1909 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



533 



UPPER ENTRANCES. 



A Scheme for a Separate Allghtlng-board 

 for the Supers; the Disinclination on 

 the Part of Dees to Pass Through Ex- 

 cluders; an Easy Method of Superseding 

 Queens. 



BY B. WALKER. 



I made a discovery last season, which, view- 

 ed in the light of past experience, will, in my 

 estimation, prove of great importance to the 

 producers of extracted honey. Possibly you 

 will recall that I wrote you, several years 

 ago, that I had been obliged to throw a late 

 make of queen-excluding zinc on to the junk- 

 lieap, since it not only excluded the queen 

 from the supers but the workers also, to a 

 great extent. 



Well, the discovery I refer to allows the 

 use of the latest make of zinc without in 

 tlie least hindering the work of the bees in 

 the supers. 



It is hardly necessary to explain the ten- 

 dency that this plan has in the direction of 

 swarm prevention, besides doing away en- 

 tirely with the nuisance of drone brood, as 

 well as worker brood in supers, and yet the 

 scheme is so simple that it can be made use 

 of by any one with very little expense. 



It has been a source of satisfaction and 

 profit this season. I know you will be glad 

 to give this matter publicity 



The plan referred to is simply an alighting- 

 board that obliges i^he mass of the working 

 force to pass over the top excluder through 

 an extra entrance provided above it to the 

 supers by removing or leaving out the 

 end to the rim of the excluder frame. My 

 hives are commonly set up from the ground 

 about five inches, and an alighting-board 

 the width of the hive, and about 18 inches in 

 length, placed at an angle of 45°, and of sim- 

 lar appearance, color, etc., to the one pre- 

 viously used with the hive is all that is re- 

 (juired to accomplish the work. 



I use a double-depth brood-nest where the 

 strength of the colony and prolificness of the 

 (|ueen require it; and by putting the combs 

 of unsealed and newly sealed brood above 

 the excluder, and those that are nearly emp- 

 ty, or contain brood in advanced stages, to- 

 gether with those heavy with bee-bread be- 

 Tow the excluder, alternating the stories 

 about every two weeks, the swarming prob- 

 lem is virtually eliminated. 



The chief gain to be secured by the use of 

 this plan is in localities where but compara- 

 tively little pollen is in evidence at the time 

 the flow is on; for instance, where alfalfa is 

 a chief source of surplus; otherwise it is 

 necessary to put the excluder over the lower 

 story of the orood-nest, which at this time 

 should contain (for obvious reasons) the 

 chief part of the voung brood as well as 

 hatching brood and queen, when it will be 

 necessary to change places with the two 

 stories about every ten days in order to 

 avoid crowding with pollen above the ex- 

 cluder; and, of course, this takes valuable 

 time when the flow is on. 



WALKER'S PLAN OF USLNu aIn UPPER EN- 

 TRANCE IN CONNECTION WITH AN ALIGHT- 

 TING-BOARD TO GET THE WORKING 

 BEES DIRECTLY INTO THE SUPERS. 



With two outyards (the one seven and the 

 other three miles distant) with the honey- 

 flow on, and work greatly behindhand, and 

 only about a half supply of combs to meet 

 such an emergency, 1 am having the time of 

 my life. It keeps me busy till late each day 

 seven days in the week. I am trying a high- 

 wheeled auto, a Holsman, to save time in 

 reaching outyards. This is my first experi- 

 ence in this direction, which promises some 

 measure of relief. 



My experience this season with the double- 

 entrance plan has been comparatively slight, 

 owing chiefly to the labor required to snift 

 the two stories of the brood-nest at the prop- 

 er time to prevent pollen clogging, without 

 any help, and partly because I had faith that 

 the new excluders would help in solving the 

 problem with less labor. P'or this reason I 

 am using but few of the old excluders in con- 



