GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1919 



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very little atten 

 tion. The colo 

 nies should, how 

 ever, be examin 

 ed to make cer- 

 tain that each is in normal condition, and 

 has plenty of stores and a good queen. Some 

 colonies during the honey flow have the 

 brood-chamber so filled with brood that 

 nearly all of the honey is crowded into the 

 supers above. If not attended to right after 

 the flow, such colonies may be in actual 

 need. 



Need of Brood-rearing, 



Because of a lack of stores or a lack of 

 energy in the queen, caused by excessive 

 egg-laying earlier in the season, queens 

 sometimes almost cease laying at this time 

 of the year. The beekeeper can ill afford to 

 permit this state of affairs, for successful 

 wintering demands plenty of young bees; 

 and since it requires five weeks from the egg 

 to the mature field bee it is evident that 

 many eggs should be laid the last of August 

 and the first part of September in order that 

 the old worn-out bees may be replaced by 

 young ones that have had the opportunity 

 for a number of good flights before cold 

 weather. This time which applies in the 

 clover regions will vary, of course, in other 

 latitudes. 



Kequeening. 



Any beginner who has. not already re- 

 queened with good Italians should do so this 

 month. His best plan is to purchase untest- 

 ed queens from a reliable breeder; yet if he 

 has a number of colonies and wishes to ex- 

 periment raising queens some easy way, we 

 suggest the following plan: 



Select a fairly strong colony of bees, pref- 

 erably hybrids, and remove their queen. 

 Feed them one pint of thin syrup a day, un- 

 less there is a good honey flow at the time. 

 Three days later go to the colony containing 

 your best queen and remove a frame con- 

 taining no brood. Then move part of the 

 frames over, leaving a space in the center 

 of the brood-nest. In this space insert an 

 empty drawn comb that is clean and bright. 

 Six days after making the first colony queen- 

 less, destroy all of their queen-cells and give 

 them from the Italian colony this frame, 

 which should contain eggs at this time. In 

 the part of this comb where the eggs are 

 laid, cut out two long horizontal strips of 

 comb about one inch wide. Along the tops 

 of the spaces thus made the bees will build 

 nice straight queen-cells. 



On the eighth day after this colony has 

 received the comb, remove the queens from 

 all of the colonies to be requeened. Two 

 days later carefully cut out the queen-cells 

 from the prepared comb and place them in 

 spiral cell-protectors and distribute to the 



BEGINNERS 



Fowls 



1 



queenless colo- 

 nies, hanging 

 each cell in the 

 center of the 

 brood - nest, 

 where it will be 

 kept warm. 

 These virgins 

 should hatch in 

 about three days, 



and should be found laying eight to twelve 



days later. 



Care of Comb Honey. 



Getting the honey in marketable condi- 

 tion will be an easy task for one with but 

 two or three colonies. The sections should 

 be removed from the super, and all wax 

 and propolis scraped from the exposed sur- 

 faces of the wood. If the knife slips ever 

 so slightly, the beautiful surface of the 

 comb may be marred so that extreme care 

 will need to be taken when handling the 

 sections. The beginner will need no ship- 

 ping-cases, since his best plan will be to 

 dispose of his honey to his neighbors and 

 friends. If any is to be kept during the 

 winter it should be put in a warm room — 

 preferably between 70 and 80 degrees. 



Preparing Extracted Honey for Market. 



The extracted honey may be kept in 

 large cans until needed for market. It may 

 then be run into one-pound glass jars or in- 

 to larger or smaller jars if the local trade 

 demands it. A clear colorless glass should 

 be chosen in order that none of the beauty 

 be lost. If one will fill such a jar with some 

 of his best honey, and place it in the win- 

 dow where the sunlight may strike thru, 

 showing the honey in all its sparkling beau- 

 ty, he will never be guilty of using a green 

 glass such as is ordinarily used in canning. 

 There is no reason why a small producer 

 should sell at a low price. His article should 

 command as high a price as that of the 

 large producer, if not higher. 



No Robbing During the Honey Flow. 



During a heavy flow of honey it is some- 

 times possible to leave honey exposed right 

 in the apiary, and yet no robbing result. 

 Last summer, during a good flow, we left a 

 broken and dripping comb of honey on top 

 of a hive for several hours, and yet not a 

 bee touched it, so industriously did they 

 work on the fields of clover. This ignoring 

 of the exposed honey may be partly due to 

 the counter-attraction of the loud humming 

 of bees at work on the nectar, but more 

 likely to the behavior of the other bees and 

 to the distinct and alluring trails of aroma 

 left by the bees in their flights from the 

 fields. 



Time of Robbing. 



Tho bees show no inclination to rob dur- 

 ing a good flow; yet as soon as the flow 

 ceases they are on the alert for any sweets 

 within reach; and when a heavy flow stops 

 suddenly we have often seen the bees scour- 

 ing the whole neighborhood in search of 



