276 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 13, 1905. 



as given in " Scientific Queen-Rearing'," and place the 

 same in the space left by taking the frame out, when the 

 bees will go on and perfect them just the same as they 

 would in a well-stocked two-story hive later on, according 

 to my experience of later years. But I like the two-story 

 plan the best when colonies become strong enough so that 

 can be used, as it costs less work in rearing queens where 

 one colony is used to do this work the whole season through, 

 as is generally my custom. 



As soon as the queen-cells are ripe prepare nuclei to 

 receive them ; or, if you wish to supersede your old queens 

 with these cells, or with queens from them, kill the old 

 queens from 36 to 48 hours before the cells will be ripe 

 enough to remove from your breeding colony, which will be 

 in 11 days if you have used very small larvse, or 10 days if 

 larvae as old as 36 hours were used when the cells were 

 started. It is better to make a colony or two up into nuclei 

 if possible rather than keep all the colonies without a laying 

 queen from 10 to 15 days while the queens from these cells 

 are becoming laying mothers, as the rule is that the queen 

 from the ripe cell will emerge in from 5 to IS hours after the 

 cell is given the colony, then it will be 7 to 9 days before 

 she mates with the drone, and from 2 to 3 days more before 

 she goes to laying. And during these 12 to IS days from 

 the time of the killing of the old queen till the queen from 

 the given cell gets to laying, the old one, if not disturbed, 

 would lay eggs enough (the same giving bees which would 

 be on the stage of action in just the right time for the 

 honey harvest) to make all the difference between a good 

 crop of honey and a poor one. 



By breaking up 2 or 3 colonies for nuclei the old queens 

 can be allowed to lay right along till the young ones are 

 laying, and then by the Simmins' plan of direct introduc- 

 tion, no time of the rest of the colonies is lost. 



Of course you will know that the colony rearing cells 

 will want to be fed liberally at all times that nectar is not 

 coming in from the fields, for upon this " plenty of food" 

 hangs all the difference between good and poor queens. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



# 



Improvement in Queen and Drone Traps 



BY C. H. DIBBBRN. 



DURING the past 12 or IS years I have experimented a 

 great deal with various queen and drone traps of my 

 own construction, for the purpose of hiving swarms. 

 So well have I succeeded in improving the Alley trap that I 

 feel that bee-keepers generally ought to have the benefit of 

 my invention. 



Now in pointing out my improvements, I do not wish to 

 run down any existing traps, as, no doubt, many are suc- 



ceeding fairly well with them. I have often wondered why 

 more bee-keeping farmers, clerks and ministers who can 

 give only a very small part of their time to the bees, were 

 not using traps to manage swarming. Perhaps the fact 

 that they were patented, and the cost had something to do 

 with it. But, as a matter of fact, they were invented to 

 catch drones, and it was only incidentally found that swarm- 

 ing could also be controlled, that they were used for that 

 purpose. 



Some of the improvements I claim for my trap are as 

 follows : 



First, it is far better ventilated, and will not cause the 

 bees to fill the trap full of bees and " lay out," unless they 

 would without any trap. This is done by making them 

 larger, using more zinc, and not having the bottom piece 

 come so very close to the hive-entrance. 



Second, having the tube-holes in the middle strip within 

 X inch of the front zinc, with the lower side beveled off so 

 as to leave no square edge between the zinc and the tube- 

 holes for the queen to follow, preventing her from getting 

 readily into the trap part. 



Third, the upper part of the trap is made entirely of 



perforated zinc except the ends, thus making it very easy 

 to see the queen when trapped. 



Fourth, the sliding door in the rear zinc, enabling one 

 to release the queen without removing the trap from the 

 hive. This is a decided improvement over a " gimlet hole " 

 through one end of the middle strip, for when the swarm is 

 entering the new hive, and you wish to release the queen, 

 she is trying to get through the lower rows of perforations 

 in the rear zinc. 



Fifth, the rear zinc extends about an inch below the 

 strip containing the tubes, which is to prevent the bees 

 from " boiling over " when rushing from the hive in swarm- 

 ing; thus obviating the danger of getting the queen in be- 

 hind the trap. 



Sixth, the trap is provided with right and left wire- 

 hooks and small screw-eyes to fasten it firmly to the hive, 

 preventing it from tipping forward if the alighting-board is 

 inclined forward, or working away by wind or bees, as it is 

 liable to do if not fastened. 



Sixth, the traps are nicely made, and painted white ; 

 this makes them look neat, last longer, and enables one to 

 see all parts in the trap. 



In a future article I will try to describe how I use the 

 trap in an apiary of ISO colonies, as well as a general sys- 

 tem of management. I believe there are many people that 

 would find bee-keeping easy and profitable with this trap. 



=\ 



(£on:)cntton 

 Procccbtngs 



Report of the Michigan State Convention 



BY B. B. TYRREI.I,, SEC. 



(Continned from pa^e 231.) 



HOW MANY COLONIES IN ONE PLACE? 



" How many colonies can be profitably kept in one 

 locality ?" 



E. D. Townsend thinks 80 or 90 colonies. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick has had 160 in one place, and did not 

 think the locality overstocked. He averaged about the same 

 with 160 as with 60. 



O. H. Townsend has 225 in one place, and thinks some 

 years 400 colonies would not overstock a locality. With 22S 

 colonies in one place, he did not find a bee 2 miles from 

 home during clover bloom. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick did not find a bee '^ mile from home 

 during raspberry bloom, and 22S colonies were in one place. 



Mr. Root reported keeping 500 colonies in one place, but 

 thought the place overstocked. 



Mr. Manley says in his locality there were 585 colonies 

 in a distance of 4 miles, and he did not consider the locality 

 overstocked during a clover flow. 



Mr. Bingham says bees gather honey freely only about 

 two hours during a day, hence he does not believe a locality 

 can be overstocked during a good honey-flow. 



Mr. Cady says localities vary in that respect. 



On motion the Secretary was voted $10 for his services 

 during the past two years. 



On motion the Secretary's and Treasurer's offices were 

 united. 



The election of ofiicers was then held with the following 

 result : President, W. E. Hutchinson ; Vice-President, Geo. 

 E. Hilton ; and Secretary-Treasurer, E. B. Tyrrell, of 

 Davison. 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



" In producing extracted honey how much should be 

 sealed before extracting ? How do you uncap ?" 



Mr. Huff extracts after the honey harvest, whether 

 capped or not. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick thinks four-fifths should be capped. 

 He is not so particular at the end of the season. 



E.D.Townsend extracts 10 days to 2 weeks after the sea- 

 son whether sealed or not, but prefers the sealed. He uses 

 1^-inch spacing, and uncaps very deep. 



Mr. Manley uses two tubs for an uncapping-can, one 

 tub being cut down half way, then a screen bottom is put 

 on the shallow tub. Now he slips the _ shallow tub into the 

 deep one, and can uncap one-half day in this tub. He then 



