808 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



I am about done, and only wish to say 

 that, with all the enumerated disadvautges, 

 I still continue to "brush." The best 

 yield (comb honey) I have had in ovit-apia- 

 ries came from the brushed swarms. It is 

 the best we can do under the circumstances. 



Some of the brushed swarms have now 

 superseded their queens. With others I 

 have taken matters into my own hand. It 

 is about the same with my natural swarms. 



As to melting up good combs (worker 

 size) I would say, don't do it. They are 

 worth more as combs than as wax. If I 

 had a surplus I would advertise them for 

 sale. 



A set of combs full of brood, as we gain 

 them by the brushing method, may be set 

 up anywhere in the yard as a separate col- 

 ony after having been kept eight days on 

 some other hive with queen-excluder under 

 it. A matured queen-cell or a queen should 

 be given after the separation. A colonj' 

 thus formed will do well on buckwheat, and 

 be in good shape for another year. If 

 thought best, or in order to reduce the num- 

 ber of colonies, it may also be reunited 

 with its parent having the old queen. 



If Mr. A. J. Wright is right — if really a 

 drone is not virile unless his mother has 

 mated, then his virility is due to the influ- 

 ence of the drone that mated with his moth- 

 er, and he has, therefore, a father. I am 

 glad there is a prospect of the drone recov- 

 ering his honor, for it is a sort of dishonor 

 not to have a father, though nobody can be 

 made responsible for any such lack in the 

 list of his ancestors. 



Sept. 6, 1902. 



SHOOK" OR BRUSHED SWARMS. 



The Plan a Success, but there are some Important 

 Things to Remember. 



BY GEORGE SHIBER. 



I have for a number of years practiced 

 shaking bees off their combs at the ap- 

 proach of the honey-flow (white clover with 

 me), and I inust say the plan is all right. 

 It practically cures the swarming fever for 

 that season; in fact, it is as good a cure as 

 swarming itself. But there are several 

 thing-s to be taken into consideration when 

 practicing the plan. First, we ought to 

 wait until queen- cells are under way; for 

 if we do not, such a colony may not swarm 

 nor offer to. We are so much ahead in 

 saving labor, although it can be done if 

 the hive is very populous; but we must ob- 

 serve very carefully the following: 



Second, we must cause the bees to fill 

 themselves with honey. This is important. 



This is my method of making these so- 

 called "shook" swarms. For instance, if 

 Ci colony is examined, and we find queen- 

 cells started, a hive is prepared with start- 

 ers. About six frames is the number I use; 

 sometimes five, but never more than seven. 

 Now find the queen and set the frame she 

 is on to one side. Before this the colony 



should be smoked and handled somewhat 

 roughly so the bees will be filled with hon- 

 ey, as Mr. Stachelhausen says. In fact, 

 Gravenhorst, in Gleanings, some twelve or 

 fifteen years ago, laid special stress on this 

 point. Now place a queen-excluding hon- 

 ey-board on the new hive, and a super with 

 foundation only. Leave the partly filled 

 super on the old hive for a daj' or two. This 

 saves pollen in the sections until the queen 

 commences to lay in the new comb built 

 from the starters in the brood-chamber. 

 Then the unfinished super from each hive 

 can be placed on top of the super on the 

 new hive, so that now your new hive con- 

 tains the swarm and two supers. But, to 

 go back to the shaking of the bees. 



Take a newspaper and spread it down 

 in front of the entrance of the new hive, for 

 you will, in shaking the bees off, shake a 

 lot of their honey on to the mass of bees in 

 front of the hive; and if it is dirty in front 

 of the hive many bees will be so daubed up 

 as to perish, so I use a paper. Shake most 

 of the bees off the frames close to the en- 

 trance. Use a little smoke so they will run 

 in quickly and clean themselves of the hon- 

 ey in the hive. Now take the frame the 

 queen is on, pick her off with the fingers, or 

 take a piece of grass and scrape her oft' the 

 comb down close to the entrance, and see 

 that she goes into the hive. I do not know 

 why it is, but queens seem to find it harder 

 to get into the hive with these " shook " 

 swarms than at any other time. If there 

 is a hole or any thing else in sight that 

 \.\\Q.y can crawl under, besides in at the en- 

 trance, they seem to be bound to do it. 



The editor speaks about shaking all the 

 bees from the combs. This, for my locali- 

 ty, would be bad advice on account of loss 

 in brood ; still, if some of the youngest 

 brood were lost it would not be much of a 

 loss at this time of the year. I now place 

 the old hive and combs on top of tlie swarm, 

 and in ten days the bees are again shaken 

 down in front of the swarm. They can 

 be shaken clean now, and combs of sealed 

 brood can be given to nuclei, or used else- 

 where, as one wishes. The beauty of the 

 whole thing is, we have the swarming 

 problem under our thumb. Look over the 

 hives once a week during the swarming pe- 

 riod. If a colony shows no queen-cells it is 

 safe for another weeik. If the bees have 

 them under waj% shake them, and there 

 you have it. 



Speaking about having brood up to the 

 top-bar depends somewhat on the combs. 

 All know, perhaps, that the queen would 

 rather lay in an old black comb than in one 

 that has no cocoons. Now if, during fruit- 

 bloom, we see a colony with an inch or so 

 of honey under the top-bar, that comb is 

 usually lighter-colored than the lower part, 

 which may be black. The bees and queen 

 get in the habit of having brood in the 

 black portion and honey in the light one. 

 Now, if the honey be all uncapped it won't 

 help matters much; but if, say, one comb 

 in the center is scratched, the queen is 



