276 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 30. 



^ This is another instance of the inferiority of the shallow 

 frames over the deeper style. A colony, which is located on 

 8 or 10 ordinary Langstroth frames, finds itself crowded for 

 breeding-room in the brood-chamber, and when supplied with 

 a large amount of empty combs, in the upper story, the bees 

 naturally are quite prone to take advantage of the space thus 

 furnished, by placing all of the honey in those upper combs. 

 This leaves more breeding-room for the queen, as she remains 

 in possession of all the space below ; but the result is that, for 

 the winter, the brood-combs contain too little honey, unless 

 the cooler weather, or the lessening of the yield, in a gradual 

 manner, warns them sufficiently of the approach of cold 

 weather to induce them to place the honey in close proximity 

 to the brood. The Italian bees are more careful in this par- 

 ticular than either the blacks or the hybrids, and are less 

 likely to be caught unawares ; but with the shallow hives, in 

 many cases, if only the lower story is left for winter, it will be 

 found that, when extracted honey has been produced, in combs 

 already built, and consequently of easy access, the bees have 

 not enough honey to last them even through the cold weather. 

 As a matter of course, in comb honey production, this hap- 

 pens less often, for combs in sections are considered by them 

 as too remote from the brood, and of uneasy access to the 

 swarm, owing to the numerous partitions between the sections. 

 Then, also, they have to build the combs ; and in the fall, as 

 we all know, they build only as much as is absolutely needed 

 on the spur of the moment, and it is filled as fast as built. 



When we consider the actions of the bees, in the compari- 

 son between comb honey production and the production of ex- 

 tracted honey, we must take one fact into consideration, to 

 which the attention of the bee-keepers was first called by 

 Oliver Foster. It is, that bees dislike to place their surplus in 

 any part of the hive which is not of direct and easy access. In 

 a state of nature, the bees harvest honey for themselves only, 

 and they wish it where they can reach it, not a few at a time, 

 but in a mass. They want this honey above the brood, and 

 where they can at any time, in very cold weather, have it 

 within the cluster, without having to move the cluster in 

 other than an imperceptible motion upwards. The sections 

 are not at all suited for this purpose — they are man's device, 

 for his own convenience, but if the bees could talk they would 

 surely give us to understand that they dislike these small 

 cases which divide the colony, if they must go into them, into 

 fractions that could not withstand the cold. Being unable to 

 speak, they make it plain to us, by their reluctance in work- 

 ing in sections. That is why they are so much more eager to 

 use extracting-combs that seem to them only a continuation of 

 their brood-combs upwards. 



There is, however, we think, a method by which one may 

 produce extracted honey over shallow brood-chambers without 

 fearing to have too small a quantity placed in the brood-combs. 

 This consists in crowding the bees, towards the close of the 

 honey crop, so as to compel them to reduce their breeding, and 

 place the honey in all available cells. A knowledge of the 

 climate and of the probable duration of the honey crop in the 

 locality is necessary, of course. It is necessary in every case, 

 if one expects to make the business a success. 



In an ordinary season, where the crop diminishes steadily, 

 as the cold weather approaches, there is no necessity to give 

 the bees any warning, for they, of their own accord, usually 

 then crowd the queen out of her breeding-room ; neither is it 

 likely to induce natural swarming, for at that time her fer- 

 tility is lessened, and the need of laying does not impose itself 

 upon her as it does in the beginning. She is also evidently 

 tired of it herself, and does not resent the difficullties which 

 she finds in the way, as she would in the beginning of the 

 season. , 



With the deeper frames that we use, we have found no 

 difficulty on this score — except in two or three extraordinary 

 seasons, when the crop was cut off all of a sudden by a cold 

 spell, early in the fall. Usually there is a full supply of honey 

 in the upper portion of the brood-combs, when there is a crop 

 at all. The combs that we use, being about two inches deeper 

 than the regular Langstroth frames, this difference, it will be 

 readily understood, is sufficient to make room for a plentiful 

 supply. But we think it always advisable, in the fall, not to 

 give the bees more room In the upper stories than they are 

 likely to fill readily. In the Italian bees, the propensity is 

 very much in the opposite extreme, and it is oftener the case 

 that they crowd the honey so in their brood-combs that there 

 is not enough room left to secure brood enough for a good 

 winter population. Hamilton, III. 



Every Present Subscriber of the Bee Jou.ua> 

 should be an agent for it, and get all others possible to au^. 

 scribe for it. 



