1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



339 



MANUM IN THE APIARY WITH HIS 

 MEN. 



HOW HE DRILLS HIS BOYS TO MANAGE HIS OUT- 

 APIAKIES. 



TTp PRIL 10.— Well, boys, this is going to be a nice 

 gflk day-just the day to look over the bees for 

 jR»f the first time after their long winter confine- 

 ■^*- ment. Leslie, you and Fred may go to the 

 Monkton apiary. As Fred is to run that 

 apiary this year, 1 want him to go there with you; 

 and as you have worked for me six years you need 

 no instructions except to teach Fred all you can and 

 to look well to the stores and queens. I will take 

 Scott to the Mills apiary with me, as he is to run 

 that yard. 



Well, Scott, here we are at the Mills yard. How 

 nicely the bees are flying! You may put the horse 

 in that barn there, while 1 light the smokers. Now, 

 inasmuch as this is your first season with me, I 

 think you had better look on a while and see me 

 work. You will learn much faster in this way than 

 to undertake to work by yourself, as I will try to 

 explain every thing as I go along. The first thing 

 is to remove the cushion. How much nicer it is to 

 use cushions than to have the packing all loose, 

 as I used to have it! There, you see I have the 

 brood-chamber covered with a sheet of heavy cot- 

 ton cloth, spread directly on the frames, and over 

 this you observe a sheet of enamel cloth which cov- 

 ers half of the brood-chamber. By so doing, the 

 bees can cluster under the enamel cloth whenever 

 they wish to. The other half is simply covered 

 with a cotton cloth and the cushion over all. By this 

 plan the moisture can pass up through the portion 

 not covered with enameled cloth, into and through 

 the cushion. I will now remove this covering and 

 give the bees a puff of smoke to keep them back. 

 Tbis is a fine colony, 8 spaces filled with bees, and 

 all dry and healthy. As they have only 10 combs, 

 we can not remove any yet and leave them honey 

 enough. As we shall probably not come here again 

 within 10 days, it is not safe to contract too much. 

 Out-apiaries can not be managed as closely as the 

 one at home, where we can look to them oftener. 

 There, about all we can do at this time is to see that 

 they have honey in plenly and a good queen, and to 

 see that the bottom-board and entrance are all 

 clear. Vou will notice that the combs are spread 

 further apart than they should be for summer. I 

 spread them 1 5 8 from center to center in winter; 

 but now we will have them only 1 3 «, and during the 

 honey-flow only 1,V There, now, I follow up with 

 the division-board, return the cotton sheet, and cov- 

 er the whole top of the brood-chamber with enam- 

 eled cloth, because, as the bees can now fly nearly 

 every day, they require no upward ventilation, but 

 need all the warmth they can generate during the 

 parly spring breeding. Next I return the cushion 

 Over all. This swarm, you see, is now compact, and 

 well protected from cold frosty nights. 



Well, here is a swarm that is much lighter— only 

 f> combs covered with bees. From this I can remove 

 jtwo combs— you may carry them to the honey- 

 house for safe keeping. As the bottom-board is 

 covered with dead bees, 1 open the entrance wide, 

 and with this paddle 1 scrape the dead bees out 

 through the entrance. Yes, this queen is all right, 

 and laying well. I will close the entrance again, as 

 \ do not allow them to have any larger entrance 

 ilu.ring the spring than 1 do \n winter, which is 3 



inches long by a « wide, while the summer entrance 

 is 14 inches long by l 1 ^ wide. 



Here is a queenless stock, but it is quite strong. 

 We will remove three combs and clean them out, 

 as we may find a iight swarm with a queen that we 

 can unite with these. We shall then have a good 

 swarm out of the two poor ones. One good swarm 

 is worth more than a dozen poor ones. 



Here is a light stook with a good queen. We will 

 remove all the unoccupied combs, which takes 

 them all but three. I will now take these three 

 combs and bees and set them in the queenless hive, " 

 there I will uncap this card of honey and place it 

 between the two lots of bees. It will serve as a 

 peace-maker. In a short time the queenless bees 

 will discover that a queen is near, and will soon be 

 making friends with her bees, and unite without 

 further trouble to us. 



Here we have a hive that the cows turned over 

 when they broke in here. I presume they are all 

 dead. No, there are a few bees— about a teacupful. 

 The queen looks like a young one. Yes, the record 

 says she was hatched last July, and from No. 42, one 

 of my best breeding queens, so I will just cage her, 

 as we may want her in some other yard, or I may 

 have an order for a queen of this kind. There, you 

 see I mark the cage No. 1, as this is the flist queen 

 caged, and in my book I say, " Cage 1, queen one 

 year old, daughter of 42." Now, if I should send 

 this queen to any one, or use her myself, I shall 

 know who she is. As you see, I keep a record of all 

 my queens, so that I know their age and pedigree. 



Here we have another of those strong colonies 

 full of bees and but little honey. Here, 1 remove 

 two empty combs, and in their place I put in two 

 cards of honey. 



This finishes up this yard. You may get the horse 

 while I take a look through the yard to see that we 

 have not left combs out or neglected any thing. 



You have now got an idea of what I want done 

 the first time we look the bees over. I shall let you 

 and Fred go to the Eaton yard to-morrow while 

 Leslie goes to Ferrisburgh. 



APRIL 20. 



Now, boys, we will start out again to-day and see 

 what the bees are doing. There is not much to do 

 to them, but it is best to go around and see to 

 them. One to a yard will be enough this time, as 

 all there is to be done is to see to the stores and 

 give more combs where needed. Should you find 

 any robbing going on, contract the entrance to 

 %x%, and put straw or hay in front of the hive, so 

 the robbers will be obliged to crawl through it. 

 That will discourage them as quick :as any thing. 

 Look to those we united, to see if the queens are all 

 right. Should you find any that are queenless, and 

 are strong in bees, give them a card of eggs and 

 larvre from some strong stock that has a pure 

 queen. 



MAY 10. 



Well, boys, we have been confined to the shop for 

 some time, and it will do us all good to get out 

 among the bees. Our foundation is all made, and 

 nearly all the sections filled with it. We can finish 

 them rainy days. We shall now spend the most of 

 our time in the apiaries, cleaning up and painting 

 hives, etc. 



I will take Will with me to-day, as he has not 

 worked with me this spring. As the old bees have 

 all disappeared, and nothing but young bees are in 

 the hives, it is just the right time to clip the queens. 



