American Hee Journal 



1910. 



Our Bee-Keeping Sisters 



Conducted by Emma M \Vii.son. Marengo. 111. 



Bees Hanging Out On the Hives 



I have a few bees which I am very much 

 interested in. I live in Charleston. S. C. 

 The weather so far has been quite cool, but 

 in spite of that the bees hang on the outside 

 of the hives, and stay there from a week to ? 

 weeks. It is not because the hive is full of 

 honey, for I have looked and find plenty of 

 comb not sealed. Why. do you think, the 

 bees hang on the outside of the hive? The 

 front of the hive is so full of bees that I 

 don't see how they manage to go in and out. 



These colonies I speak of have swarmed 2 

 or 3 times. Where do you think the queen 

 is? And would you advise me to catch 

 some of these bees and put them into an- 

 other hive ? Some of my hives are old-fash- 

 ioned box affairs. Do tell me how I can 

 catch the queen. Emma Furman. 



At this distance it is not easy to be 

 entirely certain why the bees hang out 

 in clusters on the hives, but it is a 

 pretty safe guess to say that it is more 

 comfortable out than in, just as you 

 may find it more comfortable some- 

 times on a hot day to sit out on the 

 shady side of the house. It may be 

 that there is too small an entrance, 

 giving too little chance for ventilation. 

 It is hard to give too large an entrance 

 in hot weather, only there should not 

 be more than an inch of space under 

 the bottom-bars, else the bees will build 

 down comb in the space. Some raise 

 the hive by putting little blocks under 

 the 4 corners. You can also increase 

 ventilation by allowing an opening 

 above. Let the upper story be slid for- 

 ward so as to leave a space of '4 inch 

 at the back end. It makes a difference 

 if the hive stands out in the hot sun. 

 Sometimes when a good flow is on, the 

 bees will hang out at night, when all 

 the bees are at home, and in the day- 

 time, when all the field-bees are out at 

 work, the outside of the hive will be 

 clear. Sometimes bees hang out for 

 no other reason than that there is noth- 

 ing to do in the fields, and they may 

 just as as well be clustering idly on the 

 outside of the hive as to be wearing 

 out their lives in the field where there 

 is nothing to do. It has been advised 

 to smoke the bees to make them go to 

 work, but that probably does more 

 harm than good. 



It is practically impossible to catch a 

 queen in a box-hive. If you are smart 

 enough, you might catch her when she 

 issues with a swarm. You might also 

 drum the bees out into an open box ; 

 but it would be hard to find the queen 

 then. In a movable-comb hive it is 

 easy to lift out frame after frame until 

 you come to the one on which the 

 queen is found. 



You would likely gain nothing by 

 taking the bees that are clustering out 

 and putting them in other hives. 



How a Texas Sister Extracts Honey 



Dear Miss Wilson: I often wonder how 

 many of our sisters like extracting. I. for 

 one, immensely enjoy it. It is about all I do 

 during the extracting season. I attend to 

 the frames in every way. My husband takes 

 them from the hives, and I extract them. 

 When one comes to think about it. it is a 

 job, though not a heavy one. 



If system is needed anywhere it is cer- 

 tainly needed in the honey-room. As I have 

 told you before, we run mostly for bulk- 

 comb honey. As the frames are brought in. 

 the white ones suitable to be cut out are 

 put in one place, end those to be extracted 

 in another. 



We have not yet gotten to where we can 

 afford an uncapping melter; but all in good 

 time. I have an ordinary washing tub on 

 which I place a box. with screen-wire in the 

 bottom. The screen-wire comes up on the 

 outside of the box at least 3 inches, and is 

 Hrmly secured thereon with strips of pine 

 2\% inches, the full length of the box on all 

 four sides. This prevents the wire from 

 pulling loose with the weight of the cap- 

 pings. Nailed across the top of the box is a 

 2xJi inch strip with a half inch depression 

 in the center in which to rest the frame 

 while uncapping. 



