1895. 



TEE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPBE. 



185 



(From The Bee Keepers' Review.) 



MANAGEMENT NECESSARY FOR 

 SECURING THE BEST BEES. 



BY B TAYLOR. 



More than thirty years ago I began 

 experimenting with different methods 

 of managing bees, with a view to find- 

 ing the best method of keeping the 

 stock vigorous and the surplus crop 

 as large as possible. About fifteen 

 years later I recognized the method 

 that seemed to give the best results in 

 a more systematic order. I rearrang- 

 ed my yard by making a lot of stands 

 of a proper size to hold two hives. 

 These stands were made by driving 

 four small cedar stakes and nailing 

 narrow boards upon them six inches 

 from the ground. These stands were 

 placed in a circle one hundred and 

 fifty feet in circumference. This cir- 

 cle arrangement worked well, as each 

 stand had an individuality of its own 

 hard to attain in any other way. 



In the spring one swarm is placed 

 on each of the stands, covered up 

 warmly, and care taken that all have 

 plenty of food, then let alone in quiet 

 except that there is constant critical 

 observation of outside appearances to 

 detect any failing colony and give if 

 the necessary attention. 



The first five or six swarms that is- 

 sue are hived in brood chambers con- 

 tracted to not more than 800 inches 

 of comb surface. The supers of sec- 

 tions that have been put on the parent 

 colony some time previous are chang- 



ed to the new swarm which is then 

 placed on a new stand some distance 

 from the parent colony, which, in the 

 case of first swarms, is left on the old 

 stand. The reason for leaving them 

 there is that we want them to have 

 plenty of bees to finish and mature all 

 the queen cells ; for here is the nurs- 

 ery in which new queens are to be 

 raized to supply each old colony with 

 a queen after it has cast a swarm. 



After I have started enough nurser- 

 ies in this way to supply me with 

 queens, each swarm is set where the 

 parent colony stood, the supers are 

 moved to it, a queen excluding honey 

 board being put under it, and the 

 parent colony moved to the other end 

 of the same stand with its entrance 

 turned in the opposite direction from 

 the new swarm. I want all the field 

 bees in the new swarm to keep it 

 strong, for it is from these new swarms 

 that comes eighty per cent of the 

 white honey crop. 



I can get more white honey by hiv- 

 ing these new swarms in hives with 

 only starters of comb foundation in 

 the brood frames. In theory, I do 

 not intend to winter these colonies, 

 but to work them for all the surplus 

 they can be forced to produce, then 

 unite them in the fall with the parent 

 colonies. Sometimes, however, in 

 spite of all forcing, they are in first- 

 class condition, and I select enough 

 of the best to supply the waste and 

 loss that comes each winter. 



In a day or to after a swarms issues, 

 the parent colony is examined by tak- 

 ing out each comb carefully and re- 

 moving all queen cells. (I will say 

 right here that for making these and 

 all other examinations of the brood 

 nest, my full brood chamber, wire-end 



