334 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



eggs daily, on an average, nevertheless no 

 queen-cells were started. In a ten-frame h. 

 hive the colony had queen-cells, while the 

 same calculation showed only 2500 eggs daily. 

 The advantages of large hives in spring can 

 be seen at once. It would be easy to start the 

 swarming-fever in a strong colony if we could 

 take away all unsealed brood. The same con- 

 dition can be created if we contract the brood- 

 nest. The swarming-impulse will be incited, 

 sometimes, later, as soon as the queen can not 

 lay the same number of eggs any more for 

 lack of empty cells. By brushing all the bees 

 from the combs we have about the same pro- 

 portion of young and iield bees as in a natural 

 swarm, have the same condition which incites 

 the swarming-impulse, and, if we are careful 

 that the bees during the operation fill them- 

 selves with honey as they do before swarm- 

 ing, I can not see a reason why they should 

 not build combs as well as a natural swarm. 

 In fact, I never had any trouble in this re- 

 spect with brushed swarms, made either on 

 the old stand or on a new one. 



Second, Mr. Davenport says, " With a large 

 yard, or on a range well stocked, a good many 

 strong colonies will not swarm naturally, and 

 such colonies will store more surplus than 

 they would if artificially swarmed." 



An artificial or natural swarm will store less 

 honey than a colony unswarmed if the honey- 

 flow is of long duration, because the swarm is 

 getting weaker every day, till 22 days or more 

 afterward, when the first young bees will gnaw 

 out of the cells. This long interval is avoided 

 by my management. 



If the colonies in a well-stocked range do 

 not swarm as much, the reason is they do not 

 gather as much honey in the spring (over- 

 stocking). This may either cau-e the devel- 

 opment of the colonies to be slower or the 

 brood-nest less crowded by the honey. In 

 both cases swarming is delayed. 



Third, with brushed swarms, made before 

 queen-cells were started, "the queen sulked, 

 or, for some reason, refused to lay until con- 

 siderable comb below was built, and filled with 

 white honey." 



It is important to know which way the arti- 

 ficial swarms are made. If very few young 

 nurse-bees are present, the queen is not nour- 

 ished properly for egg-laying. If a queen- 

 excluder is used over an empty brood-cham- 

 ber, and too much super room given, the bees 

 may prepare a brood-nest in the sections, and 

 have not sense enough to understand why the 

 queen will not come up and do her duty. By 

 the way, this is one of the reasons why pollen 

 is stored in the sections sometimes. Pollen is 

 always stored around the brood-nest, or where 

 the bees expect to have their brood-nest. 



Fourth, " In numerous cases I had the bees 

 themselves sulk, and refuse to do much work 

 for a number of days when all the brood was 

 taken away." 



If we suddenly take away all the brood, the 

 bees will always become very uneasy, and be- 

 have somewhat like queenless bees. For this 

 reason I give them at first one frame of brood, 

 in some years here, when the bees are not 

 very much inclined to swarm, and in some lo- 



calities, perhaps, this brood-comb can remain 

 permanently in the hive. At other times the 

 brushed bees get so much the swarming-fever, 

 contrary to Mr. D.'s opinion, that they will 

 swarm out if this comb of brood is not taken 

 away the first day after brushing off the bees. 

 In this way I always get the bees to work with 

 the same vigor as a natural swarm. 



ADVANTAGES OF LARGE HIVES. 



I will state again what reason I have for my 

 management. In the spring I use very large 

 hives to get strong colonies without swarming, 

 and without the work recomme' ded by Doo- 

 litlle, and necessary with small hives. If, 

 over these large brood-chambers, section-su- 

 pers were given, the outcome was never satis- 

 factory to me. If the brood-chamber was con- 

 tracted before the supers were given, the re- 

 sult in the honey crop was not much better, 

 and many colonies swarmed. I always had 

 trouble with old-established colonies in forc- 

 ing them to start the work in the sections. 

 Bait combs or not, they would sometimes 

 rather hang outside of the hive than go into 

 the supers. I got the most comb honey from 

 swarms hived just before the commencement 

 of the honey-flow. From all I have read I 

 got the impression that the bulk of the comb 

 honey is gathered by swarms. I will mention 

 only Niver, page 608, 1899. 



At first I united three or four swarms, which 

 I got in large numbers from ten-frame Lang- 

 stroth hives, and had good crops ; but during 

 a long honev-flow these swarms became weak 

 too soon. Using larger hives I got no more 

 swarms. I kept all the bees of one colony to- 

 gether, and added to it afterward all the bees 

 which had hatched from the brood, which I 

 had taken away as soon as they were able to 

 do field work and were too old to caute the 

 swarming-fever. In 1886 I managed an out- 

 apiary on this plan ; had a satisfactory honey 

 crop, and no trouble from natural swarms. 



SHALLOW BROOD-CHAMBERS. 



Shallow brood- chambers are not absolutely 

 necessary for this management. Mine have 

 about half the capacity of a Dadant hive, and 

 I have used them since 1881 — at first as ex- 

 tracting-supers, soon afterward two of them as 

 brood- chamber, because I deem it a nuisance 

 to have two different frames in the apiary. If 

 a colony is prepared for comb honey produc- 

 tion I give at first only one story with start- 

 ers, and this forces the bees into sections. As 

 soon as this story is nearly built out, mostly 

 with worker combs, I set the second story 

 with full sheets of foundation or drawn-out 

 combs under the first one, and then I have a 

 full-sized brood chamber again. The bees ex- 

 pand the brood nest down into this lower sto- 

 ry as fast as they need more room for this pur- 

 pose, and comparatively no honey is stored 

 there. In the upper brood-story the bees can 

 not store honey before the brood is hatched, 

 so by and by enough honey is stored in the 

 brood-chamber for the later season. I do not 

 think it will pay here to force all the honey 

 into the sections, and feed the colony after- 

 ward. 



I use queen-excluders, if they are necessary; 



