July 2, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



421 



[ Convention Proceedings | 



Chicago-Northwestern Convention. 



Report of the Chicag-o-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held in Chicago, 

 Dec. 3 and 4, 1902. 



BY OUR OWN SHORTHAND REPORTBR. 



(Contiaued from page 40t».) 

 STARTING PEOPLE IN THE BEE-BUSINESS. 



" Is it advisable for bee-keepers to sell bees to people 

 who have no interest in the bees, but who, from reports of 

 fabulous wealth obtained from the bee-industry, wish to go 

 into the bee-business ?" 



Mr. Abbott — That depends upon whether they have the 

 money to pay for them. 



Mr. Pettit — Don't sell them any. 



Mr. Whitney — If I refuse to sell to them they are all the 

 more anxious to buy from somebody else, and if I sell them 

 and then advise and assist them until they learn that there 

 is something- more to the business than they care to do, they 

 g-ive up in disgust, 97 out of every 100. 



Dr. Miller — That's all true enough, but you are doing a 

 lot for the money you get there. There are two things that 

 you have to do for your money. They will come to you at 

 your busiest times. " Now, I want you to go and see my 

 bees," and think you have plenty of time to go and do it, and 

 feel hurt if .you don't do it, and just so far as they are suc- 

 cessful they are taking that much from your crop of honey. 

 They pull out pretty surely, but while they are pulling out 

 they are pulling something out of you, and if they succeed 

 with half a dozen colonies, that's just so much taken out of it. 

 Perhaps if you refuse to sell them it will make them think 

 there is a bonanza in it. I don't know which is the best 

 way. I believe in my locality it is about safe not to sell 

 them. 



Mr. Abbott — I have given away about a half million 

 dollars worth of advice to that kind to people, and I have 

 got my living by doing it. I feel richer and better, and I 

 have good honey now, and that's worth more than anything 

 else. 



WARM WE.ATHER AND WINTERING OF BEES. 



" Has this warm weather made the bees have less honey, 

 a nd have they consumed more honey than usual on occount 

 of the warm weather?" 



Dr. Miller — I should say that there is a wrong assump- 

 tion in that question. I don't know the difference between 

 my locality and Chicago. This winter is unusual in the 

 great amount of stores that the bees have. I don't think I 

 ever knew a year in my life when they were so fully sup- 

 plied with winter stores. 



Mr. Wilcox — There is a very important question arises 

 in there, that I have never heard discussed. Is warm 

 weather the early part of the winter detrimental in any 

 manner to the wintering of the bees? Does it reduce their 

 stores materially ? I have never heard that discussed. I 

 have often thought of it. 



Mr. Arndt — I am the one that asked that question. 

 About the first of October I examined the bees and found 

 them in good condition. Last Saturday I was going over 

 them, and a marked colony which had a lot of honey is 

 apparently light now. I attribute it to the warmth : the 

 bees were too active, and consumed the stores which they 

 would not have consumed had it been cold so they couldn't 

 get out. 



Mr. Abbott — I want to ask if we should discuss that 

 question and discover that the warmth felt wasn't a pood 

 thing for the bees, what could we do about it ? 



Pres. York — See the weather man 1 



Mr. Wilcox — They could be placed in a more shaded 

 place where the temperature would be less. I usually have 

 mine working more or less around the shop or neighbor- 

 hood, and don't' try to stop them, and I often wondered 

 whether it was injurious or not. There are many things I 

 could do to keep them more quiet during October and 

 November. 



Mr. Clarke— Is that to find the condition, the lightness 

 of the bees at th*^ present time around Chicago? I don't 

 think that there has been any answer to that question at all. 



Pres. York— What do yoii find ? 



Mr. Clarke — From what I have heard from bee-keepers, 

 bees are light in stores, and more especially around Chicago 

 locality, and those that take off their supers before the 

 honey-flow are nothing more than in a condition to go 

 through the winter. Those that left their supers on until 

 the close of the honey-flow, from all I hear, their bees are 

 in a very light condition. 



Dr. Nussle — The same up in Wisconsin. 



Dr. Miller — In answer to the question I should say : 

 Yes, there has been more honey consumed this fall, because 

 there has been warm weather. 



Mr. Clarke — That is just one reason for there being a 

 light honey crop, and that warm weather came at a time 

 when it ought not to come, and the bees could go out and 

 fly and not get anything. It is exactly the same way with 

 a human being. If they work they have to have more feed. 



Mr. Horstmann — I don't think the warm weather had 

 any effect on the bees in that respect. I think there was no 

 honey for the bees to get. I had one hive on the scales, and 

 the highest they got in one day was six pounds, and it ran 

 down to one-half pound along during September, and then 

 they held their own, got just about stores enough out in the 

 field for their own consumption. The warm weather had 

 no effect at all, I think. We had some flowers right along 

 during the summer and fall, and there was very little honey 

 to get. We had lots of white clover, but the bees didn't get 

 any honey, and the field was full of blossoms, but I had to 

 feed my bees. 



Dr. Miller — You came to a point where your bees flew 

 out at will, and gathered just what they used, and the next 

 day they flew out and didn't get quite as much, and then 

 you were losing. 



Mr. Arndt — Yes, sir ; in the month of November it 

 seemed to be they didn't get anything at all. 



Mr. Wheeler — Mine were working on dandelion until 

 Thanksgiving Day. 



Mr. Horstmann — One thing we must consider, the bees 

 have been rearing brood, and it takes considerable honey to 

 rear brood. If they had quit rearing brood earlier this fall, 

 the chances are the colonies would have run down consid- 

 erably more. My bees have now just about quit, and the 

 hive I have on the scales, is just about holding its own. 



Mr. Whitney — I bought an apiary late in the season at 

 Lake Geneva, Wis., about IS colonies. I took off the supers 

 and they were well filled with honey for extracting. On 

 taking them off and examining the brood-chambers I found 

 them almost entirely empty, about the middle of October. 

 Of course, I removed the empty ones and placed on the 

 brood-chamber the surplus, and I was surprised to find that 

 the brood-chamber had plenty of surplus in the second story. 

 I removed that bj^ placing the surplus in the other tier. 



NUMBER OF COLONIES FOR ONE MAN. 



" How many colonies can one man care for properly 

 when producing comb honey ?" 



Dr. Nussle — It depends upon who the man is. From 

 one to 500 colonies. 



Mr. Whitney — As many as can be profitably kept in one 

 apiary. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think I would have gone to the poor- 

 house long before this if I had run only one apiary. I have 

 five, and attend to these myself, as nearly as I can, and as 

 it is we have hard work to make ends meet at the present 

 time ; but I believe that one man can manage more than 

 one apiary, and I believe it is so considered. I know I can 

 do it, and have no trouble at all. 



Dr. Miller — How many colonies do you think you can 

 run alone ? 



Mr. Wheeler — Five hundred. 



Mr. Wilcox — I can't see that he has differed from me, 

 only in the form of expression. As many as can be kept in 

 one apiary anywhere, and I believe they can keep from 400 

 up. I have no doubt but what a man can run three apiaries 

 for comb honey, but I think it will be safe to say that he 

 can attend to as many as can be kept in one apiary. 



Mr. Clarke — Is the question how many he can run by 

 himself, or with assistance ? 



Pres. York — One man. 



Mr. Clarke — And run them all for comb honey ? 



Pres. York — That is the question. 



Mr. Clarke — It is a pretty hard question to answer, 

 I that's sure. It can be answered only by the man himself 



