206 



June, 1914. 



American ^ae Journal 



dental advantages my rrethod brings 

 about.) We all know, if bees do not 

 swarm and apply all their energy to 

 the production of surplus honey, the 

 yields under favorable conditions may 

 be enormous. At the same time, if we 

 can keep our bees busy, gathering and 

 storing honey, not capping, they are 

 not liable to .>warm. These two fea- 

 tures are so closely linked together 

 that either one maybe considered the 

 cause of the other. 



My apiary, after the bees are placed 

 on the summer stands, usually consists 

 of these three classes: Prime, medium 

 and weak, and I believe the same is the 

 case with every lot of bees at this time 

 of the year. The only difference that 

 may exist is the proportion of the 

 three classes. With one beekeeper, 

 who has the wintering problem at his 

 fingers' end, the first kind may be in 

 evidence, while with a less fortunate 

 brother, the other end of the line may 

 be predominating, but in either case 

 the three kinds are there just the same. 



All the colonies that are strong in 

 bees, and have six or more combs of 

 solid brood are classed "prime." Any 

 of these are liable to swarm during the 

 latter part of May. To prevent it they 

 are divided during apple-tree bloom 

 (in this locality about May 10 or 12), 

 the queenless half being provided with 

 a laying queen. In the way of making 

 these divisions, I have nothing new to 

 offer. I practice the old-fashion method 

 of taking the old queen with two 

 combs of brood from the mother col- 

 ony, place them in a new hive on the 

 old stand, and move the former with a 

 caged laying queen to a new stand. If 

 the operation is properly performed it 

 is the simplest, most convenient, and 

 most workmanlike method of making 

 artificial divisions. The advantages of 

 doing it at this early period are easily 

 explained. No other apiary work is 

 crowding. The beekeeper has plenty 

 of time to e!i*ecute every detail with 

 care and forethought, while a month or 

 two later the same work would neces- 

 sarily have to be slighted. The divided 

 colonies, too, have plenty of time to 

 recuperate. Each half has the oppor- 

 tunity to build up to proper working 

 condition before the white-clover flow 

 begins. 



I have no trouble with swarming. I 

 am relieved of all the time-wasting use- 

 less operations in the line of hunting 

 and destroying queen-cells, clipping 

 queens' wings, which I imagine is the 

 cause of many queens being injured, 

 shook swarming, in itself an unpleas- 

 ant job, greatly interfering with super 

 work, etc. All these manipulations are 

 pulling at the wrong end of the rope. 

 Instead of removing the cause, they are 

 expected to prevent the efifect. It is 

 not the presence of queen-cells, but the 

 disposition to build them, that induces 

 swarming. Cutting them out does no 

 more remove the desire to swarm than 

 clipping the queens' wings. 



At the time the divisions are made, 

 all vacant space in the hives is taken up 

 by chaflf division-boards, dummies, fill- 

 ers, or whatever they may be called. 

 The hives that contain the old queens 

 are reduced to five frames; one comb 

 of honey and two empty combs being 

 added to the two combs of brood taken 

 from the mother colonies. The space 



of the two combs taken from the latter 

 is also taken up in the same way. To 

 make these changes convenient, the 

 division-boards 1 use conform to my 

 rule of uniformity. Shorter in length, 

 they are cushioned at the ends to fit 

 against the end boards of the hives; 

 but in thickness they take up the same 

 space as the brood-frames, so t'l at eight, 

 the number of frames I use, just fill the 

 hive. Whenever it is desirable to 

 change from one to the other, the same 

 number of one will fill thespace of any 

 number of the other. 



As soon as the old queen has started 

 brood-rearing inthe two empty combs, I 

 exchange one of t'e division-boards for 

 an empty comb, the latter being placed 

 in the c liter of the brood-nest. A lit- 

 tle later, according to the progress of 

 brood in this ad led comb, another 

 division-b'iard is exchanged in like 

 manner, and still later the third one 

 is exchanged. With a vigorous healthy 

 queen (we should have no other), this 

 treatment results as a rule in a hive full 

 of brood and bees by the time the 

 white-clover flow begins, and if bees 

 are then supplied with the necessary 

 empty combs (extracting supers), we 

 can expect rapid storing. 



The removed mother colonies are 

 treated practically in the same way. 

 The spaces of the two combs of brood 

 taken with the queen are taken up by 

 division-boards, which are placed on the 

 outside of the remaining combs. It 

 takes a little longer before the intro- 

 duced queens are accepted and laying, 

 but whenever this takes place, the 

 changes are made, the same as with the 

 other colonies. From these col mie? 

 the co'nb-honeyproducers are selected ; 

 having all young queens, they ar • less 

 liable to swarm. 