I use a hot. sharp knife, and the downward 

 stroke. At present I am using the old stvle 

 Bingham knife, but would dearly love to 

 have the Bingham Improved, with the 

 Hanged shank and SJi-inch blade. I find that 

 the cold knife, dipped often in ice-cold 

 water, works very well, but with the hot 

 knife one can work much more rapidly, es- 

 pecially on the thick frames. .\s to the 

 downward stroke, why, I find that I can hold 

 the frame steadier, have more power in my 

 wrist, that the weight of the knife helps a 

 great deal, and that the cappings roll off free 

 from the frames, be the angle what it mav. 

 Should the cappings not want to curl over, 

 just push the knife forward until the thumb 

 comes in contact with them, and give them a 

 flip with the thumb. With the upward 

 stroke the frame Aas to be at a certain angle 

 or the cappings stick to the frame, which is 

 a decided nuisance. We have a 2-frame non- 

 reversible Root extractor. %vhich we hope to 

 replace this year with a 4-frame reversible. 



The extracted frames are placed by them- 

 selves nearest the door, so as to be accessi- 

 ble to the one who carries them out to be 

 given back to the bees. Each frame is care- 

 fully examined to see that the comb is 

 straight. Should a corner, or other part 

 bulge, it is cut loose with a pocket-knife 

 and pushed in place. 



As we have several extra frames, those 

 taken from a hive are immediately replaced 

 with them, the liive closed, and the little 

 ladies just keep right on with their work as 

 though nothing had happened; except, per- 

 haps, with renewed energy. 



Two years ago we had no extra frames, so 

 the extracted frames were not given back 

 until late in the evening, when the bees 

 would be fractious to the last degree, and, at 

 times— well, ugly, especially when smoke 

 was used. On the cover there would be 

 two-thirds of the bees. If left until early 

 next morning to avoid the second opening 

 of the hive on the same day), comb building 

 on the cover would be well under way— to 

 make a long story short— 24 hours hard labor 

 lost. With the iiresent method everything 

 is accomplished with one manipulation. 



Mr. Pruitt starts work just about 20 min- 

 utes before I do. and I finish the last frame 

 just about one-half an hour after he quits. 



My work in the honey-room, though, be- 

 gins long before his does. Take, for in- 

 stance, one day— my first duty is building a 

 fire and putting on two dinner-pots full ol 

 water to get hot; next is washing and squeez- 

 ing out the cappings of the day before. 

 Then the honey in the tub is poured into 

 the extractor and the box put on ready for 

 use. Next, all the buckets, pails, etc.. that I 

 shall need for that day are washed and got- 

 ten ready, and the extractor oiled. I use a 

 small medicine dropper with which to oil it; 

 it is very convenient. The knife is then 

 whetted, and one of the pots of hot water is 

 brought in. and I'm ready to start. ICxlract- 

 ing then goes on until— say about an hour 

 and one-half by sunset. 



The gate is left open all the time and a full 

 pail is replaced with an empty one. In this 

 way it is easier to keep the very whitest 

 from mixing with the darker honey. Of 

 course, one has to keep one eye open, but 

 with a little experience it is not so danger- 

 ous as one would think. 



As soon as one pot of water gets too cold 

 the other is brought in. Frequent dipping 



of the hands in the wash-basin keeps th 

 handle of the knife and the crank from get- 

 ting sticky. Also wetting the hands well be- 

 fore attempting to tie the tender combs is 

 absolutely necessary. 



My method of tying is to catch one end of 

 the string with the left hand, holding the 

 frame and string together. Then wind 

 around about 4 times towards the opposite 

 end of the frame and pull tight, then back 

 again, and rest the right hand end of top- 

 bar on the extractor, and pull tight again, 

 even to the bending of bottom-bar. and tie. 