No. 3. — Producing Comb Honey in Michigan. 



BT W. Z. HCTCHINSON. 

 (Continued from page 242.) 



In the production of comb honey the use and non-use of 

 comb foundation is an important feature. When bees are 

 handling honey, as they are in the working season, there is 

 more or less of what might be called involuntary wax-secre- 

 tion. Unless there is an opportunity to use this it is wasted. 

 When honey comes in slowly it is quite likely that sufficient 

 wax is secreted, and that there is abundant time in which to 

 make it into comb, to furnish storage for the honey that is 

 gathered. As the flow increases, honey must be consumed 

 expressly for wax-secretion. Whether such consumption is 

 profitable I am not able to say. The amount of honey con- 

 sumed under favorabfe conditions in producing a pound of 

 wax, is a difficult point to decide definitely, but there is no 

 doubt that it is much less than many people suppose. Just 

 how much of the honey consumed goes to support the life of 

 the bees, and just how much is made into wax, is hard to find 

 out. The old estimate of 20 pounds of honey producing one 

 pound of wax is decidedly an error. Later estimates, that 

 place it at five to seven pounds for one pound of wax, are 

 probably much nearer the truth, and show that the consump- 

 tion of honey even for wax-secretion is not so very expensive. 

 As the flow of honey increases, a point is finally reached where 

 wax cannot be secreted and combs built with sufficient rapid- 

 ity to furnish storage for the honey. When this point is 

 reached — possibly before — comb foundation can be used with 

 profit. 



As a rule, I have never found it profitable to allow the 

 bees to build their own combs in the sections. In a locality 

 where there was only a slight flow, but one that lasted a long 

 time, such a course mig/it be followed with profit, but, as a 

 rule, the honey harvest of this locality is short but copious. 

 The only place in which I have found it profitable to allow the 

 bees to build their combs unaided is in the brood-nest of a 

 newly-hived swarm. The profit here does not come so much 

 from the saving in comb foundation, although that is quite an 

 item, as it does from the conditions brought about whereby 

 the bees are induced to store their honey in the supers instead 

 of in the brood-nest. I would give away drawn combs before 

 I would hive a swarm upon them when working for comb 

 honey. The bees will do but little work in the sections until 

 the combs in the brood-nest are filled, and sometimes they 

 won't then. The combs are so full of honey that there is 

 little room for brood. Newly-built comb is always ready for 

 brood-rearing, but the cells of old comb must be cleaned and 

 polished before the queen will lay in them. No such polishing 

 is needed for storage purposes, and, if the yield is good, a 

 large share of the brood-combs will be filled with honey before 

 the queen fairly commences laying. 



When there are no combs in the brood-nest, simply starters 

 of foundation, no honey can be stored in it until combs are 

 built, and the honey must from necessity be stored in the sec- 

 tions (set over from the old hive) until comb is built in the 

 brood-nest. Just as soon as a few cells are completed, the 

 queen, being kept out of the supers by an excluder, is ready 

 with her eggs, and continues to follow up the comb-bulders. 

 The result is that nearly all of the honey goes into the sec- 

 tions, while the combs in the brood-nest become almost solid 

 with brood. The hiving of the swarm upon the old stand, the 

 contraction of the brood-nest, the Heddon method of prevent- 

 ing after-swarming, compelling the bees to build their own 

 combs in the brood-nest — all these combined throw a great 

 mass of willing workers into the sections. These bees have 

 swarmed. The fever is over and passed, and their whole en- 

 ergies are now bent to the gathering and storing of honey. 

 The foundation in the sections gives them an opportunity to 

 store the honey as fast as they can gather it, the tiering-up 

 of the supers allows them plenty of time in which to ripen and 

 seal it, the building of comb in the brood-nest gratifies their 

 natural desire for comb-building, and all goes as merry as the 

 marriage bell. I am satisfied that for this locality no other 

 system of management will give so large yields of surplus 

 comb honey. 



Very excellent results may be secured by hiving swarms 

 upon full sheets of foundation ; far superor to what may be 

 secured by using drawn combs, but not equalling those that 

 come when only starters are used in the brood-nest. There is 

 more difference in this respect between combs and foundation 

 than there is between foundation and starters only. Of course, 

 the foundation can be drawn out into combs in two or three 

 days, but during even that short time the bees have begun 

 storing their honey in the supers, and, having made a begin- 

 ning, they are inclined to continue the practice. 



■To this plan of management there is just one objection, 



