246 



THE SMMRICJtrf BE© JOHRNMlr. 



POLLEN. 



Cictting the Pollen Out of the 

 Combiii. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent wi-ites : "Please 

 tell us in the Ameiucan Bee Journal, 

 how I can get the pollen out of some 

 combs which I have. I fear that it 

 Mill hurt them, as there is so much of 

 it that the bees may not remove it." 



In some localities bees store so much 

 pollen in their combs, that it seems to 

 those not as familiar with the inside 

 workings of the hive as they might be, 

 that some device for removing this pol- 

 len would be of great benefit to them ; 

 hence I have heard of offers as great 

 as 125 from a single person, for some 

 plan to remove pollen from the comb. 

 Some advise making into wax the 

 combs containing much pollen, and 

 then work the wax into comb founda- 

 tion to put into the hive for the bees to 

 draw out into the comb again ; but all 

 such advice seems to me to be a dam- 

 age, rather than a help. 



In this locality, we get large quanti- 

 ties of pollen — probably as much as is 

 gathered in any place in the United 

 States — yet I have never melted up a 

 comb on that account ; neither did I 

 ever have any thrown out by the bees, 

 as others claim that they have, unless 

 the pollen had become mouldy. 



With me, there are two different 

 periods that the bees store mucli more 

 pollen than is worked by the nurse-bees 

 into chyme for the young brood ; one 

 is, during the bloom of hard maple, 

 and the other during the white clover 

 bloom. I have had combs of pollen 

 gathered during the yield from hard- 

 maple which weighed as higli as 4 

 pounds; at such times as this I work 

 as follows : 



Whenever the bees gather so much 

 as to crowd the queen, I take it away 

 for the time being, and place empty 

 combs in its stead. If there comes a 

 few rainy or windy days at this time, I 

 find that the pollen is all exhausted, so 

 that the cells are once more empty or 

 filled with eggs, as it takes large quan- 

 tities of food for the numerous brood 

 at this season of tlie year. After ap- 

 ple-bloom there is but little for the 

 bees to work on, and the surplus pollen 

 is soon used up and more needed, 

 when I i)ut back that which was re- 

 moved, and thus brood-rearing is kept 

 up more effectually than by feeding 

 syrup, honey, or any of the many 

 plans of stimulative feeding. 



I consider plenty of pollen in the 

 combs during the period of scarcity 

 between apple and clover bloom, to 

 be of great advantage. Of course this 

 season of scarcity may not come just 

 at this time with all, but, in my opin- 

 ion, there is a period of scarcit}- of 

 pollen at times during heavj' brood- 

 rearing in all localities ; wherever 

 such is the case, this pollen is of far 

 more value than is generally conceded, 

 and when all bee-keepers realize its 

 true value, there will be none left to 

 ask how they must work to get it out 

 of the combs by any process, save hav- 

 ing it converted into brood. 



The pollen gathered during the white 

 clover bloom is treated differently from 

 that gathered early, which rarelj- ever 

 has honey placed at the top of it, while 

 that from clover is placed in the cells 

 till they are nearly three-quarters full, 

 when the cell is filled with honey and 

 sealed over, so as to preserve it against 

 a time of need the next spring. This 

 pollen is what some fear so much, if 

 left in the hive during the winter 

 months, believing that it is the cause 

 of bee-diarrhea; but I find that, where 

 bees winter perfectly, no brood is 

 reared of any consequence till into 

 March, and where no brood is reared, 

 there is no pollen of any amount 

 eaten. 



Bees will starve with plenty of pol- 

 len in the hive, when they are not rear- 

 ing any brood, as I have proven several 

 times to my detriment in trying ex- 

 periments ; and it is only as brood- 

 rearing commences that we can depend 

 upon pollen to keep our bees from 

 starving, in any sense of the word. 



During the summer I find much pol- 

 len in this preserved state, especially 

 in hives that are for a little while 

 queenless, and when such are found, 

 they are hung away in the room for 

 storing combs, and sulphured, as occa- 

 sion may require, to kill the larva; of 

 the wax-moth, which are sure to injure 

 such combs ver^- much, if not thus 

 treated. 



Combs containing pollen under 

 honey are readily distinguished from 

 those without, by holding them up \>e- 

 fore a strong light, and looking 

 through them, especially so if the 

 combs are new. 



When spring opens, I again take the 

 opportunity of placing all the combs 

 that I have on hand containing pollen, 

 near the brood, and I find that this 

 answers a Ijetter purpose to stimulate 

 brood-rearing at this time of the year, 

 than the feeding of rye or oat meal, as 

 is so often recommended. It is Ijctter, 

 inasmuch as it docs not lure the bees 

 out of the hive in all sorts of unrea- 

 sonable weather, to die from cold and 

 the wearing of themselves out, so that 

 they die of old age much sooner than 



they otherwise would, say nothing of 

 the cost of the meal. In this wa}' the 

 pollen is used to a far better advantage 

 than by inventing a machine to throw 

 it from the comb. 



If the correspondent who asked the 

 above question, will tiy this plan, I 

 think that he will find that his fears 

 are gi-oundless, regarding the bees 

 leaving the pollen without removing it. 

 If he should not, and still desires to get 

 it out, it can be done by soaking the 

 combs containing the pollen, in tepid 

 water, for a week or so, till the pollen 

 becomes soft, when it can be thrown 

 out with the honey-extractor, the combs 

 dried, and afterward given to the bees 

 again. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



QUEEN-REARING-. 



Method of Rearing Queens for 

 my Own Apiary. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. F. Jl'iNTYRE. 



We have had a good rain this month 

 — 10 inches in four days, making 22J 

 inches up to date. The prospects are 

 medium to good. Swarming has just 

 commenced. I am preparing to start 

 nuclei, as I make my increase in that 

 way, from the best colonies that swarm 

 first. I have tried nearly very way of 

 hatching queens and starting nuclei, 

 that I have seen in print. As I have 

 never seen published the way I prac- 

 tice most, and like best, I will describe 

 it. It is as follows : 



I select the strongest and best colo- 

 nies in the yard, that I wish to breed 

 from ; if I want early queens to be 

 laying when the rest of the apiary is 

 swarming, I give them hatching brood 

 from other colonies to make them 

 swarm early. When thej' swarm, I 

 catch the queen, and allow the swarm 

 to go back, disposing of the old queen 

 as may be thought best. 



If the colonies swarmed according 

 to rule, in about ten daj's I listen at 

 the top of the hive every evening, till 

 I hear the young queens piping ; the 

 next morning, about 8 o'clock, 1 take 

 a number of ()ueen-cages, open the 

 hive, cut out the queen-cells, and put 

 one of them into each cage. 



I can easily find the queen that is 

 hatched, by her piping, when I cage 

 her, too. I have had 10 queens hatch 

 in ten minutes after the cells were 

 caged. 



My hives are 10-frame Langstroth, 

 and I usually make 10 nuclei out of 

 each colony, by taking one frame of 

 brood and bees for each nuclei, and 

 putting it between two other combs 

 with some honey in. 



