 

 sary, but prefer to put the new hive on 

 the old location and cover with a 

 shade-board. We also think it best to 

 spread a paper or cloth in front of 



empty hive to shake the bees on, driv- 

 ing; them in with a little smoke, after 

 which the paper or cloth should be 

 gathered up and burned. 



A stick or empty frame with a small 

 piece of burlap hung over it is a good 

 thing for the bees to cluster on, and 

 should be placed in the middle of the 

 hive so that when you open up the hive 

 next day you can slip in the frames of 

 foundation on each side until the hive 

 is nearly full. Then the empty frame 

 with burlap and cluster may be shaken 

 and the bees falling on the bottom of 

 the hive will quickly run up on frames 

 of foundation. The remaining frames 

 can be slipped in, the cover put on, and 

 you can feel sure that you have done a 

 good job. 



We do not claim to have originated 

 this method, as it seems to be in com- 

 mon practice with many Colorado bee- 

 keepers and perhaps elsewhere. So I 

 suppose that they tried different plans 

 until they found one adapted to their 

 requirements as we did. 



Cedaredge, Colo. 



^♦^ 



Spring Management of Bees 



BY E. F. ATWATER. 



NOT so very long ago the writer 

 wrote a million dollar article 

 for a bee-publication. I was not 

 paid a million for it, you can bank on 

 that. Worse, probably not one reader 

 in one hundred really grasped its value. 

 A little out of the beaten path, you 

 know. But take my word for it, it was 

 a million dollar article; can make and 

 save that amount for the beekeepers. 

 Save time, save work, build big colo- 

 nies to make big crops. 



The principle is simple — abundant 

 stores at a distance from the brood, in 

 spring breeding time. And those stores 

 preft-rably near the entrance. In this 

 mild climate, we prepare for this in the 

 fall. We now produce mostly ex- 

 tracted honey, with an average of over 

 1000 colonies for some years past, and 

 as is well known, colonies run for ex- 

 tracted honey are often a little light in 

 stores, so we leave two to five extra 



APIARY OV E. F. ATWATER IN IDAHO 

 Notice that the first two rows face each other 



combs of honey for each colony, at the 

 last extracting. These combs of honey 

 are in the extracting super next to the 

 brood-nest, and the remainder of the 

 space is filled with empty combs. As 

 early in the fall as possible, we " re- 

 verse," that is to say, we put the super 

 with the extra combs of honey, under- 

 neath the brood-nest, which brings 

 the cluster in the upper hive where heat 

 is best conserved. Of course the col- 

 ony must have stores enough in the 

 brood-nest so they will not starve in a 

 cold spell of winter weather. All 

 through the fall, the bees are carrying 

 honey from the combs below up into 

 the brood-nest, resulting in a little 

 later brood-rearing, some young bees 

 for winter, and a more compact ar- 

 rangement of the winter stores. 



But the big gain is in the spring. 

 Then the bees are constantly, when 

 weather permits, carrying up stores, 

 which encourages brood-rearing to the 

 utmost. The bees will be far more 

 active than in a small hive, where the 

 stores are in compact form, all quite 

 near the cluster, as with the stores so 

 far from the cluster, the bees' instinct 

 causes them to carry stores into or 

 close to the brood-nest. 



If there had been any combs the pre- 

 vious fall, which were new, and full of 

 honey, too tender to extract, these are 

 the very best to leave under the brood- 

 nest, as such combs will be emptied 

 and the honey carried above before the 

 honey in old combs will be touched. 



Now, when spring comes and you 

 are working your bees, take nearly all 

 the honey not in combs containing 

 brood, and put it in the hive-body be- 

 low the brood-nest, filling the brood- 

 nest with first-class worker-combs. 

 Now leave them alone. Result is that 

 the queen has almost unlimited room 

 to lay in the upper body for weeks to 

 come, and with the desire to surround 

 the brood with honey from below. 



This when carried up is unsealed 

 and in the best possible condition to 

 favor activity within the hive; the best 

 of results are obtained in brood. rear- 

 ing. Colonies so prepared should have 

 a small entrance. No daily fussing and 

 feeding, but results as good or better 

 than with any other plan of spring 

 rnanagement, unless weather condi- 

 tions should be extraordinarily unfa- 

 vorable. The queen will not be crowd- 

 ed for room to lay nearly so soon as 

 when stores and brood are confined to 

 one hive-body. In this connection the 

 writer believes that the application of 

 the principle of stores far from the 

 brood is one reason why large hives so 

 often prove superior to small hives, as 

 in the large hive there is usually a 

 goodly supply of honey, far removed 

 from the actual brood-nest or cluster 

 through a large part of the spring 

 breeding season. 



Briefly, put honey from the brood- 

 nest, in early spring, into a hive-body 

 under the brood-nest, filling up both 

 bodies with good w irker comb for 

 easy, profitable, best spring breeding. 



The writer has seen stronger colo- 

 nies by this plan than any other, and 

 speaks from an experience of 20 years 

 with crops as large as 80,000 to 110,000 

 in a rather poor location. 



Meridian, Idaho. 



[The only objection we can see, in 

 this climate, to the above suggestions 

 is the possibility of some of the cole- 



