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677 



k MEFLIES, 



LiOcatiii$; a Queen After Dividiiis 

 a Colony. 



IVritten for the American Bee Journal 



Query 733.— If a colony is divided 

 equally, and no queen seen, is there posi- 

 tive evidence to the apiarist by observing, 

 from the outside, which half has the queen? 

 If so, what is it ?— T. 



Not usually.— G. M. Doolittle. 



No ; at least no such evidence has been 

 brought to my senses. — J. E. Pond. 



There is no evidence at all, provided both 

 colonies have eggs and brood. — M. Mahin. 



By the restless and excited appearance 

 of the queenless half. It takes a little 

 practice. — D.idant & Sox. 



You will notice great uneasiness, es- 

 pecially at evening. The part containing 

 the queen will be quiet. — H. D. Cutting, 



The queenless portion will soon show 

 their agony and despair by being very rest- 

 less, and running all over the hive, and a 

 plaintive hum can be heard, etc. — P. L. 



VlALLON. 



It can usually be told which has no 

 queen. The bees are uneasy, running 

 around the entrance and up on the front of 

 the hive, as if hunting for something. — A. 

 B. Mason. 



Perhaps not positive, but circumstantial. 

 Uneasiness on the part of the queenless 

 one, and quiet contentment on the part of 

 the other. — Eugene Secok. 



■ Yes, in half an hour or so the queenless 

 part will become very uneasy, running 

 ■over the front of the hive as if hunting for 

 something. — C. H. Dibbekn. 



The queenless half will show great rest- 

 lessness and anxiety, while the part that 

 contains the queen will be easy and quiet. 

 My plan would be to examine in a day or 

 two — be certain. — J. P. H. Brown. 



There is. It takes the experienced and 

 practical eye of the apiarist to determine 

 positively, but the ordinary observer will 

 generally notice greater activity in the 

 colony with the queen. — Mrs. L. Harui.son. 



Not necessarily. They may appear more 

 satisfied. Queenless colonies sometimes 

 are disquieted. I should not like to have 

 the task of deciding. — A. J. Cook. 



By watching closely enough you may 

 see signs of discontent and excitement in 

 the queenless part. I should prefer to wait 

 and see which started queen-cells, or was 

 without eggs.— C. C. Miller. 



Yes. In about two or three hours after 

 the division is made many bees of the 

 queenless part may be seen to run out at 

 the entrance and up the sides of the hive, 

 as if in search of something, and they con- 

 tinue their search until queen-cells are 

 started. — G. L. Tinker. 



The experienced apiarist may tell to 

 almost a certainty. The queenless colony 

 for sometime after division will be very 

 restless. A loud humming will be heard 

 inside the hive, and the bees will keep up a 

 search outside, running back and forth on 

 the front of the hive, and around its sides 

 — R. L. Taylor. 



Yes, sir. The half that has the queen 

 will be quiet and contented, while the 

 other half will all run around wild and ex- 



cited, within an hour, after being hived 

 without a queen ; that is, a swarm will. A 

 colony may be divided, and the queenless 

 half will not act that way, provided they 

 have plenty of young brood, out of which 

 they can at any time rear a queen. Per- 

 haps you have confused the word "col- 

 ony" and the word "swarm." — James 

 Heddon. 



The restlessness and uneasy condition of 

 the bees will indicate the queenless part of 

 the divided colony. These signs of discon- 

 tent may be easily recognized by all — and 

 the experienced eye will detect it instantly. 

 —The Editou. 



SEASON OF 1890. 



Work in the Apiary — Feeding 

 Bacii Honey, etc. 



Written lor tiie American Bee Journal 

 BY <;. w. i)e:\[auee. 



The past honey season was peculiar 

 to itself ; in all my experience. I have 

 never seen just such a honey season. 

 No stereotyped rules could be applied 

 in the way of manipulation. We, here 

 in Kentuckj', had two springs, with a 

 season of nondescript weather between. 

