302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



days. Then in the record of that colony was 

 written the magic word, " Pass," and that colo- 

 ny was considered safe without any further at- 

 tention for the rest of the season. Yet two or 

 three of the colonies having these young queens 

 afterward swarmed. I don't think such a thing 

 ever happened before. The like may never hap- 

 pen again, for 1908, for some reason, was perhaps 

 the worst season for swarming I ever knew. 



If I bad my life to live over again I think I'd 

 try harder to breed out the swarming impulse, 

 but I'd stick to pure Italian blood, and I would 

 watch for good temper. 



Marengo, 111. 



[See editorial reference elsewhere. — Ed.] 



PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS 

 BEGINNERS. 



FOR 



Buying Bees; How to Select the Strong- 

 est and Best Colonies in a Yard; How to 

 Determine the Condition of a Colony by 

 a Glance at the Flying Bees at the En- 

 trance. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



In May of my second j ear with bees four more 

 colonies were bought, which, with my two taken 

 from the tree, made six at the beginning of the 

 second season. These were increased to eighteen 

 during that summer, though but very little hon- 

 ey was secured. If I were to chronicle all the 

 mistakes I made that season I would fill Glean- 

 ings several times. 



In the first place, when I had but the two col- 

 onies, a party was found who had bees for sale in 

 Metcalf hives, and, by returning the hives after 

 the bees were transferred, the four colonies were 

 bought for $20.00 — about twice what they would 

 cost now. These were transferred to Gallup 

 hives immediately after moving them home, 

 which was during fruit bloom in May, 1877. 



A beginner, after finding bees for sale, would 

 do well to have some experienced bee-keeper go 

 with him to select the colonies. This may not 

 be convenient, and in many cases, perhaps, he 

 will have to depend on his own judgment. It 

 seems a natural thing for an inexperienced person 

 to look for colonies heavy with honey, selecting 

 them usually by lifting the hives or looking down 

 between the combs. This, in connection with a 

 good cluster of bees, would be the proper thing 

 to look for if one were buying bees in the fall, 

 when a long winter is ahead necessitating 25 or 30 

 pounds of honey to carry the bees over until the 

 next honey-flow in June. However, in the spring, 

 during fruit-bloom, when the main honey-flow is 

 only three or four weeks away, it is not honey 

 that one should look for, but large clusters of 

 bees, and combs at least two-thirds full of brood. 

 There should be, of course, about ten pounds of 

 honey to last the bees until the opening of the 

 main honey-flow the next month. 



In a yard containing as many as 25 colonies 

 one maj find them in all conditions, from a mere 

 handful of bees to those very strong. These lat- 

 ter are the ones that will do the work in the su- 

 pers, the smaller ones doing nothing, perhaps, 

 but building up in shape to winter again by the 

 next fall. Then there are queenless colonies that 



no one wants at any pri c. H w to select these 

 rousing colonies instead ol I'le small ones is worth 

 considering. Experienced bee keepers can tell 

 by the indications at the entrance which colonies 

 are strong, which medium, and which are weak. 



HOW TO SELECT GOOD COLONIES WHEN BUYING 

 FROM EXAMINATION AT THE ENTRANCE. 



To select the colonies, go into the yard during 

 a good day for the bees to fly, and walk down 

 past the hives, noting the flight of the bees. Dur- 

 ing fruit-bloom is a good time to buy, for the 

 strong colonies will then have a good flj ing force, 

 and the bottom-boards will be free from obstruc- 

 tions, showing that the hive contains a large 

 number of strong workers that are through house- 

 cleaning for the spring. 



One of the very best indications of a good 

 thrifty colony at this season is the amount of pol- 

 len the bees are carrying in. This is carried on 

 the legs of the workers, and can be readily seen 

 as they enter the hive. I have talked with people 

 who believed this pollen to be the wax that the 

 bees use in building comb, and that they had 

 gathered it somewhere for this purpose. Pollen 

 is the dust, or fertilizing agency, produced by the 

 flowers. It is mixed with honey by the bees, 

 making a doughy substance called bee-bread, 

 which is used for feeding young bees still in the 

 cells; and with the hive full of only young bees 

 to feed, much pollen is needed It goes without 

 saying, that the hives into which bees are carry- 

 ing lots of pollen contain colonies strong in bees 

 and heavy with brood. 



Queenless colonies can be told by their lack of 

 energy at the entrance. The bees have no brood 

 to feed, and no pollen to speak of is needed; and 

 although an occasional bee will be seen loaded 

 with pollen, it will be noticed that something is 

 wrong, for they all lack the energy of the bees 

 belonging to colonics in a normal condition. 

 Fortunately there are but few queenless colonies 

 in this condition at this season of the year. They 

 usually die earlier in the season. 



After deciding from the entrance indications 

 which are the desirable colonies to buy, the combs 

 should be examined to see that they are straight 

 in the frames, and that there is a good percentage 

 of worker cells At this time, also, one can 

 make sure that the colonies are strong in brood 

 and bees, for it will not do to depend entirely up- 

 on the entrance indications, although in this way 

 one can save the time taken in looking through a 

 great lot of weak colonies before finding the more 

 desirable ones. 



Many bee-keepers, nowadays, hive their swarms 

 upon full sheets of foundation; and if any can be 

 found having combs built in this way, it would 

 be a good plan to buy all such; for, by so doing, 

 good straight worker combs can be secured. 

 Those who profess to be bee-keepers at all, use 

 at least a strip of foundation in the top of the 

 brood-frame to start the bees building the combs 

 true in each frame. If starters are used in the 

 frames of the hanging type, the combs contain- 

 ing a large percentage of drone- cells can be taken 

 out and replaced with new frames containing full 

 sheets of foundation. 



MOVING BEES HOME. 



After buying the bees they will have to be 

 moved home; and if the moving is done with a 



