JUNE 15, 1912 



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At Borodino, New York. 



SECURING WORKER COMB WITHOUT USING 

 FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION. 



''I wish to know how to have my bees 

 build worker comb without foundation." 



"Why do you wish to get along without 

 foundation? Most beekeepers use it in the 

 frames, and get the nicest worker combs." 



" Well, I had to spend all the bees brought 

 in, and some besides, to buy sugar to feed 

 for winter stores, and I do not want to run 

 in debt if I can make the increase I wish 

 from combs built by the bees. Then I read 

 the other day in an old bee paper that when 

 bees are storing honey a certain amount of 

 comb may be built at practically no ex- 

 pense, as the bees then secrete wax that 

 would otherwise go to waste." 



"Well, there is a gxain of truth in such a 

 statement ; and if you have no money to in- 

 vest in comb foundation it may be a wise 

 thing for you to try having the bees build 

 their own comb. But at this season of the 

 year they are likely to build drone comb." 



"That is the reason I came over to see 

 you. I want you to tell me just what con- 

 ditions are favorable for building worker 

 comb, and how I may manage my colonies 

 in such a way as to avoid drone comb." 



" I used to let my bees build most of 

 their combs, and at first inserted a frame 

 having a starter of worker comb between 

 two full ones; but finding that the bees 

 would almost invariably build only drone 

 comb, this was given up with the average 

 or stronger colonies of bees." 



"Is it true that weak colonies always 

 build worker comb?" 



"In a certain sense, yes. But colonies 

 which are considered weak in May often 

 become so far advanced that, when this 

 time of the year comes, they are as deter- 

 mined to swarm as any, even though they 

 may not have more than half the number of 

 bees that a good swarm should. Such col- 

 onies will build only drone comb if the 

 frames are spread apart and a frame hav- 

 ing only a starter in it is inserted. But take 

 such a colony as this, and deprive it of all 

 its combs save one of honey and one of 

 brood, then insert a frame having a starter 

 in it between these two combs left in the 

 hive, the bees will, forty-nine times out of 

 fifty, fill that frame with worker comb, and 

 then it will resemble any comb built from 

 foundation under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances. When I want the bees of such 

 colonies to build worker combs I take 

 frames of brood from the weaker colonies 



I may have at the beginning of the nectar- 

 flow — those too weak to work in sections to 

 advantage — and give this brood to the weak- 

 er of the colonies I have set apart for sec- 

 tion honey, and then set the weak colonies 

 thus treated to building comb as I have ex- 

 plained. In this way I really make a gain 

 in section honey, as this brood brings the 

 colonies having it to the point where they 

 can take advantage of the harvest; while 

 if it had not been given such colonies would 

 hardly have entered the sections before the 

 flow of nectar was on the wane. If the 

 brood had remained where it was, that colo- 

 ny would not have become strong enough 

 for the sections until the time of the buck- 

 wheat yield, and thus little white honey 

 would have been secured from either colo- 

 ny. But with the three or four frames of 

 brood given to the one that would have done 

 very little in the sections, the results will 

 equal those of any of the colonies which 

 were stronger in the spring." 



"Is there any way of making the new 

 swarms build worker combs'?" 



"Yes, if such swarms have a good prolific 

 queen. If you have a ten-frame Langstroth 

 hive, hive the new swarm on the whole ten 

 frames, each having a starter of worker 

 foundation in it. At the time of hiving, 

 put on a super of sections, each row in the 

 super having a bait section, using a queen- 

 excluder between the hive and super. These 

 baits allow the bees to store their first-gath- 

 er honey, and that which was taken from 

 the old hive, so that comb-building in the 

 frames is only for brood. Two or three 

 days after hiving the swarm, take out five 

 of the frames having the least comb in 

 them, closing up with dummies the space 

 left vacant. The bulk of the bees are thus 

 thrown into the sections, into which goes 

 all the honey not required by the bees and 

 brood, thus keeping storing going on to the 

 fullest capacity, while the queen keeps up 

 with her eggs as fast as combs are built 

 below. In this way five worker combs will 

 be built to perfection, and a good yield will 

 be secured from each swarm." 



"You do not try to winter the sw^arm on 

 five combs, do you?" 



"No. When the clover flow begins to draw 

 toward a close, five combs, built by the 

 manipulated weak colonies, are given to the 

 swarm, and in this way the hive is filled out 

 for winter, with all worker comb, while the 

 bees always have an abundance of stores 

 unless the season is unusually poor." 