 The tying is done, of course after the comb 

 lias been uncapped on both sides. After it 

 is extracted the string is left on and the bees 

 carry it out. It takes up too much time to 

 untie them, and then too much trouble to tie 

 the next weak comb with the same string. 



After the extracting is done I pull all the 

 cappings to one side of the uncapping box, 

 and run them through my hands a few times, 

 tearing them up in very small pieces, and 

 gradually work them over to the opposite 

 side. I then smooth them out about level 

 and scoop out a little in the center, clear 

 down to the screen-wire, and leave them to 

 drain until morning. The idea for this mas- 

 saging allows the honey to drain out much 

 faster, and leaves the cappings drier than 

 did the old way of leaving them just as they 

 fall from the frames. This is original with 

 me. although others may do so. I would like 

 to know if they do. 



The next thing on the program is to cut 

 out the white frames and put in jars fS full 

 of honey, or in other vessels. Said vessels 

 are washed and dried off. and an attractive 

 label is placed on them, when they are 

 ready for the market; and what jolly times 

 we have selling it! 



The empty frames are then scraped of all 

 wax possible, and washed. They are then 

 put aside until the honey-room is cleaned up. 

 the floor swept and washed, and everything 

 is left in apple-pie order. The frames are 

 then taken to the kitchen and put. a few at a 

 time, in the oven with the door open, and 

 when warm (the first put in is generally just 

 right by the time the last is put in) are 

 scraped and the groove cleaned out. All the 

 wax is put in a frying pan reserved for that 

 purpose. When all are gone over, the frying 

 pan is put on the stove, and by the time the 

 starters are cut, the wax is hot enough to 

 solder them in with. So ends the extracting 

 part of that day. And have you noticed how- 

 white and clear the hands are by the time 3 

 or 4 such days are over ? 



I expect I may just as well own up that 

 after the cappings are massaged and as 

 much of the honey as possible is removed 

 from my hands, my face and neck are also 

 massaged and the honey well rubbed in. My 

 arms generally manage to take care of them- 

 selves, as my sleeves are always turned up 

 as far as they will go. If the honey is too 

 thick the thing can be remedied by dipping 

 the hands slightly in water. The honey is 

 left on until the room is put to rights and 

 then washed off last thing. Laugh all you 

 wish to. but. all the same, honey beats cold 

 cream, powder, perfumed waters, and good- 

 ness knows what, all to smitlierines. 



The most needed accessories to the honey- 

 room are. a wash-basin, a towel, several 

 large dish-rags, two large dish-pans, a bucket 

 of drinking water, and a cup. A tablespoon 

 and a case-knife come in handy now and 

 again; and such things are bound to be 

 most needed when not accessible, so one 

 may just as well get them first as last. 



A ball of string in a paper baking-powder 

 can threaded through one side of it is 

 mighty convenient. Punch a hole in the 

 opposite side from the hole where the string 

 is threaded through and force it o\er the 

 head of a nail in the wall well to the right of 

 the extractor. The nail should lay almost 

 against the w'all. pointed straight up. A 

 screw driver, a hammer and an assortment 

 of nails are also very needful at times. 



Arrange so that everything is handy, get 

 one thing out of the way of the other. After 

 supper I have to myself, for study, etc., 

 which consists chiefly of reading my back 

 bee-papers (of which I take twol. or my 

 poultry journals, unless, of course, I happen 

 to have new ones on hand. 



Now. I want to tell you what I heard from 

 two different people, and you can take it for 

 what it is worth. When honey is scarce and 

 sugar is high, the best thing to winter bees 

 on is a baked chicken! Just place the tid- 

 bit on top of the brood-frames, then a shal- 

 low super (say a section-case that carries 

 the 4V4X4!<xi!4 scction\ and replace the 

 cover. Of course, a little pepper and salt 

 added, to season it with, might be accepta- 

 ble. Wonder if canvasback duck wouldn't 

 do as well. 



We are having a bountiful crop of catclaw 



