1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



823 



lar 8-frame extracting super, or T-super, will fit them, of 

 which said bee-keeper has about 400. The poiot I wish to 

 set forth by saying this is that things are in working order 

 (after a fashion). Now to the question : 



How would you proceed, if you were to step in and take 

 charge, in order to get the greatest yield possible? At the 

 preseut time snow is falling, and of course all work in the api- 

 ary is done until next spring. So if it doesn't take up too 

 much time and space, briefly state your mode of procedure 

 from spring until the time of the honey-flow. 



2. Wishing to get the above apiary in " shape," I am fig- 

 uring on getting 8-frame dovetail hives. Although there is 

 much talk here about large hives, I find from actual experi- 

 ence thiit my small hives give me as good returns as the large 

 ones. For various reasons I have decided ou the 8-frarae. 

 Now, when would you undertake the work of transferring? 

 Here the honey-flow lasts until the last of September, and 

 when it's over you don't want to work with the bees very 

 much, I can tell you. It would mean sure destruction to any 

 but the best colonies. The rub comes in that if I transfer 

 early I injure my honey-crop, and if I wait I fear the conse- 

 quences. Can you help me out? Colorado. 



Answers. — 1. I am not so sure I'd do anything up to the 

 time of the honey-flow with any colonies that were strong and 

 in good condition, and that had at the same time abundant 

 stores. If some were very weak I think I'd unite, for if you 

 have a colony that you count 80 per cent, of a strong colony 

 and another that you count 20 per cent, of a strong colony. I 

 think you'll get more from the two united than from the two 

 left separate. And I think I'd rather unite a weakling with 

 a colony of at least medium strength than to unite enough of 

 the weakest together to make one of sufficient strength. 

 Sometimes a very weak colony may have one of the best 

 queens, but oftener you will find your poorest queens in your 

 weakest colonies. So the few bees that are in a weakling will 

 count for more in the honey crop if they are put with a colony 

 in pretty good heart. So you see I've no patent arrangement 

 to get colonies into the best condition for the harvest, but 

 just depend upon their doing their best themselves if they are 

 strong and have plenty of stores. With those that are in 

 frame hives a little more may be done. Indeed a good deal 

 more may be done, although it may not take much time or 

 trouble to do it. I refer to giving them room. When a col- 

 ony has filled all its room with brood and can utilize more 

 room, it should have that room promptly given, and in your 

 case, with 8-frame hives, I would give the room by adding an- 

 other story under, filled with combs if possible, and possibly it 

 might be well to put one of the frames of brood in the lower 

 story. But I wouldn't make the mistake of putting a frame 

 below so long as any room remained for brood above. It will 

 do no harm, however, to give the lower story some time in 

 advance of its being needed, but it wouldn't do to give an 

 empty story above to waste the heat of the colony. Just pos- 

 sibly you might accomplish something in the same direction 

 with the box-hives by taking any empty ones from which 

 weaklings have been taken and giving them to the strongest 

 as lower stories. The whole thing to seek for is to get colo- 

 nies as strong as possible before the time of the honey-flow. 



2. As the great majority allow natural swarming, I take 

 it for granted that such is your practice. In that case I think 

 I should leave the bees in the box-hives till they swarm, hive 

 the swarms in the frame hives, put the frame hives on the old 

 stand, set the old hive close by; in about a week remove the 

 old hive lo a new location close by some colony that I should 

 want strengthened a week later, then at the end of that week 

 set the hive back where you put it at the time of swarming. 

 Let it stand there a week, at the end of which time all the 

 young bees will have hatched out and you can drum out all 

 and add them to the swarm. If a colony refuses to swarm, 

 you could drum out a swarm and then proceed just as if it had 

 swarmed naturally. Of course, there may be circumstances 

 that would make some other course advisable. 



Keeping Bec§ in EIouse-Apiaries. 



floors and a good entrance for each ? If I raise the windows 

 in summer for plenty of air, why cannot I keep them right 

 there, summer and winter, and do well for comb honey ? 



If I keep them in the house, to what extent, in your opin- 

 ion, will it prevent their being robbed ? T/iis is very import- 

 ant to me, for my neighbor, " big bee-man," has large hives, 

 and doubles up his colonies till they are a horde of of bandits, 

 and I was obliged to move my hives a mile away on that 

 account. If I understand rightly, this robbing is begun by 

 putting out honey in the spring, when there is no honey nor 

 pollen in the fields — at least that is what is done. 



