APRIL 1, 1913 



209 



General Correspondence 



LABOR-SAVING PLANS IN LARGE OUT-APIA- 

 RIES 



Different Problems in Different Localities 



BY R. M. SPENCER 



Locality has much to do with the methods 

 of handling bees, either on a large or small 

 scale. Where I am located the winter prob- 

 lem is nothing compared with that of cold 

 climates. Here a nucleus of three frames 

 of brood and bees will winter in good shape 

 provided they have plenty of honey for 

 stores. In the East the main problem in 

 spring is to get the bees to build up in time 

 for the flow; while here the main problem 

 is not to let them build up too fast and 

 swarm before the flow starts. 



In tliis locality bees begin to breed about 

 Jan. 15, and have a light honey-flow until 

 about May 15, when the main flow starts. 

 It is easy to see then that the breeding sea- 

 son is very long. This compels us to use a 

 large hive. Ten frames is what I use, and 

 tier them up three stories high, allowing the 

 queen to breed in all three bodies if she 

 desires. This long breeding season makes 

 a race of bees such as Italians more suitable 

 than any swarming races like Carniolans. 



Our work here generally begins about 

 Jan. 1, when we go to all the yards, close 

 the entrances down to about two inches, 

 and take up all dead colonies to prevent the 

 combs becoming moth-eaten. About Feb. 

 20 we go over all hives, remove supers and 

 surplus honey, stacking the same up in the 

 yard. During March we build up the weak- 

 er colonies by taking brood from the strong- 

 er ones. 



WORKING so RAPIDLY THAT ROBBERS CAN 

 NOT KEEP UP. 



We use a method of preventing robbing 

 during this early spring work by going over 

 the hives so fast that robbers can not get a 

 chance. Each man has his duty to do. Say 

 a crew of five men were going through a 

 yard of 250 colonies in a day. The first 

 man's duty is to take off the lids. No. 2 

 smokes the bees. No. 3 glances into the 

 hive, calls out the number of frames of 

 brood ; or, if a frame is wanted, he calls for 

 it. No. 4 brings the frame and puts it in a 

 vacant space and returns the empty comb 

 to a box of combs which is always kept 

 covered. No. 5 then replaces the cover and 

 sees that it is secure from robbers. 



By this method we go over the hives so 

 fast that robbers do not stand a show. We 

 sometimes see them trying to get under the 

 lids, five hives or more behind where we are 



working. If they become bad we paint the 

 cracks with fresh white paint, and they will 

 not try to get in, as the bees will not alight 

 on fresh paint. We also jump over to the 

 other side of a yard after getting over one 

 row, and this also throws them off their 

 track. 



We always aim to keep not too many 

 bees in a yard, but yards close together. 

 We figure that, if we have 2000 colonies in 

 four yards of 500 each, in case of disease 

 we have to fight it in 500 colonies, while if 

 we have eight yards of 250 each we have 

 only 250 to look after. Again, in poor years 

 500 will not make a living, but 250 will. 

 On the other hand, large yards cost less to 

 operate, and produce large crops in good 

 years. We try to locate all our yards in 

 well-sheltered places away from winds. 



There is no question in my mind but thai 

 in many cases queens have been condermied 

 for poor qualities when the main cause was 

 drifting of bees. In a large yard of several 

 hundred colonies, those in the center of the 

 yard will always be in poor condition while 

 the outside colonies will be strong. I have 

 often noticed this in my yards where the 

 flow in spring began on oranges to the west. 

 The west side of these yards would be very 

 strong, while later on, when the flow from 

 other sources began in the east, the colonies 

 on the east side would build up quickly, 

 while those on the west would become weak- 

 er. The way to prevent this is to keep the 

 hives in groups, or by some well-marked 

 location. About all tlie locations in Cali- 

 fornia are now occupied except some that 

 are back in the mountains where roads must 

 be built in order to reach them. Many 

 localities are ah'eady becoming overcrowd- 

 ed. 



One of the main problems here is to se- 

 cure labor to handle the bees. It is hard to 

 get help who will go back into these canyons 

 and live and handle the bees. 



All our hives are three-story, and all the 

 honey is sealed and thoroughly ripened be- 

 fore extracting. We use the usual methods 

 of extracting, running the honey into tanks 

 in order to clarify it. 



GALVANIZED TUBS FOR UNCAPPING-CANS. 



We find the best uncapping-boxes for 

 our use to be tubs with a one-inch opening 

 at one side on the bottom. These are set 

 over a trough, and the honey is allowed to 

 drip into the trough and run into tanks. 

 The advantage of these tubs is that we can 

 use one to-day and let it drip clean until 

 to-mon^ow, when we screw in the plug and 

 haul the whole thing home, and melt the 