 In Februaiy and March my apiary was 

 strong enough for the white clover 

 harvest. Then the nondescript weather 

 intervened, and spring again was here 

 at the blooming of white clover. 



When swarming commenced in 

 earnest, the hives were well filled with 

 brood, but the combs contained very 

 little hatching brood ; so unusual is 

 this state of things in my locality, that 

 entirely new management had to be 

 applied. A little thought would con- 

 vince the experienced apiarist that it 

 would not do to move the old hive to 

 a new location when a swarm issued, 

 because there was no hatching brood, 

 or not enough of it, to speedily recruit 

 the strength of the colony so as to in- 

 sure protection to the large quantity 

 of unsealed brood at a time when the 

 weather was damp, and the nights 

 cool. Then, on the other hand, though 

 the swarms were of usual size, they 

 were made up of bees reared in Feb- 

 ruary and March, and hence th'eir 

 vitality was well nigh spent ; therefore 

 if sucli a swarm is given a new loca- 

 tion, it will dwindle so rapidly that a 

 poor yield of lioney is the natural re- 

 sult. At the time mentioned, white 

 clover was blooming rapidly, and was 

 yielding the nectar profusely — a state 

 of things which always excites swarm- 

 ing — and my bees responded gener- 

 ously. 



As the swarms issued, all the combs 

 containing brood were taken from the 

 brood-chamber, and adjusted in a 

 super on the hive body ; the brood- 1 



chamber was then filled with empty 

 combs, and a queen-excluder adjusted 

 on its top. The super containing the 

 brood was put on t^e queen-excluder, 

 and the surplus case, or cases, went on 

 top of the super. The swarm was thus 

 made to enter the newly-prepared 

 brood-chamber below the queen-ex- 

 cluder. 



The wings of all my queens were 

 clipped, and the work was quickly and 

 easily done. I treated over 20 swarms 

 in this wa^', and only one of the num- 

 ber swarmed again. The experiment 

 was a most gratifying success. These 

 colonies giive a large yield of surplus, 

 both of honey in the comb and honey 

 extracted. The plan is not given as 

 " new." but it is new as applied to the 

 condition present in mj' apiary at the 

 time of swarming. 



Under the circumstances, had I 

 practiced anj' of the plans that neces- 

 sarily separate the swarm and parent 

 colony, my surplus crop of honey 

 would have been nearlj- a failure. But 

 by keeping the bees all in one hive, 

 and by tiering up to suit the size of the 

 doubled-up colony, I secured a profit- 

 able yield of honej^ of extra-good 

 quality. 



For several years past. I have prac- 

 ticed the plan described above, to pre- 

 vent increase, and to satisfy the 

 swarming impulse, and while under 

 ordinary conditions the plan does not 

 always result in no further swarming 

 for the season, it is the onlj' plan I 

 have been able to rely upon to control 

 increase. 



THE PONET CEOP OF 1890. 



It was about an average one. but I 

 guess it required management peculiar 

 to the season, to make it so. My api- 

 ary averaged about 60 pounds to the 

 colony, about one-third of the crop 

 being fancy comb honey in one-pound 

 sections. 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP. 



There has been a great deal said 

 about • • holding back for better prices.- 

 etc." All this is contrary to my ex- 

 perience. I commence to dispose of 

 my honey crop just as 'soon as the first 

 honey is removed from the hives. 

 People in the country want honey as 

 soon as thej' hear of " bees swarming." 

 and my sales are brisker early in the 

 season than at any other time. Of 

 course I speak of my home market. It 

 is easy enough to set a price on the 

 honey and stick to it, but my advice is 

 to let it go as fast as possible. The 

 larger part of my crop is always in the 

 extracted form, but I produced this 

 season 1,500 sections of comb honey in 

 fancy shape. Many of the sections of 

 were cut short by the hot wave coming 

 on prematurely, and I had a problem 



