AUGUST 1, 1913 



Conversations >vith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



SECTIONS, WHEN PUT ON, ETC. 



'* How many sections should be put on a 

 colony- ? How may one know the right time 

 to put th»m on so that he may secure the 

 best results? I do not have the flow of nec- 

 tar from clover and basswood that some do; 

 but from buckwheat and fall flowers the 

 yield is often fine." 



" After many exj^eriments I have come to 

 the conclusion that sixty pounds capacity is 

 about right for a good strong colony, say 

 one having from 45,000 to 50,000 bees when 

 worked for section honey, and 100 pounds 

 when worked for extracted honey, exclusive 

 of the brood-frames or the hive proper. In 

 putting on sections it is always best, where 

 it can possibly be done, to have a part of 

 those first put on filled with comb left over 

 from the previous season. This starts the 

 bees at once to storing above, at the com- 

 mencement of the honey harvest, whether 

 from clover, basswood, buckwheat, or fall 

 flowers. Don't wait till your bees swarm be- 

 fore putting on the sections, as some do, 

 fearing that the sections will retard the 

 swarming, for bees often refuse to swarm, 

 and hang idle on the hive all summer, where 

 the season is such that they are anxious for 

 storing a copious flow at the start. Always 

 keep an eye to business, never forgetting 

 that a thing done at the right time brings 

 success. 



" In order to take advantage of the very 

 first of any nectar flow the sections should 

 be all in readiness in the supers before that 

 ham-est is likely to arrive. The practical, 

 successful apiarist does all of this prepara- 

 tory work during the winter months, al- 

 though he does not yet know how his bees 

 will winter, or what the harvest will be. 

 Having every thing in readiness before the 

 active season opens will pay much the best. 



" I have to confess that, to know just 

 when to i^ut the supers on the hives is often 

 difficult, especially where there is an early 

 flow ; for if put on too early, brood-rearing 

 is often materially retarded; and if put on 

 when there is no honey coming in, although 

 there may be plenty of bees so that the 

 brood does not suffer, these bees, not having 

 any thing else to do, will often go into the 

 sections. Apparently bent on mischief, they 

 will then amuse themselves in gnawing down 

 the foundation starters, or in daubing eveiy 

 thing with propolis. This causes -a delay 

 in entering the sections for work, when the 

 harvest does arrive. 



" The old rule of half a century ago was 

 to put the sections on when the first blos- 

 soms from white clover appeared; and for 



those days of box hives perhaps this was as 

 good advice as any ; but for those who han- 

 dle their bees and know their condition in 

 each hive, none will be willing to adopt such 

 a rule. Let us see how it would work : A 

 few years ago a prominent apiarist wrote 

 me about the middle of June that his bees 

 were not in the shape that he wished them, 

 saying, * About a third of them will be ready 

 to take advantage of the clover; a tliird 

 more, with the first third, will be ready for 

 the basswood, while the remaining third 

 will not be strong enough to work to ad- 

 vantage on any thing but buckwheat and 

 fall flowers.' Now^, it will be seen easily 

 what a waste it would have been to put the 

 sections on all those bees according to the 

 advice given by our gTandfathei's. But we 

 will suppose that the bees are strong enough 

 to enter the sections, and clover, basswood, 

 and buckwheat, or whatever gives the sur- 

 plus honey in our locality, is commencing 

 to bloom — shall we put them on? No, not 

 until nectar is coming in. One year, in 

 which my average yield from the whole 

 apiary was over one hundi'ed pounds of 

 section honey from each old colony in the 

 spring, the sections were not put on until 

 from July 12 to 15. Previous to that time 

 the bees were living only from hand to 

 mouth, being so short of honey that a week 

 of rainy weather would have starved them 

 if I had not come to the rescue by feeding, 

 " When every thing is in readiness, 100 

 hives can be supplied with surplus arrange- 

 ments so quickly that no time need be lost 

 after the flowers begin to yield nectar. In 

 order to ascertain whether nectar is yield- 

 ing, go along the entrances of the strongest 

 colonies each day, and, by the actions of 

 the bees, tell whether they are gathering 

 honey or not. If you are not sure that you 

 can tell in this way, it is a good plan to 

 wait before putting on the sections until 

 you find little bits of comb started, or until 

 nectar glistens in the cells lengthened along 

 the top-bars of the brood-frames. When 

 you see this, and the colonies are strong 

 enough to enter the sections, don't delay 

 putting the supers on such hives a single 

 day ; for if you do you will be losing honey, 

 for the bees may begin to crowd the queen, 

 and thus be slow in working in the sections 

 all the rest of the season. The first nectar, 

 as nearly as possible, should go in the su- 

 pers; and if we can so arrange it that the 

 supers are put on at just the right time, 

 nine colonies out of ten will take advan- 

 tage of them if the first are supplied with 

 bait sections of comb as at the outset." 



