August, IIMi! 



! * »>^ i: 5 i^ =^ 



American Hee Journal 



sleet later. Now, the shoe was ou the 

 other foot, as the saying goes, and we 

 had to do what we could to protect the 

 bees and the brood from cliilling. 



Our destination was reached while it 

 was still cold and sleeting, and it con- 

 tinued the rest of that night and the 

 next day. It gave us a good opportu- 

 nity to ojien the hives after unloading 

 without the bees flying and mixing. As 

 soon as the sun came out during the 

 next day, the bees came out in full 

 force, gathering honey from the 

 " agherita," or "wild currant," which 

 was then at its best. Not a single col- 

 ony was lost on this long move, and at 

 this date the colonies are all booming, 

 so that I am expecting to get a good 

 honey crop from them, as they are 

 favorably located. L. B. Smith. 



Rescue, Tex. 



When to Put On Supers 



The bee-keeper should devote much 

 time to the study of his locality, the 

 source of the honey-flows, and when 

 they are to be expected, so that the 

 supers may be put on the hives at the 

 proper time. To put them on long be- 

 fore they are needed gives too much 

 room for the welfare of the colonies; 

 besides, the bees may destroy the foun- 

 dation in them by gnawing it down. 

 Hut to leave the supers ofif until they 

 are actually needed often results in the 

 colonies becoming crowded and get- 

 ting the desire to swarm. 



According to the old rule, the proper 

 time to give supers was when the bees 

 were adding bits of white wax to the 

 upper part of the comb along the top- 

 bars, but this is too late unless swarms 

 are desired, as this indicates a crowded 

 condition in the brood-chamber. It is 

 better to put them on a little before 

 the real honey-flow begins than even a 

 dav later. 



Why Don't Bees Work in Supers? 



This is a question that is often asked. 

 The inexperienced bee-keeper expects 

 that at a certain time all colonies, no 

 matter what the circumstances or con- 

 ditions may be, will begin to store 

 honey in the supers. A colony may be 

 so weak that it has all it can do to take 

 care of the brood-chamber. Or it may 

 be strong enough, but there may be 

 room in the brood-chamber to be filled 

 before storing elsewhere, for the bees 

 prefer to work as near the brood-nest 

 as possible. Many colonies hesitate 

 to enter the supers even during the 

 honey-llow, and with the brood-cham- 

 ber filled full, and it becomes necessary 

 to entice them by giving them partly- 

 built combs of honey in the supers. 

 After thev have once begun work in 

 them, other conditions being favorable, 

 they will continue to do so as long as 

 the honev-flow lasts. 



The most practical way of getting 

 such colonies started in the super, is 

 to exchange their super for one from 

 a colonv that has already begun work 

 nicelv. ' It is not necessary to free 

 these' supers entirely of bees, but it 

 must be certain that the queens are not 

 in them when taken to other colonies. 

 It is quite safe, however, to drive most 

 of the bees out of the supers with 

 smoke when the covers are lifted oPf, 



and the queen will leave the supers for 

 the brood-chamber below. Then the 

 supers, combs, bees and all are simply 

 exchanged and set on the colonies that 

 refused to work in theirs before. The 

 bees brought with the supers in which 

 they were already at work will be addi- 

 tional aid in continuing the work in 

 them. 



Often the reason why bees do not en- 

 ter the supers is because there is no 

 honey for them to store. Even if there 

 is an abundance of bloom, there may 

 be no nectar in it. 



Meeting of the Texas Bee-Keepers' 

 Association 



The annual meeting of the Texas 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 July 30, 31, and Aug 1 at College Sta- 

 tion, Tex., as usual in connection with 

 the meeting of the Texas Farmers' 

 Congress, of which the Bee-Keepers' 

 Association is an afliliated section. 



Preparations were completed several 

 weeks ago for taking care of a large 

 crowd, and the outlook for a large 

 gathering is very promising. There 

 has been prepared a variety on every 

 program that will be rendered by each 

 section and by the Congress sessions, 

 so that all who have the pleasure of 

 being able to attend will find entertain- 

 ment worth while. 