I shall have to move my bees back this winter, if I keep 

 them in the house, and I should like to be assured of a fair 

 chance of success, if I undertake to act on the defensive. It is 

 very difficult for me to go so far to care for my bees. Being 

 on other people's ground, I cannot build to cover supplies, and 

 the cold wind sweeps down the creek on the single-wall hives. 



If I could keep all under cover, it would place my colonies 

 back upon my own grounds again, and give me the much-de- 

 sired opportunity of saving my bees and my fruit from 

 thieves. E. B. R., Nunda, N. Y. 



Answer. — Years ago there was a good deal of talk about 

 house-apiaries, although actual experience with them was 

 limited to a very few. Possibly a patent may have had a 

 little to do with it. At any rate, it seemed to be pretty well 

 settled among practical bee-keepers that it was a safe thing to 

 let house-apiaries entirely alone. This view was strengthened 

 by. If not based upon, the fact that house-apiaries had proved 

 a failure generally in the hands of those who had tried them. 

 Within late years, however, some among the ranks of reliable 

 and successful bee-keepers, after some experience in the mat- 

 ter, say that house-apiaries are a success with them. Whether 

 you would make a success with a house-apiary could perhaps 

 be told only after trial. 



I have not seen the article you mention by Mr. Hutchin- 

 son, but he is a very reliable man, and I hardly think he 

 meant to convey the idea that your words would convey, 

 "that bees are not as easily robbed as when kept out-of- 

 doors." With the entrance to the hive the same — and the en- 

 trance caa be just as small out-doors as in a house-apiary — 

 there is no reason why robbers cannot enter one hive as easily 

 as the other. What he meant to teach was probably that 

 there was less likelihood of robbing with the house-apiary, 

 because in that case the exposure of the combs when being 

 handled by the beekeeper does not occur. What he does is in 

 the house where the robbers cannot enter. That's probably 

 all the house-apiary could do in the way of preventing rob- 

 bing. If you have one colony in a house- apiary and another 

 out-doors, and they are alike in other respects, nothing being 

 done in either case to excite robbers — if in that case a lot of 

 robber-bees should make an incursion, one colony would be 

 just as safe as the other. 



It is a safe rule to lay down that when A's bees are robbed 

 by C's, C is the man that's to blame. No matter what C may 

 do with his bees, and no matter as to the number of colonies 

 each one has, if A's bees are properly taken care of and his 

 colonies strong, there is little danger of their being robbed. 

 But if A has colonies that are weak or queenless, or if he 

 exposes combs or honey to attract robbers, there is danger 

 his bees may be robbed, no matter how weak C's colonies may 

 be. 



Another thing : If a colony is in condition to be robbed, 

 the robbers are just as likely to come from the same apiary as 

 to come from a separate apiary. 



To Whiten an IJndre§setI-LiUinber Siicd. 



I found an article written in some magazine (Harpers', I 

 think), by W. Z. Hutchinson, on " House-Apiaries," which in- 

 terested me very much. He speaks with authority that it can 

 be a success, and says that bees are not as easily robbed as 

 when kept out-of-doors. Now, there Is an old bee-keeper here 

 who sells his honey by the tons, who assures me that bees will 

 not thrive kept in a house, and called me crazy to think of it. 

 All right, if he can prove it. 



Why can bees be packed in sawdust over their ears, and 

 vet be too close put in a lath and plastered house, with tight 



Now for a question a little out of your line perhaps : I 

 am going to build a bee-shed, and since lumber is cheap in the 

 rough, but high-priced in the dressed condition, here, I am 

 going to put it up rough. Paint costs like " gei out," and if I 

 had to paint unplaned lumber I'd have a costly job on hand. 

 Still I would like to get that shed looking white. Now, do 

 you know whether ordinary whitewash will do the wood harm 

 or good, or either? Or have you any better plan to suggest? 



H. D. 



Answer — I don't feel sure about it, but I think there is a 

 special whitewash that you can use ou undressed lumber out- 

 doors that will give good satisfaction. I think I have seen it 

 used by some railroads. Possibly some of our readers can 

 help us out. 



E^ See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 830. 



