June, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



379 



HEADS OF GRMrn£^flQR|gr DIFFERENT FIELDSlQ 



Are Our Apiaries Most people say bees 



Too Large and fly two miles. I guess 



Too Far Apart? they do if they have 



to, or if nothing is in 

 their way. But what is the radius of their 

 effective range in which they will do well 

 and under what circumstances will they not 

 fly farf A difference of a few hundred 

 yards frequently makes a big difference in 

 the honey yield. 



One of my neighbors and I, each, have 

 had a yard about a half-mile apart. One 

 would think the bees would work almost the 

 same range, but every year he has dark hon- 

 ey and I have light. My location once had 

 enough bees on it to kill the range for hon- 

 ey production, yet he gathered a fair crop. 

 Last year conditions were reversed, and he 

 scarcely made an extracting while I received 

 a fair crop from mere nuclei. 



If bees fly two miles, it seems there should 

 not be this difference, but in between our 

 two yards are many small fields, many of 

 them bordered with trees. I think the trees 

 are the key to the situation, for I do not be- 

 lieve that bees will fly half as far in a cut-up 

 country where there are many things to 

 break their flight. Further, we have much 

 wind here. I do not believe bees work much 

 over a half a mile from their yard with 

 strong winds such as we have here. 



I conclude from this that much honey is 

 lost every year by putting enormous yards 

 in a place instead of putting a fewer num- 

 ber and setting them from a half-mile to a 

 mile apart and doing the extracting at a cen- 

 tral honey-house. I do not believe bees gen- 

 erally work further than a half-mile from 

 their yard unless they have to. And I know 

 one thing — I don't want them to do so, if 

 I can help it. T. W. Eiggs. 



Overton, Nev. 



^M ,^,©5= 



Treatment of Lay- 

 ing-Worker Colony. 



Last summer I raiseil 

 48 queens and lost 

 only two in introduc- 

 ing, altho more were lost in mating. My 

 plan for introducing is by the nucleus meth- 

 od with some modifications. I believe it 

 is well worth the extra time it takes, as it 

 practically insures success. By this same 

 plan I have been successful in introducing a 

 laying queen, into a laying-worker colony. 

 Here is my treatment of a laying-worker 

 colony: After removing the inner cover of 

 the colony to be treated,! place on top a ven- 

 tilated bee-escape board (without escape), 

 having cut in one end an entrance S/lQxVo 

 inch (entrance up), over which I place a 

 two- or three-frame nucleus with queen and 

 whatever brood she may have started, the 

 lest of the frames being drawn combs or 

 full sheets of foundation. This I leave for 

 one week or more, when the nucleus body is 

 placed down on the old bottom-bogrd, the 



ventilated escape-board jdaced on top, en- 

 trance down, which will be used by nucleus 

 bees until accustomed to bottom entrance. 

 Over this is placed an inner cover with 

 empty hive body on top and telescope cover. 

 The old laying-worker colony is removed 

 about one-fourth mile and shaken, the hees^ 

 returning to the old stand to find a laying 

 queen and bees of the same colony odor. I 

 have tried this plan a number of times, and 

 so far have each time succeeded. 



Eochester, N. Y. Archie S. Lane. 



[This seems very easy, but why not just 

 exchange places with the laying-worker 

 colony and a good colony and then requecn 

 the former? — Editor.] 



Two Colonies of The accompanying 



Wild Bees. j) h o t o shows two 



swarms of bees in the 

 side of a house, that a friend and I got some 

 time ago. The picture was taken when only 

 part of the siding and sheeting was remov- 

 ed. One swarm occupied a space 24 inches 

 wide and about 7 feet long. The other oc- 



ShnwinK how bees hwilt their homes in the side of a 

 house. 



cupied a space 16 inches wide and 10 feet 

 long. They had been in the house for a 

 number of .years, but all the old honey had 

 candied and was in excellent condition. 

 Some of the combs were 5 or 6 feet long. 

 We secured about 250 pounds of honey from 

 the two swarms so we were well paid for 

 our work. We also saved both of the 

 swarms. 



I have taken a number of swarms from 

 the sides of houses and have always saved 



