October, 191?. 



American Hee Journal 









Movable-Frame Hive and Native Hive Protected Against the Sun's Rays in Tunis— (See page 205) 



are not without a large influence where 

 extracted honey is produced. 



I had enough of these combs, this 

 season, to fill 12 or 15 hive-bodies, and 

 these were, at the beginning of fruit- 

 bloom, put on as many of my strongest 

 colonies with excluders beneath. There 

 is not enough fruit-bloom here to en- 

 able the bees to store much, if any, in 

 these upper stories, and when it is 

 over there is quite a long breeding 

 period before white clover blooms. 



The honey in some of the upper 

 stories was all consumed at the begin- 

 ning of the honey-flow, and in others it 

 was only partially consumed. The up- 

 per stories, with little or no honey in 

 the combs, were left to be filled with 

 honey for extracting. The others were 

 placed below, and the bees of the col- 

 ony shaken in front, and the combs of 

 brood put over weaker colonies and 

 left to be filled with honey for extract- 

 ing as fast as the cells became empty 

 of brood. A comb-honey super was 

 put over each shaken colony. 



From these shaken colonies I got a 

 large share of my comb honey this 

 season, and from the colonies strength- 

 ened with 1» or lit frames of brood I got 

 the largest part of my extracted honey. 



As I did not have hives full of combs 

 with honey in them to put over all of 

 my strong colonies at the beginning of 

 friiit-bloom, I put a hive full of empty 

 combs under the rest without using 

 excluders. This was done to retard 

 and prevent swarming, and to give 

 plenty of room. At the beginning of 

 the white-clover flow some of the 

 lower stories had brood in them, and 

 when they were taken away had quite 

 a lot of bees which stayed with the 

 brood and were given either a pur- 

 chased queen or a comb with queen- 

 cells from a colony that had swarmed. 



There are some reasons, I believe, 

 why the methods described by Mr. 

 Doolittle, in his book, will not be gen- 

 erally adopted. Not many will take the 



trouble to secure and carry over enough 

 combs to supply many colonies. Then 

 not many will take the pains to be sure 

 of always having young queens in the 

 colonies worked by this plan. Without 

 young queens the plan will not be suc- 

 cessful. Old ones are unable to be 

 superseded before or about the begin- 

 ning of the honey-flow, and swarming 

 will very likely take place. 



Mr. Doolittle's locality seems to dif- 

 fer with many others. I gather from 

 a perusal of his work that he has honey 

 stored in the upper stories during fruit- 

 bloom ; then he has a white-clover 

 flow, and this is followed by a bass- 

 wood flow. Most of us have to depend 

 upon white clover, and therefore have 

 to use some modifications of his meth- 

 ods. 



Nevertheless it is a good thing for 

 any bee-keeper in these northern lands 

 to have a good supply of filled, or 

 partly filled, combs for use in spring, 

 as they can be turned to such good 

 account for the increase of bees to 

 take in the white-clover flow. And, 

 besides, they save a lot of work in 

 feeding. 



Leon, Iowa. 



Care of Bees for Winter— Pro- 

 duction of Extracted Honey 



BY E. I). OUHSNER. 



{T/iis essay took seioiul prize at the Wisconsin 



Slate flee- Keepers' Association Meetins 



in l-'ebruary. Hit J.' 



We will start the year at the close of 

 the honey-flow, which is with us after 

 the first killing frost, and with a yard 

 run for extracted honey. Tick out a 

 dav when cool or just warm enough so 

 that all shaken bees may arise and get 

 home, as hot days at this time of the 

 year are dangerous and cause slow 

 work. 



Right here is whare many who are 



keeping bees in town get into trouble 

 as a little robbing is a sure way to 

 make bees angry, but if they should 

 start robbing, just stop for a few min- 

 utes and look your yard over carefully 

 and you will find some tiiat are work- 

 ing nicely, and which, of course, are 

 the guilty ones. Each should receive 

 a wet cloth over the entrance, the rob- 

 bers being let in from time to time, 

 and then work may be resumed at once. 

 Take out all frames from the upper 

 stories, and place them in empty hives 

 on a wheelbarrow lengthwise. Lift 

 your hive, and if tliere is not honey 

 enough, take out the second frames 

 from the outside, as that is where the 

 honey should be, and insert a full 

 frame there. 



To feed right, and do it easily, take 

 full frames that you should have had 

 left from the last extracting of white 

 honey, as the best is none too good, 

 and a colony for outside wintering 

 should have at least 20 pounds of 

 honey, and be strong in bees. My col- 

 onies are all wintered in chaff hives, or 

 packed in sliel/s on the summer stands. 



Do not shovel the snow from the 

 hives in cold weather, as the bees will 

 break the cluster, owing to the disturb- 

 ance, and never get back ; at the same 

 time the snow will keep them warm 

 and they will always settle away from 

 the inside of the hive enough to give 

 them air ; but should the weather warm 

 up enough to warrant a flight, they 

 should have a bare place shoveled in 

 front of each hive, say 4 tod feet square, 

 Cover the snow with straw if possible 

 and look over each colony to see that 

 thev can get out. 



.■\bout the last of March or the first 

 week in April each colony should be 

 examined, removing chaff cushions, 

 and if honey is in sight, and it is fair 

 to strong ill bees, place a honey-board 

 on and then the cushion, as now is the 

 time of year when they must be kept 

 warm so that they may rear brood, 



