980 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



enough from the colonies to keep down their 

 swarming until the honey-flow comes on. 



When we start the nuclei we like to have 

 about two empty combs to place on each 

 side of the combs of brood, and the rest of 

 the hive is filled with full sheets of founda- 

 tion. If we give them proper attention we 

 find that the majority of them have built 

 out their combs, and are strong full colonies 

 and ready for surplus work by the time our 

 second honey- flow comes on, which is usu- 

 ally June 20. 



Should any, however, fail to build out 

 their combs and make good colonies by the 

 end of the second flow they are then helped, 

 and the unfinished work divided up with 

 the old colonies so that all may be in fine 

 shape for winter. Very often a nucleus 

 started in the spring will store SO lbs. or 

 more surplus from the second flow, and they 

 seldom if ever fail to make good colonies at 

 the end of the second flow. Our old colo- 

 nies having been kept together, and being 

 in good shape, give us a large surplus from 

 the first flow, at the end of which they are 

 usually much weakened; but as we usually 

 have a little honey coming in all the time 

 they readily breed up and are good colonies 

 for surplus from the second flow. 



Now, I know that this system of work de- 

 pends on the locality for its success, but 

 very probably it can be modified to meet 

 the demands of other localities of the same 

 general nature. "We know that for our lo- 

 cality it is far superior to any other method. 



For our purpose we want ver^^ prolific 

 queens in order that we may get a large 

 force of bees early, and in order that the 

 colonies may be kept strong throughout the 

 j'ear. We have found that one Langstroth 

 body is not large enough to accommodate 

 our queens during the breeding season, and 

 we have built out for each colony a set of 

 shallow combs in the Sys (or Ideal) frames. 

 In the spring, as soon as the queen has fill- 

 ed her frames below she will commence in 

 these shallow supers; and as soon as they 

 are well filled we alternate — that is, place 

 the shallow cases on the bottom and the 

 deep case on top, and then two or three 

 weeks later change back, and so on until 

 the honey- flow comes on, when the shallow 

 case is raised and the empty case or cases 

 placed between, causing work to commence 

 in them immediately. If the colony is very 

 strong we sometimes leave the two brood- 

 cases together with the one containing the 

 most unsealed larva; on top next to the emp- 

 ty cases, the latter being baited with a 

 frame from some other colony already at 

 work. As soon as possible the shallow case 

 is placed on top, and the bees allowed to 

 fill it, which they will usually do. By the 

 end of the flow we have one shallow case 

 of extracted honey, and the remainder new 

 built-out combs of honey which are cut out 

 as bulk comb, and the extracted honey is 

 used in putting it up, so that you might say 

 the entire product is comb honey. Even if 

 we were producing section honey in this lo- 

 cality I believe we would use the extra 



shallow case of combs, for we can get a 

 larger force of bees, get the bees in the sec- 

 tions better, and come nearer controlling 

 swarming. As soon as the honey is taken 

 off, the shallow case of combs is again 

 placed next to the regular brood-chamber, 

 and the queen allowed to fill it with brood, 

 and we again alternate it with the regular 

 case as before, so that we have our colonies 

 strong again by the time the second flow 

 comes on. After the second (or summer) 

 flow the shallow cases of combs are left 

 permanently next to the regular brood- 

 chamber, and are ready to catch any 

 slow flow of honey that may come between 

 then and frost. However, we usually leave 

 the cases about half full of honey so as to 

 be sure of plenty for breeding purposes 

 next spring. With good prolific queens 

 and large brood-chambers consisting of one 

 regular and one shallow case of combs, and 

 then the proper manipulations at the prop- 

 er time, we can just about double our yield 

 of honey. That is, our yield is double 

 what it would be if we used small brood- 

 chambers of only one set of combs and did 

 not give the proper manipulations, and did 

 not use a prolific strain of bees. We have 

 found that, for our locality. Holy Lands or 

 Cyprians are the best bees for business by 

 reason of their great prolificness. 

 Floresville, Texas. 



[You object to forced swarms because the 

 old colony does not build up in time fur the 

 later flows of honey, and because the new 

 colony is also weak from the fact that it 

 has no hatching bees. If you were follow- 

 ing the plan of shaking or brushing advo- 

 cated by some, in which all the hatching 

 bees of the old colonj' are added to the new 

 one at a second drive or shake, you would 

 get a working force that is stronger than 

 that of the natural swarm. I never yet saw 

 a ci'lony too strong for comb honey, provid- 

 ed it could be kept from swarming; and it 

 strikes me that the plan of forcing, putting 

 a second drive into a new swarm, gives us 

 a force that is strong and yet not inclined 

 to swarm. 



In your locality, as you manage it, you 



make the nucleus plan a success; but the 



average bee-keeper would so deplete his 



colonies to such an extent by robbing them 



of brood and bees that the plan would be 



more apt to be a failure so far as honey is 



concerned. In regard to all these matters 



we have to consider locality; and 5'ours 



may be one where the forced plan will not 



give the results that it does with some. — 



Ed.] 



. . . ■»««»« 



FORCED SWARMS. 



Different Ways to Form ; the Special Advantages 

 for Comb-honey Production. 



BY L. STACHELHAUSEN. 



In my last article I said a few words 

 about the history of brushed swarms, and 

 how I was catching the idea of using such 