As soon as the season permits, the 

 other two classes, medium and weak, 

 are reduced to as few combs as they 

 can occupy to advantage. With the 

 advancing season, and according to 

 their progress, the former are served in 

 the same way as the divided halves of 

 the prime colonies, and as a rule, they 

 are in fine shape for surplus work, 

 when the flow begins. If any nre a 

 little slow to take their supers, the 

 equalizing method, as described be- 

 fore, brings them up to the desired con- 

 dition. Many of these colonies produce 

 as much surplus hi ney as any of the 

 divided ones; in fact, t'ley frequently 

 excel some of the less ambitious ones 

 of the lattT. 



The third class, the weak ones, I con- 

 sider of little account. Although I 

 nurse them up as their condition may 

 dictat •, I do not Sjiend a great deal of 

 time with them. I generally unite the 

 better ones, those that promise any re- 

 turns at all, when the flow is on, or, for 

 experimental purposes, exchange them 

 with some of the mediums during the 

 forepart of the season. Uncertain and 

 unprofitable as these efforts may seem 

 at the beginning, I frequently take sur- 

 prising yields fiom these invalids be- 

 fore the season is over. 



Since writing the foregoing it oc- 

 curred to me that a brief detail of mak- 

 ing artificial divisions as I practice it, 

 might be a help to some young bee- 

 keeping friend who would like to try 

 my method. 



First, some general rules: Handle 



b;es very quietly and slowly, and pre- 

 vent all cracking andsnapping as much 

 as possible, when manipulating a hi\e. 

 It is the jarring and quick motion that 

 irrit.ites the n. There is no such thing 

 as cross bees or cross strains in mv 

 experience except in very rare cases. 

 Rough and careless handling will turn 

 the most gentle bees into furies. 



Always have your smoker reidy for 

 action within easy reach, but use as 

 little smoke as possible. 



Be master of the situation at all 

 times. Never allow your bees to be- 

 come uneasy. A ver^ few pufifs of 

 smoke over (not between) the frames 

 will keep t!iem quiet, if administered 

 at the right time. 



Shaking bees on the ground in front 

 of the hive removes all their disposi- 

 tion to fight. The same holds good 

 after a comb is taken out of the hive. 

 It can be leisurely examined without 

 any objection on the part of the adher- 

 ing bees. 



Use a bee-veil or have one on your 

 hat ready to use. Although I have aot 

 used one in 5 or 10 years, I would ad- 

 vise the beginner not to be without it. 

 Its use produces a certain feeling of 

 safety that greatly assists in quietly 

 handling our pets, especially wh n 

 queens are dealt with. 



Prepare a new hive with thre.' divis- 

 ion-boards and two emptycombs, leav- 

 ing space for three combs in the cen- 

 ter. Place it behind the c 1 iny to be 

 divided. Loosen the cover of the latter 

 on your side very car .-fully. If bees 

 em -rge, a little smoke will drive them 

 back, and the cover may be replaced 

 for a few seconds t > let the bees yet 

 quiet again. Take off the cover in a 

 slow, quiet way and give it an endwise 

 jar on the ^ round, close to the hive- 

 entrance to drop the adhering bees. 

 With hive-tool (pocket screwdriver) 

 loosen and move the third frame to- 

 wards the center as much as bee-space 

 ivill permit without squeezing the bees. 

 Serve second frame in like manner. 

 This will give the first comb plenty of 

 room to be taken out without rolling 

 bees against the adjoining comb. Look 

 it over carefully for the queen. If the 

 operation is performed during the mid- 

 dle of the day, she may be on this very 

 comb. In eithei case place it in the 

 new hive next the division-board. 

 Take out the second comb and look it 

 over like the first. 



If the queen is not on this comb, and 

 it contains mostly young, uncapped 

 brood, place it as second comb in the 

 new hive also, otherwise let it take the 

 place of the first comb taken from the 

 mother colony. Take out and examine 

 the third and all the following combs 

 until the queen is found, when she is 

 placed with the comb and adhering 

 bees into the lew hive, and the latter 

 closed. In case the second comb re- 

 mained in the old hive another comb of 

 brood, preferably young brood, must 

 be transferred to the new hive. 



All the remaining combs in the 

 mother colony should be moved to one 

 side, allowing a little more than bee- 

 space in the center for the suspension 

 of the cage containing the queen to be 

 introduced, and the vacant space filled 

 out by two division-boards and one 

 comb of honey. The latter to replace 

 the first one taken out which generally 



