May, 1919 



G ]. E A N 1 N G S IN BEE C U I. T U K E 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE « 



destroy the queen-cells, if any. This practi- 

 cally prevents swarming with us. We raise 

 our queens from the best colonies and re- 

 queen as soon as a queen isn 't up to the 

 standard. I' make all increase from the 

 strong- nnd medium yards, using the nucleus 



House built for the bees by Mr. Weaver. 



method. This keeps swarming down to a 

 minimum, and gets the maximum amount of 

 honey. 



I find that in this land of hills bees do not 

 travel so far for nectar as on level country, 

 therefore I am convinced that it pays to put 

 the yards closer and keep less in a yard. 

 Our locations seem to do best with about 50 

 in a yard, and yards 2 or 2% miles apart. 



We aim to have supers enough so that we 

 can extract at the end of each flow, as this 

 is the only way to raise first-quality honey, 

 and also the best way to handle a large 

 number of yards. For an extracting outfit 

 we use a six-frame power extractor and a 

 one-half horse-power engine, a capping tank, 

 and a straining tank. This outfit is moved 

 from yard to yard, excepting the capping 

 box. I have one of these at each yard so the 

 cappings can drain till I come again. I be- 

 lieve the honey can be extracted cheaper, 

 quicker, and easier at each yard than to 

 have a central plant; then I can haul the 

 honey home any time after the extracting is 

 all done. 



I always do my requeening as I get good 

 cells along in the summer, and by the middle 

 of August they are prepared for winter, so 

 far as manipulation goes. As soon as the 

 buckwheat honey is all off, about the begin- 

 ning of October, I begin to move the bees 

 home. I have an Overland truck that car- 

 ries 30 colonies at a load, and, with special 

 bottoms and metal telescoping covers, I 

 simply stick a V-shaped screen in the en- 

 trance and the hive is ready to move. This 

 makes moving a pleasure. 



The first severe cold spell after Nov. 10 

 the bees are put in the cellar. During the 



winter we get hives ready and frames wired 

 for the next season; also all wax is taken 

 care of, and made into foundation, and the 

 honey crop disposed of. Harry Beaver. 

 Troy, Pa. 



[Last year Mr. Beaver treated 300 colo- 

 nies affected with foul brood. He says the 

 disease is prevalent thruout his section and 

 he has had a constant fight to keep it sub- 

 dued. In the face of this discouragement, 

 Mr. Beaver, with the aid of his wife and a 

 ] 5-year-old boy, during the past year se- 

 cured a croj) of 59,000 pounds and increased 

 from 3] 4 to 6(t(i colonies. — Editor.] 



WHY THE SKYSCRAPER HIVE 



Three Stories High is High Enough for Conveni- 

 ent Handling 



The skyscraper hives lately appearing in 

 Gleanings look good, but I can not under- 

 stand how a beeman can handle bees that 

 way. My supers will weigh about 70 

 pounds; and when you raise 70 jjounds over 

 your head for several hours you certainly 

 will know you have been doing something. 

 I can not see how you can go into your 

 brood-nest with all those supers. I always 

 take a look at my brood when I am putting 

 on empty supers, and run my hives with two 

 extra supers, and sometimes three, as some 

 hives will become filled up before others. 

 By having my hives three stories high they 

 have plenty of room all the time, and I can 

 look into one and see in a very few minutes 

 what they need. Then it takes lots of bees 

 to care for seven stories of honey at once, 

 and they have a long-enough way to go in a 

 hive of three stories. 



I am enclosing you a picture of a yard 1 

 bought this spring. There were 99 hives — 



Mr. Potts in one of his outyards. 



shoe-boxes, nail-kegs, buckets, and a flour- 

 barrel. One picture is before transferring, 

 and the other afterward. I had 55 when I 

 finished my job. They all had American 

 foul brood. I bought queens and now have 



