298 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1919 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



55 of the finest hives you ever saw of beauti- 

 ful bees, and not a sign of foul brood. I 

 sold $480 worth of honey and $120 worth 

 of wax from them. They cost nie $200. Are 

 they worth it? I traveled thru Tennessee, 

 Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and 

 North Carolina this summer in a car and 



Outyard of J. W. Potts before transferring. 



never saw a single up-to-date beeyard. Lots 

 of colonies were in modern hives, but their 

 owners do not take bee papers and do not 

 run their colonies along up-to-date lines. 

 Gunnison, Miss. J. W. Potts. 



SOME ADVANTAGES CLAIMED 



For This New Way of Fertilizing a Queen from an 

 Upper Story 



At any time in the average season, to fer- 

 tilize a queen from an upper story with any- 

 thing approaching a fair chance of success, 

 it has been necessary to use a wire-cloth 

 partition between that part of the lower 

 story where the laying queen is and the 

 combs of the upper story on which the vir- 

 gin queen is waiting to take her mating- 

 fiight. Doolittle, in "Scientific Queen-rear- 

 ing, ' ' records success at times in certain sea- 

 sons, with only the queen-excluder between 

 the two chambers, but acknowledges this is 

 not a success under all circumstances. 



In the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture 

 a wire-cloth partition over the whole of the 

 brood-nest is recommended. In the use of a 

 wire-cloth partition the sole advantage 

 gained is that the nucleus is helped by the 

 heat rising from the colony below; and if 

 the nucleus has but a small amount of brood 

 and a virgin queen the advantage is small. 

 The advantage would be greater in case a 

 weak nucleus had a lot of brood in propor- 

 tion to its size or a queen-cell not due to 

 hatch for a day or two. With an impassable 

 division you do not get the supreme advan- 

 tage of giving the bees below the additional 

 storage room of the upper story should a 

 honey flow occur, nor the bees of the nucleus 

 the help of the bees of the lower story in 



the building of comb or drawing out of 

 foundation to keep pace with the egg-laying 

 power of their new queen should she mate 

 successfully. 



A plan which we have used with hardly a 

 failure, and which gives the nucleus the ad- 

 vantage of a good deal of the heat from the 

 colony beneath, and also the help of the 

 bees, is as follows: 



Take any colony, preferably in a 10 -frame 

 body, or even larger (it need not be a strong 

 one, for colonies moderately strong will give 

 good results) ; put all the frames containing 

 brood to one side of the hive and fill up with 

 empty combs, foundation or frames of honey 

 according to the weather and condition of 

 the colony. Over this, place a queen-exclud- 

 er. On top of the excluder lay a flat piece 

 of plain zinc or tin large enough to cover all 

 except four or five inches of that part of 

 the excluder under which are the frames of 

 empty comb or foundation, so that for a 

 ten-frame hive one would require a piece 

 20 inches by 10 or 11 inches. This will 

 leave no communication between the upper 

 story and the lower body except thru the 

 4 or 5 inches of uncovered queen-excluder 

 over the emj^ty combs. Of course, the tin or 

 zinc should fit nice and level on the excluder 

 so as to conserve all the heat possible. Then 

 put on the cover, leaving the excluder and 

 zinc still in position. Later in the evening 

 place the nucleus on top and then cover. 



The super for the nucleus should be of the 

 same size as the one underneath — i. e., ten- 

 frame if possible. At one end, right against 

 the side and almost at the bottom, bore a 

 %-inch hole which is to serve for a flight- 

 hole for the nucleus. This hole should be 

 so located that, when the nucleus is in place, 

 its entrance will be at the end of the hive 

 opposite the body entrance, and will be on 

 the same side of the hive as the brood in 

 both stories. The nucleus may be made up 

 in any of the well-known ways. One very 

 good way is to go to a colony towards noon, 

 take a frame of hatching or nearly hatching 

 brood and one or two combs of honey with 

 adhering bees, and place them in the nucleus 

 hive, together with the bees shaken from 

 two or three other combs of brood . In this 

 way one will secure a nice lot of young bees. 

 Next a ripe queen-cell or caged virgin should 

 be given them. The combs containing the 

 honey or brood should be placed on that side 

 of the hive where the hole was bored thru 

 the hive end and the remainder of the hive 

 filled with frames of foundation. Do this at 

 midday and put the nucleus on a stand near 

 the hive on which the nucleus is to be put 

 later, and cover till evening. Do not use 

 any plan for making a nucleus which in- 

 volves closing the flight-hole and confining 

 the bees. There is no difiiculty in making up 

 a nucleus provided the right bees are se- 

 cured, and these are the ones which have not 



