Vol. XT1I. 



AUG. 1, 1889. 



No. 15. 



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OUT-APIARIES NO. XII. 



UNLOADING AND FREEING BEES. 



«PON hauling the first load of bees to an out- 

 apiary, no special care need be taken till the 

 load is taken off, for no bees are flying. Aft- 

 er the first load, however, the case is differ- 

 ent. Unless it happens to be so early or late 

 in the day, or so cool that no bees are flying, great 

 care must be taken. Use judgment as to how close 

 you dare drive to the apiary, unless, indeed, there 

 is no chance to approach near enough for the bees 

 to trouble your team. I once kept bees in an out- 

 apiary where there was no chance to get in the in- 

 closure where the bees were, so I used a wheelbar- 

 row to wheel them from the wagon to the apiary. 

 But ordinarily you can drive nearer than it would 

 be wise to have a team stand. Before you drive 

 close enough to have any anxiety, get down from 

 your wagon, put up your lines and have every 

 thing in readiness to unhitch in a twinkling when 

 you stop. If you have a single horse, unfasten the 

 hold-back straps so that nothing shall be left to do 

 but to unhitch the traces. Then lead your horse to 

 the place where you will unload, unhitch as rapidly 

 as possible, take your horse to a safe distance, and 

 tie him ; then go back and unload. Make some cal- 

 culation to put the first loads in such part of the 

 apiary that they shall interfere least with you when 

 hauling succeeding loads; that is, in general put 

 the first load in the furthest part of the apiary. I 

 am not sure what is the best way to let the bees out 

 of the hive after putting them on the stand; but I 

 wouldn't let any of them out till I had finished un- 

 loading. Sometimes I have let them out without 

 smoke, by moving very softly; but on doiDg so I 

 am quite apt to take a short foot-race immediately 

 after the bees issue from the hive. One might 

 think that, after being pounded over the road so 



long, bees would be good natured; but for some 

 reason they are apt to be cross; and when a lot of 

 cross bees rush out of a hive whose location they 

 have never marked, I am doubtful about their 

 finding their way back to the right hive, and a 

 little skeptical about their being kindly received 

 in any other hive. A few whiffs of smoke before 

 unstopping the entrance makes matters pleasant, 

 and I don't know whether that is better, or to dash 

 cold water into the entrance. 



I suspect it is better to let bees alone as much 

 as possible the day they are placed in a new 

 apiary; and I make a practice, pretty generally, 

 when I take a load to an out-apiary to-day, to 

 overhaul those that I hauled yesterday, after open- 

 ing those I brought to-day. 



BEST TIME TO TAKE BEES TO AN OUT-APIARY. 



In the spring, pasturage is usually scarce; and if 

 you have enough bees so that you need to take 

 them from home for pasturage, they are likely to 

 need the extra pasturage in the spring as much as 

 any time, so that you will do well to commence 

 hauling your bees just as soon as you can in the 

 spring. Even if there is but little to work on in the 

 spring, that little is quite important to encourage 

 brood-rearing; and if you have 150 colonies, and 

 take 75 of them away, the remaining 75 will have 

 just twice the pasturage they had before, be that 

 little or much. Besides, as friend Root suggests, 

 the outside pasturage may be better. Bad roads 

 may delay matters, for in some localities there are 

 times in the spring when the roads are almost im- 

 passible. I would wait some little time for good 

 roads. 



I have sometimes kept bees home till well on in 

 May; in fact, till one of the colonies had swarmed, 

 as I was feeding daily in the open air, and 1 thought 

 this would be of more advantage to the bees than 

 the little ihey would gather in the fields at the out- 