To those who are not acquainted 

 with the work of the Texas Farmers' 

 Congress, a trip to see the great things 

 that this educational institution is 

 doing for the agricultural interests of 

 the Lone Star State would be worth 

 while, especially since cheap railroad 

 excursions prevail at that time. It is 

 hoped that all of the many bee-keepers 

 in this great State, who can do so, will 

 be at the meeting to have "one big, 

 old time," such as bee-keepers only 

 know how to have. 



[We are sorrythatthis notice reached 

 us too late for the July number. — Ed.] 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Amount of Honey Used 

 Colony in a Year 



by a 



HV .M)RI.\N GET.\Z. 



(Continued from July Number.! 

 However, the known relations between 

 the production of energy and the con- 

 sumption or combustion of carbon 

 show that this amount is not consider- 

 able. It must vary to some extent 

 with the temperature. 



Usually when the bees secrete wax 

 in any quantity, they form a cluster. 

 Some honey, more or less, sometimes 

 none, according to the temperature, 

 must be consumed to keep up the 

 proper heat in the cluster. That should 

 be included, for it would not have oc- 

 curred in the absence of wax secretion. 



Upon the whole, I think a ratio of 

 about 4 pounds of honey to 1 of wax is 

 the most correct of all those offered. 

 That is a good ways from the 8 or 10 

 pounds of our text-books. 

 Wa.\ Produced. 



We come now to a much more diffi- 

 cult point to ascertain. That is the 

 actual quantity of wax produced by a 

 colony during the season. 



A writer, I think it was F. Greiner, 

 said that the comb of a section of 

 honey, foundation, capping and all is 

 one ounce. Some others have put it 

 as far down as half an ounce. I can 

 not find the quotations just now. Sup- 

 pose a working season of 100 days, 

 and a yield of ,50 pounds of comb, the 

 average during the total time would be 

 ^4 or }z ounce daily. 



If extracted honey is produced, only 

 the cappings would be needed, but, on 

 the other hand, the yield would be 

 greater. It must be remembered, too, 

 that owing to their extra thickness the 

 cappings constitute a larger portion of 

 the combs than one would at first think. 

 Assuming a production of ISOOyoung 



bees a day, it is easy to calculate that 

 the necessary brood cappings would be 

 the equivalent of both sides of 2 sec- 

 tions. Add to this the amount used for 

 bits of comb here and there in the 

 brood-nest, all the bur and brace 

 combs, queen-cells, etc., and in case 

 the colony has been shaken, }i or 2 

 pounds for the reconstruction of the 

 brood-nest, and the conclusion almost 

 forces itself on the mind that the 

 amount of wax produced every day can 

 not be less than 2 ounces, and is prob- 

 ably more. That means a daily con- 

 sumption of honey of at least another 

 half pound. 



When the weather is such that new 

 wax can not be produced, the bees will 

 use old wax to a certain extent, other- 

 wise judging by the cappings and other 

 scraps that they throw away, they will 

 use only new wax. 



Brood-Rearing. 



How much honey is consumed by 

 the bees to rear a pound of brood, or, 

 rather, how much does the brood con- 

 sume, including what may be lost dur- 

 ing the preliminary partial digestion or 

 preparation by the nurse bees, is the 

 hardest nut to crack of all. 



I can truthfully say that "I don't 

 know." The only experiment in that 

 line that I can find is one made by the 

 Hon. R. L. Taylor, and is reported in 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review for August, 

 1800. The comparison was made be- 

 tween artificial and natural swarms. 

 These last, during the following 3 or 4 

 weeks, produced considerably more 

 brood than the others. The principle 

 is simply this : Suppose 2 colonies of 

 equal force furnish at the end of the 

 experiment, the first 8 pounds of brood 

 and 4 pounds of honey, and the second 

 10 pounds of brood and no honey. It 

 is evident that it took 4 pounds of 

 honey to produce 2 pounds of brood. 



