Vol. XTII. 



DEC. 15, 1889. 



No. 24. 



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WORKING FOR COMB HONEY. 



DOOLITTLE ANSWERS A PECULIAR QUESTION. 



fHE following has been sent in to me as a text 

 from which to write an article for Glean- 

 ings: "How to manage a home apiary of 50 

 colonies for comb honey, in connection 

 with another business, said business to oc- 

 cupy the apiarist's time from 7 A. m. to 6 p. m. In- 

 crease desired, 30 colonies, or the apiary to contain 

 80 in the fall. Hives, eight-frame Simplicity." This 

 is a good deal of ground for me to cover in the 

 space allotted for one article, but I will do the best 

 I can. We are also to understand that the source 

 from which a surplus of honey is gathered is only 

 white clover and heart's-ease, other flowers yield- 

 ing enough for brood-rearing in good years. Now, 

 we will suppose these bees to be in fair condition 

 in early spring, which, according to my definition 

 of that term, would be about 10 colonies extra good, 

 30 colonies from good to medium, and the remain- 

 ing 20 from medium to weak. As white clover is 

 the thing we' are to keep our eyes on for the main 

 crop of white honey, we must have our bees ready 

 for it as early as the tenth to the fifteenth of June, 

 or we lose this part of our field. Considering this, 

 1 should, in early spring, shut the bees of all the 

 colonies, except the 10 strongest ones, on as few 

 frames as they would cover, allowing none of those 

 so contracted to have more than five combs, while 

 the very poorest would probably not have over 

 two. This contraction is done by the use of a di- 

 vision-board; and if, in addition to this, we have 

 chaff or sawdust cushions to slip down and till the 

 space behind the division-boards, we are so much 

 nearer accomplishing our object tagood yield from 

 clover) than we should otherwise be, for the confin- 

 ing of the heat generated by the bees to the space 

 occupied with brood is what gives us much brood 



early in the season. As soon as the strongest of 

 these contracted colonies have their five frames 

 filled with brood, take a frame of hatching brood 

 from them and give to the next weaker, and so on 

 till each hive has five frames filled with brood, as 

 you are to give a frame of empty comb each time, 

 to the colony that you take the hatching brood 

 from. If you have been as successful as you 

 should be, when the 10th of June arrives you will 

 have 10 hives in the apiary having 8 frames of 

 brood, for the stronger will have filled their hives 

 by this time, and 40 hives with 5 frames of brood. 

 We will now go to each of 20 hives and take out 3 

 frames having the most brood in that is the nearest 

 to hatching, being careful not to get the queen on 

 any of these frames, and set them, bees and all, in- 

 to the other 20 hives which contain only 5 frames 

 each, alternating them with the other frames so the 

 bees will not quarrel. Having this done, we shall 

 find that our apiary now stands, 30 hives full to 

 overflowing with brood, and 30 hives with a queen 

 and two combs full of brood, with bees enough to 

 cover three frames, when the old bees return which 

 we carried to the other 20 hives, which they will do 

 the fir6t pleasant day after we united them with 

 the others. We now give each of these 20 small 

 colonies an empty frame having a starter of comb 

 foundation in it V 2 inch wide to keep them busy, 

 which will be filled with worker comb by this small 

 colony, as such colonies will build all worker comb, 

 and do it without any apparent loss of time. The 

 other colonies are to have the sections put on, so 

 that the very first honey which comes from the 

 field can go into them ; and it must go into them, if 

 honey is gathered, for the brood below hinders 

 them from putting it elsewhere. As to the surplus 

 arrangement used, I do not think there is very 

 much difference whether a T super is adopted, 

 wide frames, or the Manum, or Heddon case, only 



