GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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SHIFTING THE HALVES OF A DOUBLE BROOD- 

 CHAMBER TO PREVENT SWARMING 



Forcing ali the Honey into the Supers by Inter- 

 changing the "Laying" and "Hatching" Brood- 

 nests; Separating the Queen from all Brood 

 Every Ten Days Without Maicing her Stop Lay- 

 ing or Causing the Loss of any Brood 



BY J. H. YEOMANS 



For a few years I have been experiment- 

 ing to perfect a "system" of handling bees 

 for the production of comb honey Avhen the 

 beekeeper can not be at home during the 

 day. I have received many ideas from oth- 

 er beekeepers, and have read many others; 

 but usually there are some details that I do 

 not like ; hence I should like to submit the 

 following, subject to the suggestions and 

 criticisms of my fellow beekeejDers. 



,My first aim Avas to have a "hatching 

 storj^" In the spring, when the liive show- 

 ed signs of becoming crowded, I added a 

 second story. This delays swarming if add- 

 ed early enough. Then as soon as a honey- 

 flow promised some surplus I raised this 

 top story, loutting supers between the two 

 stories with a solid wire screen on top of 

 the supers and below the hatching story. 

 Then I found the frame with the queen 

 and put her into the lower story, shaking 

 the bees from about half of the frames -with. 

 her. Then in about three days I shook half 

 of the frames again, and in three days I re- 

 peated the operation. On the tenth day I 

 cut all queen-cells that I found, and put 

 the "hatching story" on the bottom and the 

 brood-nest on top, and repeated the pro- 

 cess. 



While performing these operations I no- 

 ticed that all dead bees were being put in 

 the lowest depression of the wire screen. 

 This made me think the bees were trying 

 to carry out the dead ones, and so I hit on 

 the idea of putting a bee escape at the low- 

 est point. This works Avell except that for 

 the first few days it is apt to be clogged 

 with dead bees. After a few days, when 

 old bees are gone from the hatching story, 

 there is little trouble. I would advocate 

 building a screen with several bee escapes. 



My theory is to provide the queen Avith 

 ample laying room, and to hatch all the 

 eggs she lays up to a certain date, Avhich 

 should be decided by each beekeeper. I 

 think that, Avhere the fall floAv is not prof- 

 itable, it does not pay to raise a lot of bees 

 to feed during a period of no surplus. With 

 me most of my surplus comes in June and 

 July; so I plan to stop my "switching of 



stories" about June 1. Then I lea\'e the 

 queen in the loAver story and let the upper 

 story hatch out entirely. Then I put the 

 upper story away until fall. When I take 

 off all supers my colonies are so strong that 

 for the past two years I have had to win- 

 ter them in two-stoiy hives. 



I have no difficulty in making 100 pounds 

 jTer colony Avith Danzenbaker hives. On 

 one colony last season I had 128 sections 

 at one time betAveen the "hatching story" 

 and brood-nest. No matter how cold the 

 nights (our nights in Washington are near- 

 ly always cool), the bees Avill start work 

 immediately in the sections betAveen stories. 

 Each year my system has been improA'ed, 

 I think, in some particulars. By making 

 the bee-escape partition of wire screen, it 

 alloAvs the heat of the brood-nest and su- 

 pers free access to the "hatching story." 

 I have examined closely on the ninth day^ 

 and have found the bees capping larvae, the 

 eggs of which must have been laid the day 

 I made the switch. Furthermore, I have 

 left the hatching story on in June until 

 every cell had hatched out, proving that no 

 eggs or larvjB are destroyed, and that all 

 sealed brood will hatch. 



THE IMPROVED PLAN USED NOW. 



My present jDractice is as follows : 



1. In early spring I put on a second 

 brood-chamber. 



2. As soon as the queen has laid some 

 eggs in both stories, and it is time to put 

 on supers, I raise the upper story and put 

 sujDers betAveen them AAnth the escape screen 

 on top of the supers and beloAv the hatch- 

 ing story. 



3. I make sure the queen is in the loAver 

 brood-nest, or laying brood-nest. The top 

 brood-nest is the hatching brood-nest. I 

 keep the queen in the laying brood-nest all 

 the time, except that I have found it saves 

 time to Avait 24 hours after making each 

 ten-day SAvitch before hunting her in the 

 top story. This gives the field bees time to 

 go doAvn through the escape screen, and 

 they are out of the Avay, making it easier 

 to find the Cjueen. 



4. Ten days later I SAvitch the laying 

 brood-nest to the top of the colony, above 

 the escape screen, and, after cutting out 

 queen-cells, I put the hatching story at the 

 bottom of the colony and make it the laying 

 story for the next ten days. 



5. I repeat this every ten days as long as 

 I desire to increase the colony strength. I 

 begin switching about. May, and continue 

 the practice every ten days until perhaps 

 June 10. I introduce a young queen to 



