340 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



that were not clipped last fall. Here we are, Will, 

 at the Meack yard. These hives being all new, you 

 will not have much painting to do this year, except 

 to give the caps one coat. Now I will let you work 

 while L look on and tell you how to do it. This is a 

 good stock, with seven combs of brood. The record 

 says this is a last year's queen, hence she is one 

 year old. There she is! Now catch her by one wing 

 with your left hand; that's right. Now just let her 

 rest her feet on the lapel of your coat; that will 

 stop her fluttering. Now clip off half of one wing. 

 You see, it is a simple job. Let her go among the 

 bees agaia. This swarm should have one more 

 comb. Place it outside of the others. Some bee- 

 men would tell you to spread the brood-nest and 

 place it in the center; but I do not approve of it so 

 early in the season. It will do to spread the brood 

 during the honey-flow whenever we have occasion 

 to give a colony empty comb. Next replace the 

 sheets, both cotton and enamel cloth, and tuck 

 down the cushion all around so as to keep them 

 warm, as we now want to induce brood-rearing as 

 much as possible, because the eggs that are laid 

 now, and for the next 20 days, will produce the 

 bees that will gather our surplus; hence we should 

 do all we can to induce the queens to lay in every 

 comb. 



Here is a swarm that is not very strong— only four 

 combs with brood in them. You may take out that 

 best card of honey and uncap half the honey on 

 one side, and place that side next to the bees. That 

 is one way of feeding to stimulate brood-rearing; 

 but you see in this case the queen is laying all the 

 eggs the bees can care for, hence the trouble with 

 this swarm is that they are short of bees, so we will 

 go to a very strong colony and take out a few 

 young bees and give to this colony. There, let me 

 show you. This colony is so strong we can take out 

 quite a few bees, and here is a card of nearly all 

 hatching brood, which is also well covered with 

 young bees. I will take it out and hold it in front 

 of the hive— so— and with my knife-handle rap on 

 the frame; that causes the old bees to fly off, leav- 

 ing only the young bees. Now I place comb and 

 bees in this light stock. Next I will go to that 

 strong stock on the next row, and get a few more 

 young bees on a comb, and this time shake the 

 bees off in the light stock and return the comb. 

 There, now you see I have helped this light stock 

 wonderfully. It will now come up very fast, and 

 perhaps the next time we are here we can give 

 them another comb of brood and what young bees 

 are adhering to it. By this method we shall be able 

 to work up this colony to a good strong one by the 

 time clover blooms, without damaging those from 

 which we take the brood and young bees. 



Here is a good colony, but you will And them 

 queenless. How do I know? you ask. Well, I will 

 tell you how I know. You observe the bees are 

 more or less scattered all through the hive. They 

 appear uneasy— restless— and you notice they make 

 a peculiar mournful noise, and fluttering of their 

 wings. Yes, there are queen-cells capped, and not 

 an egg to be found anywhere. 



Let's see: The reoord says she was two years old 

 last summer, hence she would be three years old 

 now. She has probably failed from exhaustion, or 

 perhaps by accident. You may cut out all their 

 queen-cells, and we will give them a card of eggs 

 and larvfe from some of our breeding stocks and 

 Jet them rear a few oells for us, as we may need 



them the next time we are here. Now make a rec- 

 ord of this. Let me show you how I doit. There, 

 see: 



queen; put in 



May 10, 1889. No. 2. Q. p. 1. eggs from No. 16. 

 for Q. C. 



queen-cells. 



Here is a colony that seems to be very strong. 

 See how lively they are working, getting both pol- 

 len and honey. Yes, just as I expected, the hive is 

 full of bees and brood in 9 combs. These bees are 

 what are called leather-colored. They are almost 

 brown. There is the queen; how dark she is, and 

 how large and lively ! Do not clip her, as she is just 

 the kind Mr. Ira Barber likes; and as he has order- 

 ed a queen for breeding, I will send her to him next 

 week. By that time it will be time to be thinking 

 about getting queen-cells started, as we shall want 

 a few early queens in this yard; therefore we will 

 leave a record here in the honey-house, which will 

 show that the queen from No. 63 is to be taken out 

 for Mr. Barber, and the one in No. 28 for Mr. J. H. 

 Larrabee. 



When j ou come here next week you will simply 

 have to see to the stores, because they are consum- 

 ing honey very fast now, and it won't do to let 

 them get short. You will alsj give those more 

 comb that are not already full. A. E. Manum. 



Bristol, Vt. 



To lie continued. 



Why, friend M., you make me feel as if it 

 would be the nicest kind of fun to be one of 

 your boys. I wonder if you are always as 

 good-natured about it. Suppose some of 

 them should forget and leave a lot of combs 

 exposed, and they have a terrible time of 

 robbing, and some of your best queens are 

 lost. What would you do then? Tour idea 

 of having an enameled sheet to cover only 

 half of the brood-chamber, so bees can take 

 their choice, reminds me of my poultry- 

 house, where the roosts at each end run out 

 under an open shed. Just as soon as the 

 weather becomes mild, the fowls walk along 

 on the roosts out into the open shed ; but 

 when the nights are frosty and cold, they 

 come into the warm inner apartment. I do 

 like the idea of letting our bees and fowls 

 — ay, and horses and cattle also — please 

 themselves in regard to being outdoors or 

 in. My brother in California went to the 

 trouble of making good dry stables for his 

 horses and cattle. His neighbors laughed 

 at him. Thereupon he left the doors open 

 so the animals could please themselves. As 

 they all stayed outdoors in the rain in that 

 warm climate, rather than go into their 

 comfortable stables, he decided that the 

 neighbors were right— that there was no 

 particular need of stables in that locality.— 

 Your plan of uniting a queenless colony with 

 one weak in bees having a queen, is good. A 

 colony that has been some time queenless 

 will almost always take up with any bees 

 that have a queen. Hut your comb of honey, 

 with the cappings shaved off, I am pretty 

 sure, from what experience I have had in a 

 similar line, would make a pretty sure thing 

 of pleasant relations among the strangers.— 

 When you spoke about giving a comb of near- 

 ly hatching brood to a weak colony, I began 

 to question the wisdom of your course ; but 

 when you spoke furtherabout giving them a 

 few more youpg bees from a third colony, 



